Graduate Certificate in Advanced Learning and Leadership

The Graduate Certificate in Advanced Learning and Leadership (GCALL) is an interdisciplinary 50-point coursework program available to confirmed and recently completed doctoral candidates. Its aim is to equip candidates with the attributes, understanding and skills for future leadership roles within an internationally-competitive employment environment.

Ethical Leadership introduces the principles and practices of ethical leadership across cultures, concentrating on key thinkers from antiquity to the present day. It will be delivered as week-long residential intensive. In The Futures Project subject, delivered as a series of negotiated events across a semester, candidates will work in small interdisciplinary teams to design and deliver future studies projects.

The GCALL complements research-focussed doctoral programs by providing breadth and a cohort experience, as well as the opportunity to develop a range of advanced core competencies in analysis and synthesis, leadership, problem solving and teamwork.

Doctoral candidates who complete the GCALL will be able to:

• Demonstrate a familiarity with key thinkers in the history and philosophy of leadership from antiquity to the present day;
• Demonstrate a knowledge and appreciation of the complex social, ethical and cultural context of leadership through the analysis of case studies;
• Demonstrate an appreciation of how leadership operates in multiple professional contexts, including the academy, Government, NGOs, the corporate sector and general community;
• Identify and extend individual capacities for leadership in these contexts through targeted development of communication, problem-solving, teamwork and project-management skills;
• Initiate, manage and report on real-world projects using a range of project management systems and structures;
• Demonstrate a breadth of knowledge commensurate with the depth of their disciplinary expertise.

Compulsory Subjects

The Selection Committee will evaluate the applicant’s ability to pursue successfully the course using the following criteria – For students who have not yet completed their doctoral degree:

• Successful confirmation of doctoral candidature as measured by the confirmation report;
• Satisfactory progress through doctoral candidature as measured through annual progress reporting;
• Written endorsement from current supervisor(s) and Heads of Department.
• For students who have submitted their doctoral theses within 12 months of enrolling in the GCALL: Written endorsement from supervisor(s) and Heads of Department.

The GCALL supports graduates’ acquisition of the doctoral attributes as listed in The PhD Handbook. In particular, it provides opportunities for doctoral candidates to demonstrate and further extend the following qualities and skills:

• Highly developed problem-solving abilities and flexibility of approach;
• The capacity to disseminate the results of research and scholarship by oral and written communication to a variety of audiences;
• A capacity to cooperate with and respect the contributions of fellow researchers and scholars;
• A profound respect for truth and intellectual integrity, and for the ethics of research and scholarship;
• An advanced facility in the management of information, including the application of computer systems and software where appropriate to the student's field of study;
• An understanding of the relevance and value of their research to national and international communities of scholars and collaborators.

Doctoral candidates who complete the GCALL will be able to:

• Apply research skills and specialist knowledge in new contexts;
• Work effectively in interdisciplinary teams to solve complex problems;
• Identify and develop key learning and leadership strengths in themselves and their peers;
• Communicate effectively to non-specialists by tailoring oral and written communication to specific audiences;
• Lead groups in discussion and debate;
• Recognise institutional power structures and identify ways to navigate these successfully;
• Reflect critically on their endeavours and development;
• Identify a conscious personal and social values base and apply this to their work;
• Show independence of mind, responsibility, resilience and an affinity for lifelong learning.