Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Graduate Certificate in Community Planning and Development – Bendigo (AGCCPD)
Graduate Diploma in Community Planning and Development – Bendigo (AGDCPD)
Community planning and development is about working with and shaping cities, towns and rural areas and their social, economic and physical environments, to improve them as places to live. Community planning and development aims to empower communities in all aspects of life and development and to capitalise on their human and physical resources.
The Graduate Diploma and Graduate Certificate in Community Planning and Development are designed specifically to provide education and training from sub-professional to post-professional level. The courses place an emphasis on understanding contemporary issues such as facilitating change, sustainable development, climate change, indigenous communities and water management within the context of a changing society in both urban and rural areas.
The courses are designed to provide a pathway for gaining appropriate education and training and qualifications particularly for:
- public and private-sector employees working in planning offices who do not hold formal qualifications in planning
- public and private sector employees who hold qualifications in closely allied fields who seek to change their career paths or enhance their career paths.
Admission requirements
Applicants should have a first degree from a recognised tertiary institution. Applicants who do not possess a degree but who produce evidence of equivalent academic ability and/or appropriate professional experience may be admitted at the discretion of the course coordinator.
Course structure
The Graduate Diploma is a 120-credit point course offered in a flexible delivery mode which equals one-year of full-time study or part-time equivalent. The Graduate Certificate is a 60 credit point course which equals six months of full-time study or part-time equivalent. Learning utilises both external study and conventional class-based delivery in block mode with a series of two and three-day weekend lectures, workshops and tutorials to assist students who are in full-time employment to undertake the course.
Course requirements
Candidates for the Graduate Diploma complete all of the units outlined in the grid below.
Candidates for the Graduate Certificate complete 60 credit points from the same grid.
Local students may study in part-time mode and complete their course over a longer period. International students must maintain a full-time enrolment at all times.
| Year ONE Semester 1 60 Credit Points to be completed | PLA4RMP Research Methods for planners, (20 credit points) | PLA4PSP Principles of Strategic Planning (20 credit points) | PLA4NMC Negotiation, Mediation and Community Consultation (20 credit points) |
| Year ONE Semester 2 60 Credit Points to be completed | PLA4CD Community Development (20 credit points) OR PLA4SP** Statutory and Environmental Planning (20 credit points) | PLA4PP Project Management and Professional Ethics Development (20 credit points) | PLA4CFD Climate Futures – Water, Land use and Development Implications (20 credit points) |