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Graduate Certificate in Gerontology (GC-GERON)
Graduate CertificateYear: 2024 Delivered: Online
About this course
- Overview
- Entry and participation requirements
- Attributes, outcomes and skills
- Course structure
- Majors, minors and specialisations
Contact
Email: continuing-education@unimelb.edu.au
Phone: + 61 3 8344 0149
Contact hours: https://unimelb.edu.au/professional-development/contact-us
Teaching Lead:
Dr Alice Rota-Bartelink
Overview
Award title | Graduate Certificate in Gerontology |
---|---|
Year & campus | 2024 — Parkville |
Fees information | Subject EFTSL, level, discipline and census date |
Study level & type | Graduate Coursework |
AQF level | 8 |
Credit points | 50 credit points |
Duration | 6 months full-time or 12 months part-time |
This course examines the complex and growing challenges of an ageing worldwide population. The Graduate Certificate provides specialised knowledge and skills to understand ageing as a social, physical and psychological experience within the context of national policies and models of health and community care. The disciplines of population health, nursing, physiotherapy, social work, psychology, demography, architecture and design, technology, computing and information systems and economics contribute to the course.
Students have the opportunity to select interest areas from a range of subjects focused on ageing and its implications, in diverse settings and contexts, including health care, workforce, housing, economic and social policy and technological advances supporting healthy ageing and aged care. The course provides a specialised focus on gerontology for clinicians, health care managers, social and community care providers and policy makers.
There is also a specialist nursing stream for the nursing workforce from inpatient settings such as aged care and hospitals, where age-related issues are contributing factors to presentations and specialist nursing knowledge in assessment and management is required. Specialised nursing care is also essential in community settings including primary care and home-based services. This stream is comprised of two compulsory nursing subjects – Applied Pathophysiology and Health Assessment for Advanced Practice 1; along with two matched compulsory gerontology subjects – Body of Ageing and Mental Health and Ageing.
The compulsory subject, NURS90067 Health Assessment for Advanced Practice 1, in this course requires the support of a clinical supervisor/s in the student’s practice environment. Students who are unable to meet this requirement must enrol in the standard pathway rather than the Gerontology Nursing specialisation.
Entry requirements
1. In order to be considered for entry, applicants must have completed:
- An undergraduate degree in any discipline, or equivalent;
And if intending to undertake the nursing specialisation, applicants must have:
- Completed a Bachelor of Nursing or equivalent; and
- Documented evidence of clinical practice within the preceding five years from the time of application; and
- Current unrestricted registration as a Division 1 Registered Nurse with AHPRA or equivalent registration with an international health practitioner regulation agency; and
- Current employment of a minimum of three (3) days or 24 hours per week in a nursing role in a relevant clinical setting.
- A practice environment in which the support of a clinical supervisor/s is available.
Meeting these requirements does not guarantee selection.
2. In ranking applications, the Selection Committee will consider:
- Prior academic performance; and
- Professional work experience.
3. The Selection Committee may seek further information to clarify any aspect of an application in accordance with the Academic Board rules on the use of selection instruments.
4. Applicants are required to satisfy the university’s English language requirements for postgraduate courses. For those applicants seeking to meet these requirements by one of the standard tests approved by the Academic Board, performance Band 6.5 is required.
Notes:
(a) Students are able to undertake the full Graduate Certificate in Gerontology online.
(b) The Graduate Certificate in Gerontology is not registered on the Commonwealth Register of Institutions. It is only available to international students via distance learning.
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this course are articulated in the Course Description, Course Objectives and Generic Skills of this entry. The University is dedicated to providing support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website.
Intended learning outcomes
On completion of the Graduate Certificate in Gerontology, students will be able to:
Knowledge
- Describe fundamental concepts, approaches and current practices in gerontology
- Identify key physical and psycho-social influences on the ageing experience.
Skills
- Identify and discuss key challenges in gerontology
- Evaluate strategies and policies aimed at promoting healthy and productive ageing across the lifespan
- Articulate and communicate ageing issues to both specialist and non-specialist audiences in written and oral form.
Application of knowledge and skills
- Demonstrate the application of gerontological knowledge and skills to current challenges
- Apply knowledge of the ageing experience from conceptual and practical dimensions of the course to develop solutions to ageing issues.
Generic skills
Students who complete this course should develop a number of generic skills that will enhance their capacity in:
- Integrating knowledge from multiple disciplines to take a comparative and global perspective
- Research through competent use of advanced information sources and retrieval of appropriate information
- Critical and theoretical thinking through presentations, research papers, conceptualising theoretical problems, forming arguments from conflicting evidence, and by critical analysis
- Time management and planning through organising workloads, tasks and projects
- Team work through online discussions and peer feedback.
