Graduate Certificate in Aboriginal Health in Rural Communities (GC-AHRC)

The Graduate Certificate in Aboriginal Health in Rural Communities is designed to develop students understanding of health‐related knowledges, their applications in Aboriginal communities, and the broadly social factors that influence experiences of health in Aboriginal community settings. Specifically, the course examines the integration, overlap, and disjuncture of Aboriginal knowledges and Western knowledges of health in which Aboriginal health services operate (the first compulsory subject), and how historical, social and cultural processes as well as processes of power impact upon the health experiences of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Australians. It also includes undertaking a community‐based project within an Aboriginal health setting (the second compulsory subject). In undertaking this course, students will gain advanced understanding of how both Aboriginal and Western knowledges can be applied to the field of health in rural Aboriginal communities. It will provide students with strong analytical and critical thinking skills as well as skills in community development, project management and basic research that, in consultation with community and academic mentors, will assist individual students to achieve their academic and professional career objectives.

The course requires completion of two compulsory subjects delivered in a blended mode through the Department of Rural Health, and two elective subjects from the Master of Public Health program. For the two compulsory subjects, students attend short teaching intensive days on campus (Shepparton) totalling no more than two weeks per semester in at least two time blocks, allowing for the majority of time to be spent in community with online tutorials and other individualised supports. The Department of Rural Health will then support students to complete two additional electives chosen from a selection of subjects delivered through the School of Population and Global Health as part of the Master of Public Health that focus on further developing students understanding of how historical, social and cultural processes as well as processes of power impact upon health experiences and outcomes.

Graduates of the graduate certificate are given advanced standing in the Master of Public Health (representing 50 credit points towards that degree).