Master of Mental Health Nursing

What you will study

You must complete 12 units (72 credits):

Core units (six credit points each)

• Contextual Foundations of Mental Health Nursing Practice
• Mental Health Nursing Assessment and Formulation
• Creating Meaningful Relationships
• Clinical Foundations for Practice
• Recovery Into Action
• Mental Health Promotion
• Advanced Mental Health Nursing Skills
• Alcohol and Other Drugs
• Foundations of Scholarship 1
• Foundations of Scholarship 2
• Preparing for Scholarship
• Production of Scholarship

Entry requirements

To be eligible for entry into this course, applicants must supply:

• Current Registered Nurse (Division 1) registration with the Australian Health Practitioners Regulatory Authority (AHPRA).
• And a letter of employment demonstrating current employment in a setting that requires the use of mental health nursing skills.

Letters of employment must be presented on company letterhead and signed and dated by a delegated authority. The letter must contain your full name, position title, duties performed and length of service.

English language requirements

If you were not born in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa or the United States of America, you are required to meet the English Language Proficiency requirements set by the University. Applicants are required to provide evidence of completion of:

• A secondary qualification (Year 11 and 12, or equivalent).
• An Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) diploma-level qualification.
• Bachelor-level qualification study for a period of at least two years full-time with a minimum overall GPA of 4.0.

Completed within Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, South Africa, Ireland, or the United States of America, which will meet the English proficiency.

If you do not satisfy any of the above, you will need to undertake an English language proficiency test and achieve the following scores as below:

• An International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic) overall band score of at least 6.0 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each subset.
• A test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) - Requires 550 or better overall and a minimum TWE score of 4.5 (Paper Based Test), or 75 or better overall and no score less than 17 (Internet Based Test).
• Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic) - Requires an overall score of 54 with no sub-score less than 46.
• An Occupational English Test with Grades A or B only in each of the four components.

English test results remain valid for no more than two years between the final examination date and the date of commencement of study and must appear on a single result certificate.

Outcomes

Career outcomes

The Master of Mental Health Nursing provides registered nurses with a mental health nursing-specific high-level post-graduate qualification. This qualification has the potential to create many exciting and rewarding opportunities for graduates, including increased financial remuneration from some employers. Graduates will attain the competency and confidence to undertake the many positions in mental health nursing leadership available within the healthcare industry: clinical nurse specialist, nurse consultant and nurse unit manager. This qualification will also provide registered nurses with a competitive edge in order to apply for promotion. The research component of the course will allow graduates to move into research roles and even lead applied clinical research.

Fees and CSP

Indicative first-year tuition fee in 2025: $4,624 (Commonwealth Supported Place)

Indicative first-year tuition fee in 2025: $17,616 (domestic full-fee paying place)

The indicative first-year fee is the approximate cost of enrolling in this course for one academic year depending on the type of place you are offered, for example, a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP) or full-fee paying (FFP) place. For a graduate certificate, this is usually four units studied full-time over one term or part-time over two terms.

A student’s annual fee may vary in accordance with:

• The number of units studied per term.
• The choice of major or specialisation.
• Choice of units.
• Credit from previous study or work experience.
• Eligibility for government-funded loans.

Student fees shown are subject to change. Contact the university directly to confirm.

Commonwealth Supported Places

The Australian Government allocates a certain number of CSPs to the universities each year, which are then distributed to students based on merit.

If you're a Commonwealth Supported Student (CSS), you'll only need to pay a portion of your tuition fees. This is known as the student contribution amount – the balance once the government subsidy is applied. This means your costs are much lower.

Limited CSP spaces are offered to students enrolled in selected postgraduate courses.

Your student contribution amount is:

• Calculated per unit you're enrolled in.
• Depending on the study areas they relate to.
• Reviewed and adjusted each year.

HECS-HELP loans are available to CSP students to pay the student contribution amount.

FEE-HELP loans are available to assist eligible full-fee-paying domestic students with the cost of a university course.