Where do you go if you want a tertiary level education in User Experience (UX) or similar? While there are numerous study options overseas, it’s a different story in Australia. For the past few years (ever since the University of Queensland shut down its Human Factors degrees), I’ve been informally looking out for UX related degrees but it’s been a challenge finding Australian tertiary intuitions that offer a formalised program of study for the UX field.

The challenge is that UX is a highly multi-disciplinary field; it draws upon a number of areas such as cognitive science, psychology, industrial design, human factors, human-computer interaction, usability, accessibility, information architecture, and more. While there are numerous universities that offer degrees and units in some of the individual areas listed above (I tutored a human-computer interaction unit at one of the universities), I can’t seem to find one that draws all the elements into one degree.

So I decided to draw on the collective wisdom of the twitterverse by putting the call out on twitter for HCI related degrees. I got a number of interesting responses, which I’ve summarised here.

University of Sydney

@smperris suggested the Interaction Design and Electronic Arts (IDEA). Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma and a Masters degree is available.

Read more about the Interaction Design and Electronic Arts program.

University of Queensland

@viller suggested the Bachelor of Multimedia Design and Master of Interaction Design at UQ. Both have a strong user-centred design and usability focus.

University of Technology Sydney

@pixel8ted noted that the University of Technology Sydney are willing to cater curriculum to your specific needs but you will need to approach them directly. There are also short courses available which you might be able to get something tailored to your needs.

Murdoch University

@londonjustin noted that Murdoch University in Perth offers a Human-Computer Interaction unit (unit ICT325) which can also be done externally.

RMIT

@oliveChi suggested RMIT in Melbourne and Open University.
Note: Can someone provide a direct link to the appropriate course? I tried searching for it but am probably not using the correct terminology.

University of Tasmania

@stokely noted that the University of Tasmania has an HCI campus. I had a look and came across the Human Interface Technology Lab Australia. There are HIT Lab courses such as Bachelor of Computing, Human Interface Technology (HIT) Major , which has some UX elements.

Australian National University

@LindaPostniece noted that the ANU College of Engineering & Computer Science does some research in HCI but doesn’t seem to cover much teaching.

Edited: the following information was added after the original post was written.

Charles Stuart University

Charles Stuart University offers a Master of Information Studies with a specialisation in Information Architecture.

Further resources

• Information architecture courses from around the world from the IA Institute
• IxDA has an education topic which lists all the discussions around finding courses, moving into this field, etc.

Comments? Additions?

Got any additional suggestions? Have you completed one of the degrees mentioned in this blog post, or are you currently completing it? I’m interested in hearing about your suggestions and experiences. Please comment below. :)