To gain your Graduate Certificate in Mental Health Nursing from Southern Cross University, you need to complete any four subjects from a list of eight. The flexible, accelerated course gives you 24-hour access to your coursework so you can fit your studies around your busy schedule.
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Difference Between a Graduate Certificate and Diploma
The main difference between a Graduate Certificate and a Graduate Diploma in the field of nursing is the length of study. While a graduate certificate typically consists of four subjects, a graduate diploma is double the length, at eight subjects.
Entry requirements are generally similar, stipulating that you need a university degree and, for nursing-specific courses, this should be a Bachelor of Nursing or equivalent. Whether it's a grad cert or grad dip, the level of study is essentially the same. In both cases, subjects are normally drawn from a larger master's program.
An advantage of the Graduate Certificate in Mental Health Nursing from Southern Cross University is that you can seamlessly continue studying for a Graduate Diploma of Mental Health Nursing (8 subjects in total) or a Master of Mental Health Nursing (12 subjects in total). You can think of the grad cert as half of a grad dip and a third of a master's degree.
Because it is a longer course, requiring double the study effort, a graduate diploma may carry more weight in the job market than a graduate certificate. However, both qualifications are rated highly and both are classified as Level 8 in the Australian Qualifications Framework.