Graduate Diploma of Global Development

Cultivate the interdisciplinary skills and expertise required to address pressing development issues relevant to tropical Australia and the Asia-Pacific. JCU’s Graduate Diploma of Global Development is highly attuned to both current and future decades and its subjects align with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly conservation and restoration, and economic and sustainable resource management. Gain an in-depth understanding of the urgent issues facing vulnerable communities through JCU’s unique position as a university for the Tropics that has worldwide impact.

As you study this Graduate Diploma of Global Development degree, you will gain conceptual and practical skills to understand and respond to the shifting landscapes of human development. Learn how to critically analyse, evaluate and generate solutions to complex development problems — from infrastructure to systemic issues — for tropical, remote and inter-cultural settings through informed and evidence-based methodologies. Throughout this degree, you will learn to integrate and apply advanced theoretical and technical knowledge in global development policy and practice, ensuring your ability to make a difference at both a community and policy level.

Develop the knowledge and skills that will allow you to work in the priority areas of poverty alleviation, sustainable planning, social justice, climate responsive systems, sustainable resource management and global health — areas identified by the UN as key global challenges for future sustainability.

In the Graduate Diploma of Global Development, you will study two core subjects — Development in Practice and Critical Issues in Global Development — and two elective subjects that align with your interests and passion. Elective subjects cover a broad range of topics including development and conservation, disaster resilience and natural resource management, public health, sustainable development planning and policy, Indigenous futures, governance and social change, leadership and management, and research techniques specific to development.

Help build a brighter tomorrow and improve global, social and cultural wellbeing. Global Development graduates are innovative world-changers who make a difference in many contexts and settings.