The federal government on Sunday announced universities and institutions would facilitate online courses in areas like nursing, teaching, counselling, information technology, and science.

The courses would start in May and run for six months, with fees reduced by more than 50 per cent in most cases.

La Trobe University Vice-Chancellor John Dewar AO said the university, which has a campus in Bendigo, welcomed the changes.

Read more: La Trobe University goes online to reduce coronavirus risk

"La Trobe already offers wide-ranging, accredited courses in core areas such as teaching, nursing and allied health," he said.

"We have the ability to offer these at a range of entry levels including as short, online courses."

Professor Dewar said the university had a number of courses that would qualify under the government's short course program.

He said a list of available courses at the university would be released on Tuesday.

Federal Minister for Education Dan Tehan said the cheaper online courses would allow more people to gain skills in areas of "national priority".

"We're slashing the prices of degrees and diplomas in short courses to enable people, rather than bingeing on Netflix, to be able to binge on studying," Mr Tehan told reporters.

"We're going to need people as we emerge from the coronavirus pandemic."

Read more: New La Trobe University Bendigo studio helps liven up lectures from home

Mr Tehan said the federal government would also guarantee that funding for universities would remain at current levels, even if there was a drop in the number of domestic students enrolled in courses.

"It will provide a revenue stream for universities and private providers to assist their financial stability," Mr Tehan said.

Professor Dewar said universities and institutions would continue to change the way they delivered courses to ensure higher education classes continued during the coronavirus outbreak.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has proven that we have the ability and agility to adapt our course offering to online, including shorter, micro-credentials that will enable students to develop the skills required for jobs in the new, post-COVID-19 economy."

Professor Dewar encouraged those who were interested in exploring short course study at the university to book a consultation at latrobe.edu.au/study/one-on-one-consultations

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