Graduate attributes
Students will embody a number of the key graduate attributes of the University of Melbourne. In particular, they will develop an understanding of their social and civic responsibilities in the domain of public policy, health care provision and as private individuals. With the ability to recognise, explore and critically analyse issues around ageing and their proposed solutions from an informed perspective, students will be confident in contributing to a meaningful public discourse in this field.
Academically excellent across disciplines
- The Graduate Certificate in Gerontology will be subject to a continuous cycle of review through constant refinements in teaching and learning principles and approaches. Subject coordinators for the Graduate Certificate in Gerontology subjects are members of the Gerontology Steering Committee, which meets regularly to ensure appropriate integration and complementarity of teaching and learning approaches. In addition, the subjects offered are taught by several different faculties at the University of Melbourne, which leads to a strong interdisciplinary experience. All of the instructors involved with the Graduate Certificate in Gerontology bring outstanding pedagogical skills, substantive knowledge and practical experience.
Leaders in communities
- The Graduate Certificate in Gerontology facilitates the development of excellent interpersonal and communication skills through subject content and assessment practices, and through commitment to small-group interactive teaching and learning environments. The provision of knowledge transfer opportunities enables the development of public discourse skills and an extensive awareness of community issues and global needs.
Attuned to cultural diversity
- The Graduate Certificate in Gerontology offers students education in aspects of cultural diversity and identity. One of the subjects offered in the course, Ageing in Society, is concerned specifically and analytically with cross-cultural perspectives on how prevailing social contexts shapes ideas, relationships and practices with implications for older people. In addition, the subjects offered in the Graduate Certificate in Gerontology include international examples of policies, case studies and strategies and cohorts generally include students from different parts of the world. Students will have ample opportunity to learn from experiences outside their own immediate cultures.
Active global citizens
- Graduate Certificate in Gerontology graduates will be equipped to be active global citizens by virtue of their academic excellence, their interdisciplinary knowledge, their community leadership capabilities and their cultural awareness.
Course structure
Students must complete any four subjects for the standard pathway
OR
Complete the Nursing specialisation.
Course Structure & Available Subjects:
Standard pathway students choose FOUR subjects from the following list:
Code | Name | Study period | Credit Points |
---|---|---|---|
POPH90256 | Ageing in Society | Term 2 (Online) |
12.5 |
POPH90258 | Economics of Ageing | Term 4 (Online) |
12.5 |
POPH90257 | Body of Ageing | Term 3 (Online) |
12.5 |
POPH90260 | No longer available | ||
POPH90264 | Global Population Ageing | Not available in 2024 | 12.5 |
PSYT90092 | Mental Health and Ageing | Term 4 (Online) |
12.5 |
POPH90273 | No longer available | ||
POPH90267 | Ageing Health & Human Services | Term 4 (Online) |
12.5 |
ABPL90377 | Design for Ageing | Term 2 (Online) |
12.5 |
POPH90263 | Technology and Ageing | Term 4 (Online) |
12.5 |
NURS90076 | Applied Pathophysiology |
January (Online)
July (Online)
|
12.5 |
NURS90067 | Health Assessment for Advanced Practice1 | Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville) |
12.5 |
POPH90270 | Bioethics in Practice | Semester 1 (Dual-Delivery - Parkville) |
12.5 |
OR
The Nursing specialisation is comprised of two compulsory nursing subjects:
Code | Name | Study period | Credit Points |
---|---|---|---|
NURS90076 | Applied Pathophysiology |
January (Online)
July (Online)
|
12.5 |
NURS90067 | Health Assessment for Advanced Practice1 | Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville) |
12.5 |
Please note: The compulsory subject, NURS90067 Health Assessment for Advanced Practice1, in this course requires the support of a clinical supervisor/s in the student’s practice environment. Students who are unable to meet this requirement must enrol in the standard pathway rather than the Gerontology Nursing specialisation.
AND
TWO matched compulsory gerontology subjects:
Code | Name | Study period | Credit Points |
---|---|---|---|
POPH90257 | Body of Ageing | Term 3 (Online) |
12.5 |
PSYT90092 | Mental Health and Ageing | Term 4 (Online) |
12.5 |
Majors, minors & specialisations
Name | Credit Points |
---|---|
Standard Pathway | 50 |
Gerontology Nursing | 50 |
Last updated: 12 February 2024