Study options | Postgraduate Diploma in Information Studies

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Find out about your options for Information Studies qualifications and discover what and how you'll study.

Qualification family structure

The Master of Information Studies is part of a tiered family of qualifications:

Master of Information Studies (MIS)
Postgraduate Diploma in Information Studies (PGDipIS)
Postgraduate Certificate in Information Studies (PGCertIS)

Choose the qualification that suits your career goals, eligibility, time commitments, and financial situation.

Staircasing allows movement in both directions. If you begin by enrolling in the Certificate or Diploma programme, you may be able to continue on to complete a Master's. Or, if you enrol in the Master's but can't complete it for some reason, you may have completed enough courses to graduate with the Certificate or Diploma.

What you'll study

The MIS will give you the broad skills and knowledge you need to work in many information professions. Your studies will include:

Six core courses—you'll learn about different information professions, services and databases, and explore information policy and access issues. You'll also find out how to carry out research in information management.
Five or six elective courses—choose from a wide variety of courses according to your interests and career goals in subjects like Māori information sources, managing archives, and digital technologies. These courses change regularly to include fast-developing subjects.

For the diploma programme, you need to do five core courses and three more courses of your choice. Certificate students do two core courses and choose a further two.

How you'll learn

Courses are taught online on weekday evenings. Some courses are delivered through live sessions that are also recorded for you to review later, and others contain recorded content for viewing when convenient for you. Most courses combine both, using the live sessions for discussions and activities.

Course schedule

Your studies will begin in the first trimester of each year in February.

Workload

You can study full time or part time. If you are studying full-time you can expect a workload of 40–45 hours a week for much of the year. Part-time students doing two courses per trimester will need to do around 20–23 hours of work a week. Make sure you take this into account if you are working full-time.

You can estimate your workload by adding up the number of points you'll be doing. One point is roughly equal to 10–12 hours work.

Duration

The MIS can be completed in two to four years part time, or in one and a half years of full-time study.

The PGCertIS can be completed in two trimesters of full-time study, and the PGDipIS can be completed in three trimesters. Both take longer if studying part time.