Masters (Coursework)
Build the leadership, managerial and analytical skills to influence positive change in healthcare with the Master of Health and Human Services Management. Open the door to senior roles within the health sector and use your platform to improve healthcare delivery and contribute to healthier communities.
Want the skills to lead from the front in the growing health and human services sector?
Healthcare managers are collectively responsible for managing the many billions of taxpayer dollars that fund this area. That is a significant responsibility, but it's also an incredible opportunity to make positive changes that benefit individuals, communities and countries. With a Master of Health and Human Services Management, you'll have a significant role to play not just in the allocation of precious resources, but also in the way healthcare organisations operate, evolve and deliver health services into the future.
The course is about more than just applying business and management skills in a health context. It explores what best practice looks like in the complex world of health services management. Everything you learn - and the way you learn - prepares you to navigate the exact challenges faced by health and human services professionals today.
Develop core skills that allow you to make evidence-based decisions that improve the quality of health services, including:
You will have the opportunity to select from a broad range of elective units across five specialisation areas: public health, health economics, business administration, disability and inclusion and research. Electives allow you to build an impressive set of specialised skills curated to your unique interests and career goals. Whether you see yourself managing a clinic or hospital, leading projects promoting mental health, or shaping policy at a government level, you will graduate with the skills to manage every challenge your role throws at you.
For those who like to learn by doing, the course's many practical learning opportunities are a highlight. In particular, the new work-integrated learning elective allows you to undertake 150 hours of valuable industry experience. This can be an agency-based work placement with one of our many industry partners, or agency-sponsored work based at the Deakin Freelancing Hub. These projects convert the theoretical knowledge you gain through coursework into lived experience, which in turn boosts your work readiness and employability. They also allow you to work alongside influential figures in the health services sector and build professional networks that unlock new career pathways. On top of that, you can gain a global perspective of leading management practices by joining an overseas study tour, and get even more industry experience with an internship at a prominent NGO, such as the United Nations.
The healthcare sector is projected to be Australia's biggest and fastest-growing sector over the next five years*. With a Master of Health and Human Services Management, you will have an incredibly important role to play in managing the new projects, services and jobs that emerge from this growth.
Your specialised skills combined with your practical experience will prepare you for management and leadership roles across a variety of areas including:
Recent graduates have gone on to work in international agencies with a presence in public health, divisions of general practice, health administration departments, hospitals and associated networks.
* Australian Government National Skills Commission Industry Employment Outlook 2021
To complete the Master of Health and Human Services Management students must attain 16 credit points. All units except Major Research Project units are equal to 1 credit point.
The course comprises 10 core units (these are compulsory) and 6 Specialisation units (you can choose which ones to study according to the prescribed units in each of the Specialisations in the course structure).
All commencing Faculty of Health Undergraduate and Postgraduate course work students are required to complete HAI010 Academic Integrity in their first trimester of study (0 credit point compulsory unit).
Students are required to meet the University's academic progress and conduct requirements. Click here for more information.
The University aims to provide students with as much credit as possible for approved prior study or informal learning which exceeds the normal entrance requirements for the course and is within the constraints of the course regulations. Students are required to complete a minimum of one-third of the course at Deakin University, or four credit points, whichever is the greater. In the case of certificates, including graduate certificates, a minimum of two credit points within the course must be completed at Deakin.
You can also refer to the Recognition of Prior Learning System which outlines the credit that may be granted towards a Deakin University degree and how to apply for credit.