Diploma of Leadership and Management

The Diploma of Leadership and Management is a one-year qualification for people who want to step into team leader or supervisor roles, or who already hold one and want formal recognition of what they do. You study how organisations run: how to plan and manage a budget, how to lead a team through change, how to recruit and develop staff, how to manage operational plans, and how to deal with the workplace relations and work health and safety obligations that come with being in charge. Assessment is largely practical, built around case studies, projects and workplace-based tasks rather than exams alone.

How the course is structured

Australian diplomas sit at Level 5 of the Australian Qualifications Framework. This one is delivered over one year of full-time study, and the Australian College of International Studies runs it through a standard academic calendar of semesters or trimesters. You complete a set of units of study, each carrying credit points, and you need to pass all of them to graduate. There is no research thesis at diploma level. Some providers build in a work placement or a simulated workplace project so you can apply the units in a real setting, confirm the placement arrangements with the college before you enrol.

What you actually learn

Expect units on operational planning, budgeting and financial reporting, leading and managing effective workplace relationships, developing teams, managing performance, and workplace compliance. The skills you come out with are the ones supervisors use daily: running a team meeting that goes somewhere, writing a business case, reading a profit and loss statement, handling a difficult staff conversation, and putting a project plan together that people can actually follow. If you go on to further study, many Australian institutions give credit for diploma units towards a bachelor degree in business or management.

Who it suits

This suits school leavers who want a practical, job-ready business qualification rather than a three-year degree straight away, and it suits people already working in retail, hospitality, logistics, health administration or community services who are being asked to supervise others. International students should note the English requirement: IELTS Academic 6.0–6.5 overall is the common standard for coursework at this level, with TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic and Cambridge C1 Advanced accepted as equivalents. The Department of Home Affairs also sets its own English threshold for the Student visa, which is separate from the college's requirement. A Student visa allows 48 hours of work per fortnight while your course is in session, and graduates may be eligible for the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream. Tuition is published on the CRICOS register, check the official course page for the current figure and entry requirements.

• Team leader or supervisor, in retail, hospitality, warehousing and logistics, where you manage rosters, targets and day-to-day staff performance.
• Office or administration manager, in small and medium businesses, professional services firms and not-for-profits.
• Front-line manager in health or community services, coordinating support workers, rosters and client records.
• Project support officer, assisting project managers with schedules, budgets and reporting in construction, government and IT.
• Business development or sales coordinator, managing a small sales team or a territory.
• Operations coordinator, in transport, manufacturing and facilities management.

These roles are advertised across most Australian industries, and the diploma also gives you a pathway into a bachelor degree in business or management if you want to keep studying.