Master of High Performance Sport

The Master of High Performance Sport at Murdoch University is a one-year coursework degree for people who want to work with athletes and teams at the top level. You study how to measure and improve performance, how to plan training across a season, how to keep athletes healthy, and how to use data to make decisions. The course covers areas like exercise physiology, strength and conditioning, biomechanics, performance analysis, athlete monitoring, and the psychology of competing under pressure. It's built for the Australian sporting system, where you might work with AFL clubs, NRL teams, cricket, netball, swimming, or the state and national institutes that support them.

As a master's degree, this sits at AQF level 9. Australian master's programmes are usually one to two years full-time and are made up of units of study, each worth credit points. You'll typically complete a set of core units, choose some electives, and finish with a capstone project or research thesis. That final project is where you take a real performance question, from a sport, a team, or a dataset, and work through it with supervision. The one-year duration means the pace is steady but focused, and it assumes you already have a relevant bachelor's degree. If you're coming from a different background, check the entry requirements on the official page before you apply.

Work-integrated learning is a big part of this field. High performance sport is learned by doing, so you should expect a professional placement or practicum with a sporting organisation, where you'll be embedded with coaches and support staff. That could mean helping run testing sessions, collecting GPS and load data, or assisting with return-to-play programmes. You'll come out with skills in athlete testing and monitoring, training programme design, data analysis, and working inside a multidisciplinary team. You'll also learn how to communicate with coaches who need answers quickly, not essays.

This degree suits people who already have a sports science, exercise science, physiotherapy, or human movement degree and want to specialise. It also suits coaches and support staff who want the formal qualification behind their experience. If you're an international student, you can work up to 48 hours per fortnight while your course is in session, and after you finish you may be eligible for the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream. English requirements vary by applicant and Murdoch accepts IELTS Academic, TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic, Cambridge C1 Advanced, and its own English programmes. Tuition is published on the CRICOS register, check the official page for current fees, intake dates, and exact entry requirements.

• Strength and conditioning coach, professional clubs, state institutes of sport, and national programmes.
• Sports scientist, AFL, NRL, cricket, netball, soccer, and Olympic sport organisations.
• Performance analyst, teams and leagues that track player and match data.
• Athlete monitoring and sports science coordinator, high performance units managing training load and recovery.
• Exercise physiologist or rehabilitation specialist, clinics and sporting organisations working with injured athletes.
• Academy or pathway coach, talent development programmes in Australian sport.
• Sport science researcher or PhD candidate, universities and research institutes.