Graduate Diploma
Psychology is a discipline of both scientific research and applied practice.
Psychology is a discipline of both scientific research and applied practice. As a science, psychology is concerned with the study of behaviour and its underlying mental and neural processes.
The Graduate Diploma in Psychology provides students who have already been awarded a bachelor's degree with the opportunity to gain an accredited psychology sequence (the equivalent of an undergraduate psychology degree for accreditation purposes) in under two years part-time.
You'll develop critical thinking and skills in analysis and research methods and gain an integrated and comprehensive education in the main discipline areas, including developmental, social, cognitive, biological, physiological, abnormal psychology and research methods. This program is delivered online and runs on the UNSW online hexamester calendar
Study with the best
The UNSW School of Psychology is one of the best in Australia. We're ranked 24th in the world for psychology*, attracting award-winning staff and offering excellence and innovation in our teaching. The School of Psychology has strong links with professional practitioners in the areas of clinical, neuropsychological and forensic psychology.
Learn from industry-leading educators
You come to university to learn from the experts - researchers who are leaders in their fields, striving to create new knowledge. The School of Psychology is well known for its research tradition. Many of our staff have international reputations in their respective fields and a number are Fellows of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences. Our staff attract several million dollars in external research funds per year. Our staff publications receive more citations than any other psychology department in Australia and we have one of the highest rates of PhD graduations in psychology of any Australian university. We earn more competitive research funding and publish more Tier 1 journal articles per academic than any other psychology school in Australia.
*QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021
For entry into this program, you must hold either:
Minimum entrance requirements for admission to UNSW Sydney also apply.
Students may apply for recognition of prior knowledge if they've completed courses that are equivalent of PSYC5001 and PSYC5002. If students have completed these introductory courses as part of their prior degree, they may apply to have this counted as prior knowledge and will not be required to complete these units.
Please note that UNSW graduates holding a bachelor's degree in Psychology or Psychology major are not eligible to apply.
You may be asked to provide evidence of your English proficiency to study at UNSW depending on your educational background and citizenship. English language skills are vitally important for coping with lectures, tutorials, assignments and examinations - this is why UNSW requires a minimum English language competency for enrolment.
If you do need to provide evidence of your English proficiency, this will be indicated in your application. You can prove this by providing evidence that you meet one or more of the following criteria:
UNSW Global offers courses and programs designed to help you reach the English language level required for entry into your chosen degree. Different options are available depending on your current English language level. Learn more
For entry into this program, you must hold either:
Minimum entrance requirements for admission to UNSW Sydney also apply.
Students may apply for recognition of prior knowledge if they've completed courses that are equivalent of PSYC5001 and PSYC5002. If students have completed these introductory courses as part of their prior degree, they may apply to have this counted as prior knowledge and will not be required to complete these units.
Please note that UNSW graduates holding a bachelor's degree in Psychology or Psychology major are not eligible to apply.
You may be asked to provide evidence of your English proficiency to study at UNSW depending on whether you are from an English-speaking background or non-English speaking background. English language skills are vitally important for coping with lectures, tutorials, assignments and examinations - this is why UNSW requires a minimum English language competency for enrolment.
If English is not your first language, you'll need to provide proof of your English proficiency before you can be given an offer to study at UNSW. You can do this by providing evidence that you meet one or more of the following criteria:
If you need to improve your English skills before you start your degree, UNSW College's Academic English Programs are for you. The programs are suitable for various English levels and help you prepare for university studies and life in Australia.
The skills acquired during training in psychology are extremely valuable to a wide variety of careers within both the public and private sector.
These include clinical and health settings such as clinics and hospitals, counselling, developmental care, public, community and occupational health, as well as community development and relations, copyrighting, management consultancy, human resources, recruitment, training and development, industrial relations, banking, journalism, marketing, business and retail management, statistical and data analysis, and many other areas.
This is an APAC-accredited 1.7 year (full-time) bridging sequence in psychology. This program is the first step on the pathway to becoming a registered professional psychologist with the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council.