Diploma of Agriculture - external and online

The course at a glance:

• a Diploma for farmers, farm managers and farm employees, and those working in businesses related to agriculture
• an external course, with study units sent through the mail or available online.
• two enrolment dates are available: January and June each year. 

Entry requirements:

There are no entry requirements for this course.

Costs:

The enrolment fee is $570, for which you will receive the first two modules. Each of the compulsory core subjects costs $285. This equates to $2850 for the full diploma. (These costs are GST exempt).

What the course leads to:

Your studies lead to a Diploma of Agriculture (national course code AHC50110). Several universities will grant credit for the Diploma towards a number of university courses.

Is this the course for you?

If you are a farmer, farm manager, farm employee, or working in business related to agriculture, you should find that this course meets many of your needs for training. Or you may be able to take advantage of Skills Recognition (see below).

Do you need to own land to complete the course?

Ideally yes, but not necessarily. You will definitely need access to some agricultural enterprises to complete most units.

The course is designed to take you through a series of assignments, which meet national competencies. To complete many of these assignments and gain a Diploma of Agriculture you need access to an area of agricultural land. The land you use for study projects may belong to you, your family, neighbours, friends, relatives. You will need permission to carry out studies on land that is not your own. You should gain this permission before you start the course.

At Diploma level, the emphasis is on managing land areas. If you don't own land yourself, it is difficult to implement land management decisions, so you may need to simulate some situations to demonstrate you are capable of making management decisions. So, if you don't own or actually manage land, don't be out off! Explore the options in your local area.

Is the course full-time or part-time?

The course is available on a part-time, external basis. Consequently, participants are unlikely to qualify for government assistance. Studying part-time is not always easy. Some subjects are available on-line. You can choose to complete these subjects either on-line or by mailing your assessment tasks. Each subject should be completed within two months after starting.

How can your existing skills and experience be recognised?

Completing the coursework is just one way of achieving the Diploma of Agriculture. The award we offer is from a National Training Package. The training package enables you to gain qualifications from skills or experience you may already have. This is described as Skills Recognition (sometimes referred to as Recognition of Prior Learning - RPL, or even Recognition of Current Competency - RCC).

You can gain skills recognition for what you have already achieved through life or work experience, by formal coursework at other recognised institutions or by attending workshops and training activities. You can then prepare a case for recognition with the course coordinator who will submit your evidence to an accreditation committee. You pay a fee for this assessment service.

Because there is a large number of competency units to choose from, you will need to chart a pathway that fully recognises your existing skills and also meets the requirements of the qualification you are seeking. This is best done by consulting fully with the course coordinator, who can arrange for you to be assessed.

You can do a combination of coursework and skills recognition.

Modules

Ten core assignments provide the project work necessary for a Diploma of Agriculture. You may select from within these units. Please download the course structure below for your unit selection.

Title	Details
Diploma of Agriculture course structure 2012	25kb

Any other courses available?

The course described here applies to diploma-level studies only, but you may be able to gain a qualification at Certificate III or Certificate IV level by skills recognition. Discuss this option with the course coordinator.

Enrolment

Download an enrolment form (print out, complete and mail or fax) or contact David Brouwer to have one mailed to you.

Title	Details
Diploma of Agriculture (external) enrolment form	40kb

More information

To obtain full details on the course you can download the course handbook or contact us to have one mailed to you.

Title	Details
Diploma of Agriculture (external) Handbook	912kb

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