McDonald\u2019s Australia has launched the national roll out of \u2018Archways to Opportunity\u2019, an innovative new program offering more than 20,000 Macca\u2019s employees nationwide the opportunity to transform workplace skills into university credits with some of Australia\u2019s leading universities, including Â鶹ֱ²¥.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s how it works. McDonald\u2019s Crew Coaches and Managers can now earn up to eight verified and transferrable micro-credentials, simply by completing on-the-job learning, face-to-face training and workplace experience in areas like communication, problem-solving and leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each micro-credential counts for up to one subject credit in an undergraduate degree in courses including Business, Commerce, Management, HR, Technology and IT, at universities nationwide. Stacked together, they can also ladder up to direct entry into a Master of Business Administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Excitingly, we have partnered with some of Australia\u2019s leading universities, to provide a seamless pathway for our people towards university credits. This includes Â鶹ֱ²¥ as well as the University of Technology Sydney, the University of Adelaide, Charles Darwin University, the University of Tasmania, the University of Canberra, James Cook University, Torrens University Australia, the University of New England, Swinburne Universityand specialist training provider, the William Angliss Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In some cases, this offers savings of more than $20,000 in fees and could shave up to a third off the total study time required to complete a bachelor\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McDonald’s is the first organisation in Australia to have its internal training and on-the-job experience -certified and recognised by multiple universities nationwide. This means thousands of Macca\u2019s employees now have the opportunity to earn university recognised micro-credentials on the job, with no additional study required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The nationwide rollout follows a successful pilot earlier this year with Capability.Co, Torrens University and the University of Adelaide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McDonald\u2019s Australia\u2019s CEO, Joe Chiczewski, <\/em><\/strong>said, \u201cMacca\u2019s has always been famous for our exceptional skills and training programs, and we proudly invest millions of dollars every year into helping our people grow their skills and capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cArchways to Opportunity is the next evolution of that commitment and shows our people that the skills and training they build at Macca\u2019s are real, valuable, and recognised beyond our restaurants. That\u2019s not just exciting. It\u2019s world class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo be able to work, earn a wage and have your training and experience count towards tertiary education is an incredible opportunity and a powerful advantage for any young person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re one of Australia\u2019s largest employers of young people, and this is an investment we\u2019re proud to lead at a time when more and more people are looking outside the traditional school-to-campus pathway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Â鶹ֱ²¥\u2019s Centre for Learning Enterprise and Partnership Engagement Director, Chandra Sundareswaran, <\/strong>said \u201cCurtin was delighted to be the first WA university to partner with Capability Co. to open up new tertiary pathways into the University\u2019s Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Innovation courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCurtin is committed to empowering people from diverse backgrounds as well as regional and remote areas to achieve their academic and career potential, so we are excited to be working with McDonald\u2019s to make higher education more accessible for their employees,\u201d Mr Sundareswaran said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Archways to Opportunity program will establish a formal credit recognition and direct entry pathway into Curtin\u2019s undergraduate and postgraduate business or management programs, which gives students the opportunity to embark on a journey of lifelong learning, forge lasting connections, and unlock opportunities for\u00a0a bright future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kate Britt, CEO, Capability.Co<\/strong> said, \u201cAt Capability.Co, we want to ensure that everyone has open access to quality education and fulfilling careers, no matter their background. Archways to Opportunity exemplifies what\u2019s possible when we recognise the real skills people develop every day at work. Together with McDonald\u2019s, we\u2019re opening the door to lifelong learning, career mobility, and greater equity in education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zaakirah Khan, Restaurant Manager at McDonald\u2019s Mount Annan, <\/strong>is excited to receive the micro-credentials, in recognition of her prior learning through McDonald\u2019s training programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019d always planned to go to university\u201d said Zaakirah, \u201cbut never imagined I\u2019d have the support of McDonald\u2019s in creating that opportunity. Now I\u2019m able to take that next step, and it\u2019s incredible to know that everything I\u2019ve learned at Macca\u2019s is giving me a head start. I can also continue to fit my shifts at Macca\u2019s around study, which is a bonus!\u201d Archways to Opportunity has launched at all McDonald\u2019s restaurants, nationwide, including the more than 100 Macca\u2019s in operation across Western Australia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" McDonald\u2019s Australia has launched the national roll out of \u2018Archways to Opportunity\u2019, an innovative new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4001,"featured_media":29184,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":1115,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1115,112],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-29621","media-release","type-media-release","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-industry-and-partnerships"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":[{"title":"","qualification":"","link":"","description":"","faculty":""}],"credits":{"author":"","photographer":"","media":false},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}},"experts":false},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AdobeStock_722370823-1000x500.jpeg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Lauren","last_name":"Glaskin","display_name":"Lauren Sydoruk"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/29621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/media-release"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/29621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29621"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=29621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}