Graduate Diploma of Communication

2025 Deakin University Handbook

Year	2025 course information
Award granted	Graduate Diploma of Communication
Deakin course code	A639
Course version	4
Faculty	Faculty of Arts and Education
Course Information	For students who commenced from 2018 onwards
Campus	Offered at Burwood (Melbourne), Online
Duration	1 year full-time or part-time equivalent
Course Map - enrolment planning tool	This course map is for new students commencing from Trimester 1 2025. This course map is for new students commencing from Trimester 2 2025. Course maps for commencement in previous years are available on the Course Maps webpage or please contact a Student Adviser in Student Central.
CRICOS code	084026F Burwood (Melbourne)
Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) recognition	The award conferred upon completion is recognised in the Australian Qualifications Framework at Level 8

Course sub-headings

Course overview

Take your career to new heights in an industry famed for its progression and pace. Advance your current skillset, expand your professional network and actively contribute to real industry challenges.

Looking for an adaptable communications qualification that will solidify your expertise and boost your employment opportunities?

With unprecedented advancement in technology and the increasing globalisation of business enterprises, strategic communication and critical thinking skills are a highly valued, modern-day commodity. Deakin’s Graduate Diploma of Communication gives you the specialist knowledge and skills to empower you to thrive in roles that influence and shape opinion.

Tailor your degree to your career goals – undertake intensive study in journalism, television production, public relations, digital media, or visual communication design, or explore cross-disciplinary study. Enjoy a flexible, supported and stimulating learning environment, while collaborating with like-minded students, including those already working in industry. Learn from experienced staff and experts in the field, who ensure our course content stays up to date with the latest technological advances, industry demands and market conditions.

Explore theoretical concepts and frameworks and learn how to apply them in a practical setting. With internship and work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunities available, you can enhance your employment capabilities while expanding your professional networks.

The Graduate Diploma of Communication is also an articulation pathway into the Master of Communication. Should you be interested in continuing your studies, you can apply for recognition of prior learning (RPL) upon successful completion of this course.

Whether you’re looking to upskill, change roles or challenge yourself in a new discipline, you will graduate a holistic and adaptable communications practitioner well-prepared for the inevitable industry advances, challenges, and opportunities yet to come.

Career opportunities

Now more than ever is a great time to be in the media and communications industry. From media agencies and newsrooms, to publications, community relations and government organisations, anywhere in the world – the career opportunities are vast.

Our Graduate Diploma of Communication can prepare you for roles such as:

public relations specialist
investigative journalist
corporate affairs director
media adviser
communications consultant
technical writer
visual designer
social media manager

For more information go to DeakinTALENT.

Participation requirements

Reasonable adjustments to participation and other course requirements will be made for students with a disability. More information available at Disability support services.

Mandatory student checks

Any unit which contains work integrated learning, a community placement or interaction with the community may require a police check, Working with Children Check or other check.

Pathways

This course can be a pathway to:

Master of Communication (A743)

Alternative exits

Graduate Certificate of Communication (A539)

Course learning outcomes

Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes	Course Learning Outcomes
Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities	Apply specialist skills and knowledge of communication methods and concepts in professional and scholarly contexts.
Communication	Use advanced cognitive and technical skills to communicate ideas, arguments, and solutions to problems in a variety of modes across a range of professional and scholarly contexts.
Digital literacy	Make expert use of digital technologies to address a range of communication needs in professional contexts and for diverse audiences within and outside the communication industries.
Critical thinking	Critically analyse and evaluate complex ideas in communication theory, and communicate conclusions in the context of professional decision-making and scholarship.
Problem solving	Use advanced cognitive skills in communication in identify, investigate, analyse, and synthesise complex information in the context of generating creative solutions to industry and scholarly problems.
Self-management	Employ autonomy, accountability and initiative when responding creatively to new situations in professional communication contexts.
Teamwork	Work and learn collaboratively in professional communication practice and in scholarly contexts, including exercising initiative and accountability as a team member.
Global citizenship	Critically reflect on communication-related issues in both domestic and global contexts, as a scholar and in professional practice, taking into consideration cultural and socio-economic diversity, social and environmental responsibility and the application of the highest ethical standards.

Approved at Faculty Board November 2022

Course rules

To complete the Graduate Diploma of Communication students must pass 8 credit points and meet the following course rules to be eligible to graduate:

DAI001 Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin (0-credit-point compulsory unit) to be completed in the first trimester of study
8 credit points of course electives

Students are required to meet the University's academic progress and conduct requirements. See the enrolment codes and terminology to help make sense of the University’s vocabulary.

Course structure

Compulsory 0-credit point module

To be completed in the first trimester of study:

DAI001

Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin

Communication Units

Eight credit points selected from:

ACC700

Communication and Creative Arts Internship

ACC717

Media Law and Ethics

ACF700

Writing with the Camera

ACF705

Documentary Production Practice

ACG702

Digital Publishing

ACG703

Design and Digital Skills

ACG706

Web and Interactive Design

ACG708

Design Thinking and Problem Solving

ACG709

Strategic Branding and Design

ACI700

Introduction to Digital Photography

ACX701

Communication Concepts (2 credit points)

ALC701

Collaborative Digital Media Making

ALC702

Making Sense of Communities Online

ALC703

Digital Curation in the Age of AI

ALC708

Social Media Content Creation

ALJ714

Journalism for Social Change

ALJ715

Multimedia Storytelling

ALJ716

Writing the News

ALJ721

Global Journalism

ALJ722

Investigative and Narrative Journalism

ALR700

Public Relations Campaigns

ALR701

Writing for Brands

ALR703

Digital Brand Storytelling

ALR704

Reputation Management: Crisis, Risk and Responsibility

ALR710

Advanced Brand Communication

ALR718

Public Relations, Activism and Social Change

ALR733

Advertising Theory and Practice

ALR782

Public Affairs and Opinion Formation

ASM700

Introduction to Sports Media

ASM701

Sport Commentary

ACF701 Television Studio Production [No longer available for enrolment]

ACF702 Television Commercial Production [No longer available for enrolment]

ACF703 Fractured TV: Audiences, Formats, Technology and Regulation [No longer available for enrolment]

ALR731 Public Relations Theory and Practice [No longer available for enrolment]

Work experience

Elective units may provide the opportunity for Work Integrated Learning experiences.

Course duration

You may be able to study available units in the optional third trimester to fast-track your degree, however your course duration may be extended if there are delays in meeting course requirements, such as completing a placement.

Further information

Student Central can help you with course planning, choosing the right units and explaining course rules and requirements.

Contact Student Central

Fees and charges

Fees and charges vary depending on the type of fee place you hold, your course, your commencement year, the units you choose to study, and their study discipline or your study load.

Tuition fees increase at the beginning of each calendar year and all fees quoted are in Australian dollars ($AUD). Tuition fees do not include textbooks, computer equipment or software, other equipment or costs such as mandatory checks, travel and stationery.

Estimate your fees

For further information regarding tuition fees, other fees and charges, invoice due dates, withdrawal dates, payment methods visit our Current students website.