Flexibility
The program is designed for busy animal health professionals and is not currently offered on a full time basis. We understand that many postgraduate students have work and family pressures on their time. The flexible delivery of this program allows you to enrol in as few units of study as you need in order to make your study manageable.
Course Length
- The Graduate Certificate can be taken between 2 and 4 semesters (1-2 years); or additional semesters with permission from the Dean
- The Graduate Diploma can be taken between 4 and 6 semesters (2-3 years); or additional semesters with permission from the Dean
- The full Masters degree can be taken between 6 and 8 semesters; (3 -4 years) or additional semesters with permission from the Dean
Examples of progression through the program
Transfer of Candidature
Many students find that they feel more comfortable enrolling in the Graduate Certificate or the Graduate Diploma in the first instance to see how they go in the early semesters before committing to the full Masters program.
If you are enrolled in a Graduate Certificate or Graduate Diploma and wish to transfer your candidature, you can do so by submitting an Application to Transfer Candidature form to the Faculty by 31 March(Semester 1) or 31 August(Semester 2) of each academic year. If you would like to know more about transferring your candidature, contact Program Administration on +61 2 9036 6364 or .
Setting Aside Study Time
Most units of study in the VPHMgt program are 3-credit points and are studied online over a 7-week period. You should be prepared to spend a minimum of 75 hours overall on each 3-credit point unit of study. This equates to around 10-11 hours per week.
There are however, a few exceptions to this:
Leadership, People & Organisations
Leadership, People & Organisations is a 6 credit point unit of study (approx 150 learning hours overall) that is studied over a 5 day residential and then online for 7 weeks. The residential also includes some non-Leadership material. After the residential you will spend approximately 6 weeks in further discussion and approximately one additional week completing a group assessment task (completing in week 7). You should set aside approximately 10 - 15 hours per week for this unit during weeks 1 - 7.
Project Management
Project Management is a 6 credit point unit of study (approx 150 learning hours overall) that is taken over a 3 day residential and then online over the whole semester. You should set aside approximately 7 - 9 hours per week for this unit during weeks 1 - 14.
Leadership: Managing Change
Leadership: Managing Change is a 3-credit point unit of study (approx 75 learning hours overall) taken over a 3 day residential with a low-level online component for 7 weeks. You should set aside approximately 5 - 7 hours per week for this unit.
Research Projects
Research papers are unique pieces of work and the time spent on them can vary considerably from project to project. For a 6 credit point project you should expect to spend a minimum of 150 hours and a minimum of 300 hours for a 12 credit point project. Although you will usually be enrolled in the research paper unit(s) over a 14 week period, you will spread your project tasks over one whole year. Research papers require some planning and guidance will be provided to help you to do this.