Advanced Diploma of Leadership and Management

This Advanced Diploma of Leadership and Management is a practical, one-and-a-half-year qualification for people who want to run teams, projects and day-to-day operations. It's a diploma-level course on the Australian Qualifications Framework, which means it sits below a bachelor degree but above a certificate IV. You'll spend most of your time on the parts of management that actually come up at work: leading a team, managing operational plans, handling budgets and financial plans, developing and using emotional intelligence, managing recruitment and onboarding, and dealing with workplace relationships and conflict. There's a strong focus on communication, risk management and continuous improvement.

Australian diplomas are usually made up of units of study, each with a set number of credit points. The exact unit list and credit points are set by the college, so check the official course page for the current structure. Assessment is typically a mix of written tasks, case studies, role plays and projects based on real workplace scenarios. Some providers build in a work placement or industry project; if that's part of this course, it will be listed on the CRICOS register entry (course code 113986B). The course is delivered over 1.5 years, which usually means three or four study periods rather than the two semesters you'd see in a bachelor degree.

The skills you pick up are the ones employers ask for when they promote someone into their first supervisory role. You'll learn how to write an operational plan and then actually track it, how to manage a team's performance without avoiding the hard conversations, how to read a budget and explain variances to people who don't have a finance background, and how to keep a workplace compliant with Australian workplace laws and safety requirements. You'll also practise leading change and managing innovation, which sounds grand but in practice means getting a team through a new system or a restructure.

This course suits a few different people. You might already be a team leader or supervisor who's been doing the job without formal training and wants a qualification to back it up. You might be in a trade or technical role and moving into management. Or you might be an international student who wants a shorter, work-focused qualification before deciding whether to continue to a bachelor degree, many Australian institutions give credit for diploma study toward a related bachelor. English requirements for international applicants are usually IELTS Academic 6.0–6.5 overall for courses at this level, with TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic and Cambridge C1 Advanced accepted as equivalents. The Department of Home Affairs sets a separate English threshold for the Student visa itself. If you're applying from overseas, confirm the exact English requirement and the unit structure on the official page before you apply.

• Team leader or supervisor, retail, hospitality, logistics, manufacturing, aged care and community services all hire at this level.
• Office or operations manager, small and medium businesses across Australia, plus local government and not-for-profits.
• Project administrator or coordinator, construction, IT, events, marketing and health services.
• Front-line manager in customer service or call centres, banking, insurance, telecommunications and utilities.
• Retail store manager or assistant manager, national retail chains and franchise groups.
• Administration manager, schools, clinics, professional services firms and government departments.
• Business owner or franchise operator, running your own small business with a better grip on planning, budgets and staff management.

Graduates often use this qualification as a stepping stone into a bachelor degree in business, management or commerce, with credit for prior study. International graduates may be eligible for the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream, depending on the course and visa requirements. While studying, a student visa generally allows up to 48 hours of work per fortnight, which is a common way to get Australian workplace experience before you finish.