Graduate Diploma in Sustainability

By tackling key global issues, the Graduate Diploma in Sustainability will equip you to further your career in diverse areas from environmental science to finance, from law to urban planning, and from sustainable building design to public health.

You’ll learn about energy conservation, population health, food security, sustainability policy, and sustainability analysis tools.In this one-year postgraduate course you will boost your education with an understanding of complex sustainability challenges and discover tools to measure, report on and identify solutions to these challenges.

Building on the Graduate Certificate in Sustainability, the Graduate Diploma in Sustainability has been developed in collaboration with the University's sustainability experts and industry professionals from areas such as energy, finance, the media, planning, health, law, and government.

It aims to turn you into a sustainability professional able to extend your discipline-specific skills with an appreciation of the technological, commercial, legal, governmental and societal imperatives underpinning sustainability issues.

Offering excellent flexibility, the sustainability program lets you tailor your subjects to suit your background and career interests.

First, you will build a foundation in sustainability, with core units including health and population, energy and resources, food and water security, policy and governance, social change, and sustainability analysis tools.

Then, you will broaden your study of sustainability by choosing your electives across a range of areas or focus on one aspect by choosing related electives.

You may also consider going on to complete the Master of Sustainability and complete a capstone project.

By joining the sustainability program at the University of Sydney, you will be part of a truly multidisciplinary experience.

Six faculties across the University deliver core content, and nine faculties teaching into the program’s electives.

You will be guided by the University’s experts, who are leaders in their fields internationally, and also from industry professionals, who partner with the program as guest speakers and mentors to provide insight into a range of workplaces.

You will gain both a theoretical understanding and applied skills to connect sustainability processes to specific areas of business, development, health and policy, among others.

With this new understanding of sustainability, you’ll have the tools to change your approach to your current work or embark on an entirely new career.

Admission requirement

For admission to this course, you should have a Bachelor degree from any discipline. Applicants who do not meet the requirements for admission into the Graduate Diploma in Sustainability may wish to consider applying for entry into the Graduate Certificate in Sustainability. As part of the embedded program, upon successful completion of the Graduate Certificate in Sustainability, students may gain entry to the Graduate Diploma in Sustainability through an internal "upgrade". In turn, upon successful completion of the Graduate Diploma in Sustainability, students may gain entry to the Master of Sustainability through an internal "upgrade".

There are no Commonwealth Supported Places (CSP) available in the Graduate Diploma in Sustainability. However, a very limited number of CSP may be available to domestic applicants for the Master of Sustainability from year to year.

What you'll study