FAQs

A qualification is a recognition by an academic institution that you have completed a course of study in a particular discipline. 

Qualifications typically assess knowledge at a much greater level of detail than a certification, with some minor (often simulated) assessment of skills. Experience may allow some students to progress faster through their qualification; however, it is not directly assessed or relevant to the award. 

Therefore, a project management qualification testifies that you have studied and can apply, under exam conditions, the theory of project management. 

Many countries regulate the award of qualifications with tightly held standards and rules. This guarantees that qualifications awarded by one school can be reasonable compared to another. 

The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) is the national policy for regulated qualifications in Australian education and training. It incorporates the qualifications from each education and training sector into a single comprehensive national qualifications framework. 

You can view the qualifications that the Australian Government accredits Link Education to deliver here http://training.gov.au/Organisation/Details/60154.

Our qualifications do not make you wait until a fixed date, such as the start of a semester, before allowing you to commence.

Study can begin as soon as your enrolment is processed, usually within 24 hours! 

At any time throughout your qualification, you may also request a Statement of Attainment, which is formal recognition of the units that you have completed. Any units successfully completed are nationally recognised and can be credited to other qualifications with another training organisation within Australia. 

Our programs may also fast-track your entry into a higher level related or University level Qualification. 

All our qualifications are competency-based.

Competency-based training and assessment is an educational approach focused on equipping you with specific skills, knowledge, and abilities that are clearly defined through a set of competencies.

Unlike traditional education, which often measures success through grades and tests, competency-based training emphasizes mastery of concrete skills. In this method, each competency is usually broken down into observable and measurable elements.

Training is designed to teach these elements in a practical, applied setting. Assessments are conducted to ensure that you can demonstrate mastery in these competencies before moving on to new material. The focus is on your ability to do something successfully in specific contexts, rather than merely acquiring theoretical knowledge.

This makes competency-based training particularly effective for vocational and professional courses, where the aim is to prepare students for specific careers or roles.

Iterative assessment is an approach to evaluation that involves multiple rounds of assessment over time, allowing both mentors and students to continuously gather information about performance and understanding.

Unlike traditional, “one-shot” assessments, such as a final exam, iterative assessments occur at different stages of the learning process.

The main goals of this assessment method are to provide ongoing feedback, enable adjustments in teaching and learning strategies, and promote a deeper understanding of the subject matter. Iterative assessments can be formal or informal and may include a variety of formats such as quizzes, discussions, projects, or presentations.

By repeatedly assessing performance and understanding, we can identify gaps in knowledge or skills early on, making it possible to intervene and adjust instructional approaches as needed. For you, iterative assessment provides multiple opportunities to demonstrate competence and to improve through continuous feedback.

Overall, the iterative assessment approach aims to make the evaluation process more dynamic, responsive, and aligned with the goal of promoting long-term learning and skill development.

Whereas passive service models depend on the learner initiating contact with their training provider, our active approach to mentoring demands that our team regularly reach out to their learner cohorts to support their development, as well as extending actionable advice on the projects they are working on through the lens of good practice. 

Our mentors can support learners in this way because they are: 

• Proven industry experts with a minimum of 10 years practical experience in leading complex projects, programs, and portfolios of work 
• Inspiring communicators, creative and critical thinkers 
• Trained educators, facilitators, and mentors 

Importantly, they are not professional lecturers who have only learned theory from textbooks and classrooms – they superimpose on the coursework a wealth of skill and experience from all stakeholder perspectives to bring project management to life. 

Over the course of a mentorship, our team will personally engage (not just bulk email) each learner at least fortnightly. In the first conversation, learners are subtly risk profiled across a range of factors known to impact program completion, including: 

• Enthusiasm for the program 
• Prior project management education and experience 
• Previous exposure to self-paced learning 
• Level of workplace support 
• Workload and other time constraints 
• Accessibility issues or special learning needs 

Learners internally identified as being at risk of successful completion work with their mentor from a toolbox of practical and relevant response strategies, while enjoying a higher level of holistic engagement support. 

All learners then progress and are held (realistically) accountable to an agreed learning plan that has specific outputs and outcomes attached, such as certification. 

The one-on-one assignment of mentors to learners also allows a genuine relationship to develop, avoiding a call-centre feel to learner engagement. Importantly, contact hours are neither stipulated nor capped, meaning higher-risk learners can access appropriate levels of support, and self-motivated participants are not held back. 

