Advanced Diploma of Leadership and Management

The Advanced Diploma of Leadership and Management at the Institute of Culinary Education is a one-year course for people who want to run teams, projects and budgets in hospitality and food businesses. You study how to lead staff, manage operational plans, handle finances, and keep workplace health and safety in order. The Institute of Culinary Education specialises in culinary training, so the examples and case work sit in kitchens, restaurants and food service operations rather than generic office settings.

Australian advanced diplomas are nested qualifications. They sit above a certificate IV and below a bachelor degree on the Australian Qualifications Framework. This course runs over one year of full-time study, usually across two or three study periods. You complete units of study, each with a set number of credit points, and you need to pass all required units to graduate. Assessment is practical: case studies, role plays, projects and work-based tasks rather than long written exams. There is no research thesis at this level. Some providers build in a work placement or simulated workplace project, so ask the Institute how much of your course happens in a real commercial kitchen or food business.

You come out knowing how to write an operational plan, read a profit and loss statement, roster staff, manage a budget, lead a team through change, and deal with complaints and conflicts. Those are the skills employers in hospitality ask for when they promote someone from cook to supervisor or from supervisor to venue manager. The course also covers continuous improvement, so you learn to review how a kitchen or outlet runs and make changes that stick.

This suits people already working in hospitality who want a formal management qualification, and international students who want an Australian qualification in leadership with a culinary flavour. If you are an international student, you can work up to 48 hours per fortnight while you study. After you finish, the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream may be available, depending on your visa circumstances. Entry normally expects English proficiency; IELTS Academic 6.0 to 6.5 overall is the common standard for courses at this level, and the Department of Home Affairs sets its own English threshold for the Student visa. Confirm the exact entry requirements, tuition and start dates on the official CRICOS page for course 117393F.

• Restaurant or venue manager, running daily operations, staff and budgets in cafes, restaurants and bars.
• Kitchen manager or head chef with management duties, leading a brigade, ordering stock, controlling food costs.
• Food and beverage supervisor, rostering, training and supervising front-of-house teams in hotels, clubs and resorts.
• Catering operations coordinator, planning events, managing suppliers and casual staff.
• Hospitality team leader, first-line management in quick service restaurants, aged care catering and institutional food service.
• Small business owner or operator, running your own food business with a better grip on finance, compliance and staffing.

These roles are found across Australia's hospitality, tourism, events and food retail industries. Employers include restaurants, hotels, clubs, catering companies, aged care providers and contract food service organisations.