Graduate Certificate or Diploma of Marketing

Graduate certificates in marketing are ideal for students wishing to become acquainted with basic marketing principles for the sake of practical application. The six-month duration provides just enough time to cover the fundamentals of consumer behaviour, international marketing and more. Deakin University and others offer graduate certificates in marketing just like this.

The Graduate Diploma of Marketing is a fantastic stepping stone toward a master degree in the subject but stands alone as a solid knowledge base in its own right. While most diplomas are concerned with coursework, there are a rare few that allow students to contribute research to the field, like those from the Queensland University of Technology.

Coursework diploma

These courses tend to consist of written and group activities to achieve learning outcomes. They represent a year of full-time study, or two years if taken the full time, in achieving solid foundational knowledge in fields like consumer behaviour that are covered less extensively in graduate certificate programs.

Research diploma

Research diplomas in either marketing or advertising allow students to spend a year honing their research skills to pursue a general business PhD later on. Through the rigour and discipline learned throughout this one year course, students will gain the potential to pursue a career in research.

Employment options

The most apparent use for certificates and diplomas in marketing are for business-owners wishing to improve their capacity for meeting the needs of their customers. These graduate qualifications also work well with prior bachelor degrees in business and commerce to gain employment in the positions listed here. Distribution managers, for instance, are needed by companies like Skyroad Logistics to coordinate complicated transportation and supply directives. Web content managers are needed by just about every modern company to manage engagement with their page.

Scholarships and funding

Students in these courses have access to a variety of general business scholarships. Results Migration Scholarships are an example of this and are open to a much wider variety than comparable, more general scholarships. For ambitious marketing students willing to ‘sing for their supper’ so to speak, the WSS Digital Marketing Scholarship Program is available to those willing to submit a five to seven-minute video talking about the significance of social media management for a chance to earn it.

Prerequisites and selection process

Graduate certificates in marketing usually have low entry requirements; entrants to certificate programs merely require a bachelor degree in any discipline or three years relevant work experience, as is the case for the Deakin University program.

Those wishing to pursue a diploma will encounter slightly higher restrictions. The University of Melbourne’s program, for instance, requires applicants to provide a CV showing two years minimum work experience, academic transcript, a description of goals and several referees. Other programs have less stringent requirements, but students should be prepared for these sorts of prerequisites regardless.