Link Education has successfully delivered self-paced learning with active mentor support to a diverse range of global learners in a variety of cultural settings. Our acquittals of government-funded contracts in this regard show average completion rates in excess of 80% over the last five years, figures that place us in the top five percent of training providers across all sectors. 

Rest assured, too, that your dealings with your Institute mentor remain confidential at all times, as per our Privacy Policy. 

Our mentors will give you detailed feedback at each stage of your qualification. If he or she feels that you are not yet ready to progress, then you will be advised on how you can improve your work for reassessment. 

There is no limit to the number of times you may resubmit your work for feedback – we will stick with you until you get it right! 

All email inquiries are responded to within two business days, and the turnaround for assessment feedback is usually within five days. 

Successful completion of each stage will demonstrate to us (and your present and future employers) that you have the ability to apply the theory you have learned to practical workplace scenarios. 

Note that although assessment tasks are made easier if you are employed in a workplace, those without this opportunity may complete the course as long as they have sufficient access to a project environment to facilitate learning and demonstrate competence. 

Experience suggests that the time you spend on study is positively correlated with your performance and results in this course. 

You should allow at least 6 months to complete a Certificate IV and 12 months for a Diploma, including the time you spend working and reflecting on your workplace projects. 

You should therefore ensure you are able to allocate the required amount of time before commencing study. 

This is, however, a general guide. Your mentor will assist you with the development of a training plan that responds to your unique circumstances at the start of your qualification.

Link Education accepts that learning takes place through formal study, informal learning in the workplace, and life experience. 

Our Recognition of Prior Learning Policy outlines how you may apply to have your prior learning recognised by Link and what procedures Link Education has in place to assess your learning and work/life experience. 

Because of the unique structure of our programs, students are typically awarded RPL for: 

• Coursework independently assessed by an accredited educational institution, and/or 
• Relevant documents prepared for workplace projects that meet the standards for assessment stipulated in this guide. 

Please consult directly with your mentor if you are seeking RPL for any part or all of your qualification. 

More about our student policies, including your rights and obligations, can be found in the Student Handbook. 

Academic integrity is about mastering the art of scholarship. Scholarship involves researching, understanding and building upon the work of others. It requires that you give credit where it is due and acknowledge the contributions of others to your own intellectual efforts.

At its core, academic integrity requires honesty. This involves being responsible for ethical scholarship and for knowing what academic dishonesty is and how to avoid it.

Academic misconduct includes cheating, plagiarism, allowing another candidate to copy work for an assignment or an examination, and any other conduct by which a candidate: 

• seeks to gain, for themselves or for any other person, any academic advantage or advancement to which they or that other person is not entitled, or 
• improperly disadvantages any other candidate. 

Plagiarism is a form of cheating. It is taking and using someone else’s thoughts, writings, or inventions and representing them as your own, for example: 

• using another author’s words without attribution 
• submitting for original assessment a project document that was prepared by someone else in your organisation, or 
• copying another candidate’s work. 

It is not plagiarism when you: 

All your assessable works may be submitted to the plagiarism checking service Turnltln to obtain a report on possible instances of plagiarism. Assessable works may also be included in a reference database.

Candidates engaging in any form of academic misconduct may be subject to the imposition of penalties that range from a deduction or cancellation of marks to exclusion from the course. 

You can see our official policy on Academic Integrity in the Student Handbook.

You are encouraged to use generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT, Google Bard, and similar technologies!

It is nevertheless a requirement that these tools are used responsibly, ethically, and in a way that maintains the integrity of academic work and the value of original thought and creativity in your assessments.

Generative AI tools can be used for a range of academic purposes such as generating ideas, proofreading documents, data analysis, research assistance, and other educational activities.

However, you must ensure that your academic work contains significant original thought and effort. The use of AI tools must not undermine or replace your original contribution to your assessments.

While these tools can supplement and support the research, drafting, and review processes, a significant proportion of the work you submit must be created by you.

Although all the information you share with us is managed in accordance with our Privacy Policy, when completing assessment tasks, please take every care to de-identify or redact confidential stakeholder or organisational information. 

If you have concerns about the impact this may have on your ability to demonstrate your competence and complete this course, please raise this with your mentor at the earliest opportunity. 

Yes, you can enrol in our qualifications as an international student. However, you cannot study in Australia on a student visa for our programs.

You must complete the course from your home country online as a full fee-paying student.

