Graduate Diploma of Management

The Graduate Diploma of Management at the National Academy of Professional Studies is a one-year course for people who want business and management skills without committing to a full master's degree. It sits at graduate diploma level on the Australian Qualifications Framework, one step below a master's and one above a bachelor's. You study core areas of business administration, how organisations are run, how managers make decisions with financial and people information, and how business functions fit together. It is coursework, taught in units of study with credit points, so you can see exactly what you are enrolling in and how each unit counts toward the qualification.

Most Australian graduate diplomas run over two semesters, or trimesters at institutions that use them, and this one is completed in a single year of full-time study. You take a set of units and accumulate credit points; some courses include a capstone unit that pulls the material together, and some offer a work-integrated learning or professional placement unit where the field uses it. Ask the academy directly whether a placement or capstone is part of your structure, and confirm the exact unit list, because it is not published here. If you later want a master's, a graduate diploma often gives you credit toward one, again, confirm the pathway with the institution.

What you actually gain is practical management capability: reading a balance sheet, building a budget, analysing a market, managing a project, and communicating a business case to people who will challenge it. You learn to work with financial statements, apply marketing and operations thinking, and understand the legal and ethical settings Australian organisations operate in. Assessment is typically a mix of assignments, reports, presentations and exams rather than a research thesis, that belongs to research degrees, not a coursework graduate diploma.

This course suits three groups: graduates from a non-business field who need management knowledge, people already working who want a formal qualification to move into a supervisory or management role, and international students who want an Australian qualification in a year and may be eligible for the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream after graduating. Student visa holders can work up to 48 hours per fortnight while studying. Entry normally requires a bachelor's degree or equivalent; check the official page for the exact admission rules and English requirements, which for this level are commonly IELTS Academic 6.0–6.5 overall or an accepted equivalent such as TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic or Cambridge C1 Advanced. Tuition is published on the CRICOS register under course code 117337C.

• Team leader or supervisor in retail, hospitality, logistics or professional services
• Business or operations analyst
• Project coordinator or project officer
• Administration or office manager
• Account or client manager in banking, insurance or financial services
• Marketing or business development coordinator
• Management consultant (junior or analyst level) in consulting firms
• Roles in government departments, not-for-profits and industry bodies

These roles appear across most Australian industries, professional services, finance, health administration, education, government, retail and manufacturing. Some graduates use the qualification as a stepping stone into a master's degree such as an MBA.