Diploma of Project Management

The Diploma of Project Management at the Sydney School of Business and Technology is a one-year qualification for people who want to run projects, or work in a team that does. You study how projects get scoped, planned, scheduled, budgeted and delivered. That means writing a project charter, building a work breakdown structure, mapping out a schedule, tracking costs against a baseline, managing risk, and reporting progress to a sponsor. You also cover procurement and contract basics, quality control, stakeholder communication and how to close a project out properly.

This is a diploma, so it sits at a practical level on the Australian Qualifications Framework, below a bachelor degree, and built around doing the work rather than writing about it. The course runs for one year. You enrol in units of study, each worth credit points, and you need to pass the set number of units to graduate. Delivery is face-to-face at the Sydney campus, with assessment based on real project documents: schedules, risk registers, budgets, status reports. You will work through case projects in teams, which is how project work actually happens on a job site or in an office.

Sydney is where a lot of this plays out in practice. The city runs constant infrastructure, construction, IT and events projects, and project coordinators are hired across all of them. The diploma gives you the vocabulary and the paperwork habits that employers expect, how to run a meeting, how to log a change request, how to explain a schedule slip without panicking. Work-integrated learning and placement arrangements vary by intake, so check the official page for what is available in your year.

The course suits school leavers who want a fast, job-focused qualification, career changers moving into project support roles, and people already working in trades, admin or IT who want to formalise what they do. It is also a pathway: many students use a diploma to enter a bachelor degree with credit for the units they have completed. English proficiency is required for international applicants, IELTS Academic 6.0–6.5 overall is the common standard, with TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic, Cambridge C1 Advanced and the school's own English programmes accepted as equivalents. The Department of Home Affairs sets a separate English threshold for the Student visa itself. International students on a Student visa can work up to 48 hours per fortnight while studying, and may be eligible for the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream after graduating. Tuition is published on the CRICOS register. Confirm entry requirements, unit lists and intake dates on the official page before you apply.

• Project coordinator, supporting a project manager on schedules, budgets and reporting in construction, IT, government or consulting firms.
• Project administrator, maintaining project documentation, minutes, registers and financial records for a project office.
• Team leader or supervisor, running a small work package or crew, with responsibility for delivery against a plan.
• Contracts or procurement officer, managing supplier agreements and purchase orders on larger projects.
• Events coordinator, planning and delivering conferences, exhibitions and corporate events.
• Site or operations assistant, tracking progress, materials and labour on building and infrastructure jobs.

Hiring industries in Australia include construction and civil infrastructure, information technology and software, government and defence, health administration, mining and resources, banking and insurance, and events and hospitality. The diploma also gives you credit toward a bachelor degree in project management, business or construction management if you want to keep studying.