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Master of Education (Graduate Diploma, Graduate Certificate)

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Course Designations

A Masters, Graduate Diploma or Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies may be obtained in any of the following designations:

Please note: Some streams are offered at either a Graduate Diploma or a Graduate Certificate level only.

Course Requirements - Master of Education

To be awarded the Master of Education degree, you need to successfuly complete 8 units of study. The Faculty offers three forms of this degree:

  1. Candidates can graduate with a designated degree. Students concentrate their studies in one of the designated Master of Education programs and graduate with a degree that indicates their area of specialisation, eg 'Master of Education (Special Education)'. To complete a designated MEd, candidates need to take a minimum of 6 units from within one program (you need to complete all the Core units, and the correct number of Optional units to total 6 units) and the balance from anywhere else within the Masters course.
  2. Candidates can graduate with a general Master of Education degree. This approach is best suited to those students who have a broad range of interests. To complete this form of degree, you still need to choose one area of interest and take four units from that area. These units normally include two Core and two Optional units from your chosen program. The four remaining units come from any of the other programs.
  3. Candidates can also fulfill the requirements of the MEd award by undertaking and successfully completing the required 6 units of study and a dissertation with an upper limit of 12,000 words.
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Course Requirements - Graduate Diploma in Educational Studies

To qualify for a Graduate Diploma, candidates must successfully complete six units, four from a single designated area offered. Students will normally complete two Core units and two Co-requisite units or Elective units from the selected designation, and the remaining two units to be chosen from any stream. A part time candidate could complete the requirements in three semesters by undertaking two units per semester. It is also possible to extend this candidature over three years with one unit completed per semester. The Graduate Diploma in Educational Studies is designated in that it carries the name of your chosen designated area, eg 'Graduate Diploma in Educational Studies (Special Education)'.

The Graduate Diploma is articulated with the MEd degree. That is, if you have completed the GradDip and not taken out the award, it is possible to enrol in the Master of Education and receive full credit for the completed units (but only within six years of finishing the Diploma). You only need to complete another two units to be awarded the MEd. If you have followed the correct pattern in the Diploma, you would need to choose units according to one of these two models to be awarded the MEd:

  1. For a designated degree:
    It is possible to qualify for a designated MEd only in the same program area as you studied in the Graduate Diploma. you must complete at least two units from your designated area unless you have already completed all six units in a designated area. In this case the remainder can come from any other area of study within the coursework program.
  2. For a general degree:
    You are able to choose units from any of the coursework programs. Remember, however, that the usual requirements regarding course selection apply.
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Course Requirements - Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies

The Graduate Certificate requires a candidate to complete four units from a single program, ie two Core units and two Co-requisite and/or Optional units. The Graduate Certificates, however, are not designated like the Graduate Diplomas except for the Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies (Higher Education).

The GradCert can be articulated with the Graduate Diploma and Master of Education. The four units will be fully credited to either candidature as long as enrolment takes place within six years of completing the Graduate Certificate and the student has not taken out the award.

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