Graduate Certificate in Social Planning

The Graduate Certificate in Social Planning is an 18-unit program offered by the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, and normally completed in one semester full-time or the part-time equivalent.

• Admission requirements
• Course aims
• Learning outcomes
• Program of study

Admission requirements

Applicants normally must hold an approved Bachelor degree or equivalent qualification from an approved tertiary institution.

The Faculty Board may, under certain circumstances and subject to specific conditions, admit others who can show evidence of fitness for candidature.

Course aims

The Graduate Certificate in Social Planning aims to:

• enhance understanding of the complexity of social issues associated with social and urban planning;
• extend knowledge of the theories, models and techniques of social planning;
• equip students to use analytical skills to evaluate and synthesise a wide range of information needed for planning;
• develop capacity to operate at the intersection of many different views and competing ideas about how to achieve the goals of community wellbeing;
• provide an entry point to more advanced studies up to Masters level, as well as self-contained mid-career development options in the field of social planning.

Learning outcomes

Graduates will be able to:

• demonstrate a broad understanding of values, theories and practices of social planning;
• demonstrate leading edge capabilities in methods and techniques of social planning, including evaluation and social impact assessments; 
• display an understanding of social planning in the contemporary public policy context; and 
• demonstrate understanding of the role of social planning on organisational contexts.
  

Program of study

To qualify for the Graduate Certificate in Social Planning, a student must complete 18 units with a grade of P or NGP or better in each topic, according to the program of study below.  Not all topics are necessarily available in a given year.

Core topics

 SOAD9223  Social and Urban Planning  (4.5 units)
 SOAD9224  Integrative Social Planning (4.5 units)

and one 4.5 unit topic from:

Option - Public Policy topics

 PHCA8507  Health Promotion in Public Health  (4.5 units)
 POAD9014  Public Policy  (4.5 units)
 PPHR9742  Population and Environment  (4.5 units)
 SOAD9104  Social Policy (4.5 units)

and one 4.5 unit topic from:

Option - Practice topics

 PHCA8510  Leadership and the New Public Health  (4.5  units)
 POAD9135  Project Management  (4.5 units)
 POAD9137  Ethics in Public Administration  (4.5 units)
 POAD9139  Organisational Politics, Culture and Management  (4.5 units)
 SOAD9101  Community Development  (4.5 units)
 SOAD9204  Current Issues in Professional Practice  (4.5 units)