Specialist Certificate in Empowering Health in Aboriginal Communities (SC-EHAC)

The Specialist Certificate in Empowering Health in Aboriginal Communities introduces students to health related knowledges from critical social science and Aboriginal cultural perspectives. It will specifically examine the integration, overlap, and disjuncture of Aboriginal knowledges and Western knowledges of health in which Aboriginal health services operate (focus of the first subject). Students are then supported in the application of this learning to undertake a project within an Aboriginal community on a topic selected by the student in consultation with the community (undertaken as part of the second 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 communities as well as community development and project management skills.

The course requires completion of two compulsory subjects delivered in a blended mode. 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.

Graduates of the Specialist Certificate are given advanced standing into the Master of Public Health (representing 25 credit points towards that degree); as well as eligibility to progress to the Graduate Certificate in Aboriginal Health in Rural Communities.