As our qualifications are delivered and assessed in English, students who reside in a country where English is not the primary language, and others for whom English is a second language, are expected to have English language competence as a pre-requisite to enrolment. 

You can demonstrate this by providing evidence that you have completed an English language proficiency exam to the Australian government’s skilled migration standard for vocational English. 

As a rule, students with English language, literacy, or numeracy special needs should contact us prior to enrolment to confirm their suitability for the program of study. 

You will need access to either a PC or Mac and basic word-processing and spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Word and Excel. 

You will also require a reliable high-speed internet connection and an email account. 

Although student learning and quizzes can be completed on a smart phone – our online courses are all mobile friendly – you will find it easier to prepare assignments on a desktop computer.

Link Education’s instructor-led group training builds on our highly interactive philosophy of learner engagement. Our semi-structured approach to delivery ensures workshops are dynamically responsive to the experience, needs and operating environment of the participants. 

Participants are therefore encouraged to share complex, ‘real life’ examples from their professional experience that can be resolved using the best-practice principles of project leadership and management. 

In that way, learning is facilitated in as much as it is instructor-led. In other words, the peer-to-peer learning experience (through story-telling and analogy) is often as, or more, important than the content of the lecture slides. 

Our Certified Project Trainers (CPTs) are: 

• Proven industry experts with a minimum of 10 years practical experience in leading complex projects, programs, and portfolios of work 
• Inspiring communicators and creative and critical thinkers 
• Trained educators, facilitators, and mentors 

Importantly, they are not professional lecturers who have only learned management theory from textbooks and classrooms – they superimpose a wealth of project skill and experience from all stakeholder perspectives that bring project management to life for learners. In doing so, they look beyond the curriculum to add value to students and their employers. 

Subject matter experts from within your organisation or ours – such as senior risk, procurement, and stakeholder managers – can also be invited to present as part of the program, which can be easily adjusted to accommodate them on a needs basis. These presentations and the important questions and group interaction that follows can be in-person, pre-recorded, or virtual, subject to technology constraints. 

Therefore, to ensure optimum engagement, we recommended that classes be limited to 15-20 students and maintain a strict 1:25 instructor-to-student ratio ceiling. 

In the classroom, participants are clustered in groups of 3-5 as they work with their peers through a range of practical, scenario-based problems, leveraging their collective experience and new knowledge of good practice. These groups are refreshed daily to promote as much lateral, peer-to-peer interaction as possible. 

We are also happy to share our proprietary templates and learning materials to contextualise the training to your organisation’s requirements, or we can assist participants in identifying the most appropriate corporate assets and tools to use and how to use them well. 

Our professional internship program offers candidates the opportunity to gain professional experience and improve career opportunities in a wide range of industries. 

An internship is a great way to gain exposure to the professional work environment and develop critical leadership skills. All placements are non-paid training positions and actively supported by a Link Education mentor. 

Internships are often linked to regional tours of high-profile projects, giving participants a peek behind the curtains at some of the world’s most famous and successful projects. 

Privileged access together with unparalleled networking opportunities make Link Education’s internships and industry tours the most sought-after tickets in the profession today. 

All our programs are typically delivered without paper unless specifically requested by a learning cohort. The benefits of a paperless classroom include: 

• Less clutter in the learning space 
• Integration of real-world apps 
• Consistent resource quality across all global locations 
• Automatic backups and retrieval of learner resources 
• Reduced printing costs 
• Promotion of a culture of environmental awareness and sustainability 

Students are instead encouraged to bring their own laptop or digital device on which they can make notes against the lecture slides, be introduced to basic apps, complete assessment activities and access the supplementary resources, such as tools and templates. 

All exclusive digital content – including any edits or updates participants make to it – remains permanently available to students after the event via their student account. 

Reasonable adjustments can always be made to ensure equity in training people with special needs. Adjustments may include changes to the pedagogic process or context that meet individual needs but do not change learning outcomes. 

When assessing people with special needs, our assessors apply good practice assessment methods with sensitivity and flexibility. Assessors can also provide alternative assessment activities to address specific enterprise requirements. 

The design of our education resources further reflects the language, literacy, and numeracy (LLN) competencies required to perform aligned workplace tasks. 

Students with significant LLN challenges that are likely to prevent them from meeting this standard are identified as early as possible and given specific support or referred to specialist providers. They are also given the opportunity to either cancel or defer their enrolment to a later date. 

Learner, mentor, and client feedback are also systematically collected, reviewed, and acted upon as part of our continual improvement process.