Adelaide University
Graduate Diploma in Business Administration
- Delivery: Online
- Study Level: Postgraduate
- Duration: 16 months
- Course Type: Graduate Diploma
Boost your confidence and professionalism while developing an entrepreneurial mindset and learn to drive innovation in the complex business enterprises of the future.
Course overview
This 100% online diploma is completed part-time over 1.3 years, with courses delivered sequentially in six-week blocks.
You’ll learn how to encourage innovation and turn ideas into action. You’ll strengthen your intellectual and emotional self-awareness. Develop problem-solving skills. Advance your interpersonal communication. Gain accounting, economics and marketing insights.
You’ll build your capacity to identify and assess entrepreneurial opportunities. Get confident in mobilising people to solve problems and face adversity. Learn how to use research to support sustainable business growth.
You’ll graduate equipped for higher-level leadership roles or ready to continue straight on to our online MBA.
Key features
- Build financial literacy, strategic skills and an entrepreneurial mindset.
- Network with peers and industry leaders.
- Study marketing, accounting, economics and business research.
- Develop your communication, decision-making and problem-solving abilities.
- Get support from our expert academic, personal and career advisors from day one.
- Use credits from this qualification on your path to a master’s degree.
Key facts
March, 2026
May, 2026
July, 2026
August, 2026
October, 2026
What you will study
Students must complete 48 units comprising eight core courses. Each course is worth six units.
Core courses
Complete exactly 48 units for all of the following:
- Leadership and Influencing
- Marketing for Managers
- Entrepreneurial Mindset
- Accounting and Financial Management
- Research for Managers
- Managerial Economics
- Innovation Management
- Managing People and Organisations
Entry requirements
Admission criteria
To be eligible, an applicant must have achieved at least one of the following minimum entry requirements and demonstrate they fulfil any prerequisite and essential criteria for admission. In cases where there are more eligible applicants than available places, admission will be competitive with ranks based on the entry criteria.
- A completed bachelor's (AQF level 7) degree or equivalent from a recognised higher education institution AND a minimum of two years relevant work experience; OR
- A completed Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) with a score of 500 or higher AND a minimum of two years relevant work experience; OR
- A completed Graduate Certificate in Business Administration (AQF level 8) from a recognised higher education institution.
Recognition of Prior Learning
Adelaide University is committed to recognising the contribution of students’ prior learning towards their program requirements.
Credit may be granted for formal, informal and non-formal learning, with guidance on eligibility provided to prospective students in a clear, transparent and publicly available credit framework.
Credit determinations will be:
- Evidence-based, equitable and transparent.
- Academically sound.
- Applied consistently, fairly and subject to review.
Credit will be granted for prior learning that is relevant and equivalent to the learning required for the courses for which credit is sought.
Credit will only be granted if it:
- Maintains the credibility and integrity of the program for which credit is sought.
- Does not contravene the conditions of the program’s professional accreditation.
- Does not disadvantage the student’s ability to achieve the expected course or program learning outcomes.
For more information, contact the university or visit its website.
Outcomes
Through future-oriented courses, you will:
- Improve your financial literacy.
- Study the language and concepts of accounting.
- Learn how to effectively lead and influence people.
- Unpack marketing from a management perspective.
- Develop your creative, experimental, agile and entrepreneurial thinking.
- Learn to recognise opportunity in a crowded, competitive market.
- Gain the tools to enhance your ethical decision-making.
- Explore your evolving leadership story and philosophy.
- Identify areas for ongoing personal and professional development.
You’ll also learn about research processes and methodologies, investigating business research as a managerial decision-making tool.
Fees and FEE-HELP
Indicative total fee in 2026: $41,880 (domestic full-fee paying place)
Fee-paying programs require the full tuition fees for your study, which can be deferred partly or in full to a FEE-HELP loan. The total cost of the program is displayed.
A student’s fee may vary depending on:
- The number of courses studied per term.
- The choice of major or specialisation.
- Choice of courses.
- Credit from previous study or work experience.
- Eligibility for government-funded loans.
You may also need to pay the student services and amenities fee.
Student fees shown are subject to change. Contact the university directly to confirm.
FEE-HELP loans are available to assist eligible full-fee paying domestic students.