Advanced Diploma of Hospitality Management

The Advanced Diploma of Hospitality Management is a two-year qualification for people who want to run hospitality operations rather than just work in them. You cover the areas that decide whether a venue makes money: rostering and labour cost, stock control and purchasing, food and beverage service, front office and accommodation, marketing, budgeting, and the legal side of liquor licensing, food safety and workplace health and safety. Assessment is practical as much as written, so you spend time on service scenarios, operational plans and case work rather than only exams.

Australian qualifications are built from units of study, each carrying credit points, delivered across semesters or trimesters. This advanced diploma sits at the diploma level of the Australian Qualifications Framework, below a bachelor degree, and typically includes a work placement or industry-based component because hospitality employers expect you to have stood on a real floor. Some providers arrange placements with hotels, restaurants, clubs, catering companies or event venues; others expect you to source your own hours. Check with Western Sydney College before you enrol.

What you finish with is a working knowledge of how a venue operates day to day. You can write a roster that meets a wage budget, cost a menu, handle a difficult guest, brief a team, and keep records that satisfy a council or liquor authority inspection. Those skills transfer across hotels, pubs, clubs, cafes, function centres and food service operations.

This suits school leavers who want a practical route into hospitality, career changers moving from front-line jobs into supervision, and people already working in the industry who need formal recognition to step up to duty manager or department head. It also gives a pathway into further study, many graduates use it for credit towards a bachelor degree in hospitality, tourism or business. English proficiency is required for international applicants; check the current requirement and course details on the official CRICOS register and with Western Sydney College directly. Student visa holders can work up to 48 hours per fortnight while studying, and graduates may be eligible for the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream.

• Duty manager or shift supervisor in hotels, pubs, clubs and restaurants
• Food and beverage supervisor or restaurant manager
• Front office supervisor or rooms division coordinator
• Functions and events coordinator
• Banquet or catering operations supervisor
• Bar or gaming venue supervisor
• Kitchen operations or purchasing coordinator
• Small hospitality business owner or operator

Employers include hotels and resorts, licensed clubs, restaurants and cafe groups, contract caterers, event and conference venues, aged care and hospital food service, and tourism operators across Australia.