Diploma of Project Management

The Diploma of Project Management is a one-year qualification for people who want to run projects, not just work on them. You learn how to scope a project, build a schedule and budget, lead a team, manage risk, and report progress to stakeholders. Assessment is practical: you write project plans, keep risk registers, run progress meetings, and work through the documentation that Australian organisations actually use.

This is an AQF diploma, which sits between a certificate IV and an associate degree. It is delivered over one year, and the course is made up of units of competency with set credit points. Each unit covers a defined area of project work, and you need to complete all required units to graduate. There is no honours year at this level. If you later want a degree, some Australian institutions give credit for diploma study, so ask about articulation arrangements before you enrol.

Teaching mixes classroom or online theory with hands-on tasks. Where the course includes work-integrated learning, you may complete a project-based placement or a simulated workplace project, applying the same processes to a real brief. You finish with a portfolio of project documents you can show an employer. Skills you take away include stakeholder analysis, cost estimating, schedule control, procurement basics, quality checks, and using project management software.

It suits career changers, team leaders, tradespeople moving into supervision, and international students who want an Australian qualification in a year. You need to meet the English requirement for entry, and the Department of Home Affairs sets its own English threshold for the Student visa. While studying, a student visa generally allows work of up to 48 hours per fortnight. After graduating, the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream may be available, depending on your circumstances. Tuition is published on the CRICOS register under course code 112166B. Confirm entry requirements, unit lists and fees on the official page.

• Project coordinator or project officer, supporting project managers in construction, IT, government and community organisations.
• Team leader or supervisor, running small projects and work crews in building, manufacturing, logistics and maintenance.
• Project administrator, managing schedules, budgets, contracts and reporting for consulting firms and public sector agencies.
• Events or operations coordinator, planning and delivering events, campaigns and operational projects in tourism, hospitality and marketing.
• Assistant project manager, working towards full project management responsibility in engineering, health services and not-for-profit organisations.