Graduate Diploma in Built Environments

The Graduate Diploma in Built Environments is generic and allows students to create an individual course of study by selecting subjects, with the approval of the Course Coordinator, from across the disciplines of the Melbourne School of Design.

The flexibility this course offers is of great benefit to students who:

• do not wish to specialise in one particular area;
• are not yet certain where their interests and career aspirations lie; or,
• possess an existing qualification in the disciplines represented in the MSD and wish to enhance their qualifications through advanced studies in areas of their choice.

The course aims to develop skills in the discipline areas offered by the Melbourne School of Design. Applicants may pursue a prescribed course of study to:

• enhance their existing qualifications;
• assist in a shift towards the disciplines represented within the MSD; and/or,
• lead to further academic studies.

All students must complete:

100 points of undergraduate or graduate level subjects.

The course draws on undergraduate subjects usually in a major sequence of study to produce a coherent program appropriate for graduates wishing to progress to higher level study.

A Graduate Diploma should not consist entirely of lower-level undergraduate subjects. In most cases students will choose a combination of undergraduate and some fourth-year level graduate subjects.

Students undertaking this course as a means to meet the eligibility requirements of other Melbourne School of Design programs must do so in consultation with the Environments and Design Student Centre.

1. The Selection Committee will evaluate the applicant’s ability to pursue successfully the course using the following criterion:

• an undergraduate degree in any discipline, with a weighted average of at least 65% in the final two years, or equivalent.

2. The Selection Committee may conduct interviews and tests and call for referee reports and employer references, to elucidate any of the matters referred to above.

For information about how to apply click here.

The Melbourne School of Design is the graduate school of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. It offers professional entry programs in Architecture, Construction Management, Landscape Architecture, Property and Urban Planning. It offers specialist development programs in Property Valuation, Planning and Design and in Urban Design.

The Melbourne School of Design welcomes applications from students with disabilities. It is the University and Faculty (Architecture, Building and Planning) policy to take reasonable steps to make reasonable adjustments so as to enable students’ participation in degrees offered by the Melbourne School of Design (MSD).

A candidate for degrees offered in the MSD must have abilities and skills which include the following: observation; communication; motor; conceptual, integrative, and quantitative; and
behavioural and social. Adjustments can be provided to minimise the impact of a disability, however, particularly at Masters level, students need to be able to participate in programs in an independent manner and with regard to their safety and the safety of others.

(i) Observation: Candidates must be able to read text, diagrams, maps, drawings and numerical data. Candidates should be able to observe details at a number of scales and to record useful observations of environmental contexts.

(ii) Communication: Candidates should be able to communicate with fellow students, professional and academic staff, members of relevant professions and the public. Candidates must be able to communicate effectively and sensitively. Communication includes not only speech but also reading and writing.

(iii) Motor: Candidates should have sufficient motor function to elicit information from environmental contexts. Off campus investigations may include visits to construction sites, urban, rural and/or remote environments. Candidates should have sufficient motor ability to prepare documentation of analytic texts, drawings and models of findings and for the preparation of proposals for environmental interventions via digital or other means. Candidates should have the ability to actively participate in appropriate site and/or design studio-based activities.

(iv) Intellectual-Conceptual, Integrative and Quantitative Abilities: These abilities include measurement, calculation, reasoning, analysis, synthesis and, importantly, the ability to interpret results of such work. Problem resolution, the critical skill demanded of graduates, requires all of these intellectual abilities. In addition, given the disciplines pursued in the MSD, candidates should be able to comprehend three-dimensional relationships and to understand the spatial relationships in environmental structures of a wide range of scales – from smaller than the individual through individual buildings and urban spaces to large geographic areas. Further, graduate study entails learning to master one’s own abilities and skills and to deploy them strategically. This requires further developing skills in both reflective and reflexive thinking and being able to practice these skills.

(v) Behavioural and Social Attributes: A candidate must possess behavioural and social attributes that enable them to participate in a complex learning environment. Students are required to take responsibility for their own participation and learning. They also contribute to the learning of other students in collaborative learning environments, demonstrating interpersonal skills and an understanding of the needs of other students. Assessment may include the outcomes of tasks completed in collaboration with other students.

Students who feel a disability will prevent them from meeting the above academic requirements are encouraged to contact the Disability Liaison Unit.

Students in this program may be eligible to undertake final subject assessment if they:
are in the final semester of their enrolment (not the last 50 points of the course); and
fail* a single subject worth up to 12.5 points with a final result of 40 - 49%.

* Receive an N or NH grade, except where that NH grade was awarded due to failure to participate in a component of assessment.