Graduate Diploma in Psychology GDip.Psych
2008

Location:	North Terrace Campus
Duration:	1 year (full time)
Degree:	Graduate Diploma

Program Outline

The Graduate Diploma in Psychology has been designed for students who have an undergraduate degree that does not include Psychology, and who now wish to study Psychology. It requires one year of full-time study, or a maximum of two years of parttime study.
It includes all the level 2 and level 3 courses required by the Australian Psychological Society (APS) to allow the student to apply for Honours Psychology.

Related Programs

Honours in Psychology

Admission Information

Admissions information for domestic and international students.

Study Plans

The study plans given are examples of pathways through this degree. For a complete description, see the program rules.

Semester I

• Psychology 2A (In 2006 topics covered were: Psychological Assessment In Organisations, Biological Bases Of Behaviour: The Human Nervous
• System, Perception, Social Psychology, Indigenous And Intercultural Psychology)
• Psychological Research Methodology 2
• Psychological Research Methodology 3

Semester II

• Psychology 2B (In 2006 topics covered were: Ageing, History Of Psychology, Human Relations, Psychology and Mental Health, Language)
• and four courses selected from the list below:

Group A

• Cognition 3
• Psychology Physiology & Behaviour 3  

Group B

• Social Psychology
• Developmental Psychology 3

Group C

• Metapsychology 3
• Human Relations 3

Note that there are some constraints on this selection. You must choose one course from each of three groups above, plus one other course.

Career Opportunities

Completion of the Honours degree opens up a number of alternative career pathways.

• At present those with four years of university study in Psychology are, after an additional two years of approved, supervised practical experience, eligible to seek registration to practise as a Psychologist in South Australia.

• Application may be made for entry into various formal courses of professional preparation. A range of such courses are offered by various universities within Australia, but typically, as is the case within this School, they are of two years’ duration and lead by coursework to a Master of Psychology degree and eligibility to seek professional registration. Once again there is competition for the limited number of places available in such programs.

• Honours graduates may also seek to enrol for a higher degree (PhD or Master) by research. These typically require two years of study for a Master degree and three to four years for a PhD. A range of scholarships are available for pursuing this option, of which the most common is the Australian Postgraduate Award. A First Class Honours degree is required to obtain one of these scholarships. Opportunities may also exist for the most elite students to complete a combined Master/PhD degree.
  

In recent years the employment prospects for psychologists have been good in comparison to many other university graduates and projections of future employment prospects continue to be comparatively optimistic.