Are graduate diplomas considered valuable (stand-alone) degrees? (1 Viewer)

[jimmy_vroom]

Hi,

I want to undertake postgraduate study in Australia, but I can only afford one year. Therefore I'm limited to postgraduate diplomas and 1year masters. Since there's no equivalent of postgraduate diplomas in my home country (Belgium), I wondered if someone could tell me how these graduate diplomas are rated in Australia. Are they considered valuable as a stand-alone degree or are they usually only completed to get an entry in a master course? From what I can gather they're obviously not as prestigious as a masters degree, but for me it's very difficult to asses wether they're actually worth something without a follow-up masters degree.

Any insight would be much appreciated.

EDIT: I already have a masters degree in engineering, so the course would be an additional degree.

 

[SoresuMakashi]

I think it depends a lot on the subject/career you have in mind. You should check with employers or maybe the careers place at a university.

For example, a DipEd would probably be enough to get a job as a teacher, but there's no way a Physics DipSc would get you into academic research.

 

[jimmy_vroom]

Thanks for the reply.

I foolishly forgot to mention in my OP that I already own a masters degree (in engineering), so this additional degree isn't really that essential.
I just want to have a fun year studying abroad, but I want to end up with a useful degree nevertheless.

As for my carreer: I was planning to work (or at least start) as an engineer.
So, to rephrase my original question, would a Grad Diploma be a valuable addition to my masters degree, or would a 1y master be worth much more?

 

[SoresuMakashi]

Depends what Diploma it is then. If the subject is related to engineering (but not the exactly the same subject as your master's, obviously. That would just be redundant.) then it would almost definitely make you more employable.

e.g. If I had a masters in Psychology, a diploma in neuroscience would be beneficial, but one in history wouldn't.

You should check with a careers place to be sure. There are also other options for a "fun year studying abroad": you could try finding work here. Work experience is valuable to employers. Plus you get paid

 

[jimmy_vroom]

Ok, thanks a lot for the information; seems to me that those diplomas are viable options then.

I'm mainly interested in (environmental) engineering or (all kinds of) management courses, so I think it would compliment my original 'engineering in architecture' master (nothing too similar, nor completely unrelated). A lot of interesting courses remaining though, and so far I've only looked at Go8 uni's. Are those are really better than UTS, Macquarie, QUT, RMIT ... or do they just have a better reputation?

And I know there are fun alternatives, but I've more or less decided to postpone working (a real job, at least) for another year. After all, I've still got 40-odd years of working to look forward to : ). However, if it's doable to combine it with the studies, I'll try to get a part-time job there.

 

[SoresuMakashi]

In terms of general research excellence, UNSW and USyd are the most reputable in Sydney, followed by places like Macquarie and UTS. Based on what other people have said on forums, it doesn't really matter past a certain point i.e. as long as you don't go to somewhere obscure. UNSW is said to have a very good engineering faculty though, so you could probably look into that first.