Adelaide University
Graduate Certificate in Nursing
- Delivery: Face to Face
- Study Level: Postgraduate
- Duration: 12 months
Learn specialised skills to improve your performance in clinical practice.
Course overview
Adelaide University’s Graduate Certificate in Nursing is your opportunity to learn specialised skills and enhance your delivery in clinical practice.
This highly customisable qualification reflects the diversity and needs of the modern nursing workforce. Choose a specialised path with set career outcomes in growing areas of key industry need. Or choose from over 40 different electives to customise a degree that meets the specific needs of your current and future roles.
Regardless of your path, you’ll be better prepared to meet challenges and become a leader in the healthcare system. Use your enhanced skills to influence and inform your workplace and better understand your role within Australia’s healthcare system.
This qualification is designed for working professionals, fit study around your life with online and part-time study options. Engage in self-guided learning, face-to-face workshops with your peers and collaborative work opportunities within your existing workplace.
You’ll graduate with the skills to step into much-needed advanced clinical practice roles and make a difference in your role.
CSP Subsidised Fees Available
This program has a limited quota of Commonwealth Supported Places (CSP). The indicative CSP price is calculated based on first year fees for EFT. The actual fee may vary if there are choices in electives or majors.
Key facts
July, 2026
What you will study
To qualify for the Graduate Certificate in Nursing, the student must complete 24 units comprising:
Either:
- 24 units from Discipline courses.
- 24 units for Electives.
- 24 units for one Specialisation from Specialisation.
Complete 24 units comprising:
24 units from Program electives
- Epidemiology for Advanced Practice
- Oncology Nursing
- Perspectives in Mental Health Practice
- Perinatal Mental Health for Health Professionals
- Skills for Recovery Practice in Mental Health
- Best Practice in Adolescent Mental Health
- Best Practice in Older People's Mental Health
- Foundations of Teaching and Learning in Health Education
- Implementing Teaching and Learning in Health Education
- Allergy Nursing
- Nephrology Nursing
- Perioperative Nursing
- Introduction to High Acuity Nursing and Midwifery
- Palliative Care Nursing
Entry requirement
To be eligible, an applicant must have achieved the following minimum entry requirements and demonstrate they fulfill any prerequisite and essential criteria for admission. In cases where there are more eligible applicants than available places, admission will be competitive with ranks based on the entry criteria.
- A completed bachelor degree (AQF level 7) or higher from a recognised higher education institution.
- Hold or be eligible to hold registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA).
Outcomes
Career outcomes
Nursing is a rewarding, challenging and constantly changing profession. By embracing further study, you can shape a lifelong career that grows with you.
By upskilling with a Graduate Certificate in Nursing, you’ll be able to meet patient needs when and where they matter most. Depending on your chosen electives, you’ll feel confident to work in a wider variety of nursing roles or can move into a specialised practice area.
You may find yourself working in a public hospital emergency department, ready to stabilise patients on the cusp of life and death. You could work in a community mental health clinic, counselling patients and equipping them with coping mechanisms to reduce risk or you could work in a private surgery practice, keeping watch over patients having life-changing elective surgery.
Fees and CSP
Estimated student contribution amount per 1.0 EFTSL (48 units) in 2026: $4,738 (Commonwealth Supported Place).
Commonwealth-supported students are charged a portion of the cost of their higher education through a student contribution. Where the duration of the program is less than one year, the total cost of the program is displayed.
Commonwealth Supported Places (CSP)
A Commonwealth Supported Place is a higher education place where the Australian Government subsidises your fees so that you only pay a portion through a student contribution amount.
The amount of student contribution you’ll pay depends on:
- Number of courses you are enrolled in.
- Unit value of courses.
- Funding cluster your courses fall under.
A HECS-HELP loan allows students to borrow from the Australian Government to cover some or all of their student contribution. To be eligible for HECS-HELP, you must be studying in a Commonwealth Supported Place.
