Graduate Diploma of Midwifery

2023 Deakin University Handbook

Course sub-headings

• Course overview
• Indicative student workload
• Professional recognition
• Career opportunities
• Participation requirements
• Mandatory student checks
• Pathways
• Fees and charges
• Course Learning Outcomes
• Course rules
• Course structure
• Work experience

Course overview

Deakin’s Graduate Diploma of Midwifery course provides the knowledge, skills and ethical understanding you need to become a registered midwife – launching you into a career where you can make a real difference for women and their families. This course prepares you to provide high quality woman-centred care. Midwives play an invaluable role in supporting women across the continuum of pregnancy, labour, birth and the first weeks following birth.

Deakin’s Graduate Diploma of Midwifery is developed in consultation with our healthcare partners, ensuring you’re always connected to those at the forefront of industry. The course is accredited by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC) and approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA), enabling clear career outcomes upon graduation.

Aspiring to enter the maternity health care sector with the confidence to succeed as a midwife?

Throughout this 18 month course you will engage in experiential learning in our purpose-built Clinical Simulation Centres. Our Clinical Simulation Centres provide a safe, supportive and realistic environment for you to develop and hone the essential midwifery skills to prepare you for clinical practice.

Midwifery practice experiences are undertaken at partner organisations who offer employment (paid) and/or clinical only (non-paid) practice models, supported by qualified and experienced clinicians. Midwifery practice experiences are secured by the applicant through our healthcare partners. These positions are advertised through the health service. Acceptance into a health service postgraduate midwifery program is a pre-requisite requirement for acceptance into Deakin’s Graduate Diploma of Midwifery.

Clinical practice begins in trimester 1 and continues throughout the 18 months of your course. Clinical practice provides an opportunity to care for women and families from diverse cultural backgrounds in a range of maternity settings, enabling application of knowledge and further development of technical and non-technical midwifery skills.

The course covers a broad range of study areas that reflect the breadth of maternity care. An intensive program at the start of the course builds your foundational knowledge of what it takes to begin working as a registered nurse in the postnatal environment. You will then go on to explore specialised areas of midwifery including:

• pregnancy, birthing and postnatal care
• complex midwifery care, including emergency management
• neonatal special care

Gain a valuable mix of hands-on clinical practice and theory with a nursing and midwifery school that’s ranked 30th in the world by two prestigious international ranking bodies.* As one of the most research active schools in Australia, our School of Nursing and Midwifery boasts some of the best facilities and resources available.

When you graduate from the course, you will have completed at least 856 hours of clinical practice. Additionally, our employment-based program offers you significant clinical experiences in a paid maternity services role. This can provide an important financial boost, and students who take advantage of this program often secure continued employment with their host organisation.

*2021 QS World University Rankings by Subject, and 2021 ShanghaiRankings Ranking of Academic Subjects.

Indicative student workload

As a student in the Faculty of Health you can expect to participate in a range of teaching activities each week. This may include classes, seminars and simulation. You can refer to the individual unit details in the course structure for more information. You will also need to study and complete assessment tasks in your own time.

Professional recognition

On successful completion of your course, you will be eligible to apply for registration as a midwife with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA). This course is accredited with the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC) and is an NMBA approved course.

The NMBA has mandatory registration standards that applicants need to meet to be registered. Core registration standards are available on the NMBA website.

Career opportunities

The healthcare industry is Australia’s largest and fastest growing employment sector. On top of that, the Australian Government expects jobs in midwifery to increase by over 25% in the next four years to 2025*. Employment opportunities for registered midwives have never been greater, and Deakin students, in particular, will be sought-after for their extensive practical experience.

You’ll graduate from the course ready to thrive in a variety of settings, including:

• public and private hospital maternity units
• obstetricians' consulting room
• caseload midwifery
• community health programs

As registered midwives, it is expected that graduates will maintain professional development throughout their careers. This may include further postgraduate degrees and/or research degrees, including masters and PhDs.

*Australian Government Job Outlook

Participation requirements

The course involves compulsory clinical practice hours over the duration of the course with your host organisation. An intensive teaching program is conducted at the Melbourne Burwood Campus in mid-February and nominated ‘study days’ are conducted throughout each of the trimesters during the 18 months of the course. Students will typically be employed in a supervised part-time placement arrangement within maternity services at their host organisation.

Students are expected to participate in all timetabled learning experiences, online or at specified physical locations.

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

Department of Human Services policy - Police Record Check and Working With Children Check

Police Record Check

In accordance with Department of Human Services policy, all students are required to undertake a National Police Record Check prior to clinical placements in each calendar year of their course.

Students who fail to obtain a Police Record Check prior to the commencement of clinical placement will not be able to undertake clinical placement and this will impede progress in the course.

Working with Children Check

In accordance with the Worker Screening Act 2020, all students are required to undertake a Working with Children Check at the commencement of their course. Students who fail to obtain a Working with Children Check prior to the commencement of clinical placement will not be able to undertake clinical placement and this will impede progress in the course.

Immunisation

Students are required to declare their immunisation status to satisfy the requirements of health organisations where they will be undertaking their clinical learning experience. A health organisation may refuse to accept a student for placement if the student’s immunisation status is not satisfactory to the health organisation.

Pathways

This course provides a pathway to higher degree by research courses and other postgraduate coursework programs.

Fees and charges

Fees and charges vary depending on your course, the type of fee place you hold, your commencement year, the units you choose and 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.

Use the Fee estimator to see course and unit fees applicable to your course and type of place. Further information regarding tuition fees, other fees and charges, invoice due dates, withdrawal dates, payment methods is available on our Current students fees website.

Course Learning Outcomes

Course rules

To complete the Graduate Diploma of Midwifery students must attain 8 credit points comprising of 8 core (compulsory) units.

Both the theoretical and clinical components of the assessment for each unit must be passed to successfully gain an overall pass in this course. Compulsory clinical hurdle requirements form part of the assessment of this course. Recognition of the importance of clinical assessments is calculated in the overall student workload.

Note: Failure of a compulsory practicum in a unit will normally lead to exclusion.

All commencing Faculty of Health undergraduate and postgraduate course work students are required to complete HAI010 Academic Integrity in their first trimester of study (0 credit point compulsory unit).

Students are required to meet the University's academic progress and conduct requirements.

Course structure

Core units

Year 1 - Trimester 1 (Commencing February)

Year 1 - Trimester 2

Year 2 - Trimester 1

Work experience

Clinical Practicum

The Graduate Diploma of Midwifery has been designed to incorporate clinical learning opportunities and supervised part-time arrangements within your host organisation. Students are usually employed within a collaborating health service to support and provide a sound clinical learning environment for the clinical program requirements of the course. Some healthcare partners offer non-paid clinical midwifery practice experience including pregnancy care, labour and birth, postnatal care and neonatal special care.

Fees - CSPs: More information

There are limited CSP places in the Graduate Diploma of Midwifery. Therefore CSP places are not guaranteed and are allocated according to time of receipt of a completed application.

Applications for CSP usually closes in mid-late November each year. Applications after received after this time are considered for full-fee places only.

Course duration - additional information

Course duration may be affected by delays in completing course requirements, such as accessing or completing clinical practice requirements.

Further information

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

• Contact Student Central