Graduate · Business

Graduate Diploma of Business Administration

Kaplan Business School, Multi-campus (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane), Australia

About this program

The Graduate Diploma of Business Administration is best understood as roughly the front half of the KBS MBA, packaged as a standalone exit point. Students who want postgraduate business credentials but aren't ready to commit to the full 12-subject MBA, whether for cost, time, or visa-related reasons, take a subset of the same core leadership, governance and financial literacy units plus a smaller elective load, and finish with a qualification that's also directly stackable: KBS structures the Grad Diploma so that credit carries across into the MBA if a student later decides to continue.

In practice this credential does two jobs for two different kinds of students. It's an exit award for people partway through the MBA who need to leave study early with something to show for it, and it's also a deliberate entry point for students whose undergraduate degree or work background doesn't quite clear the bar for direct MBA admission, giving them a shorter, lower-stakes program to demonstrate postgraduate-level capability before stepping up. Either way, it shares the trimester structure and multi-campus footprint of the rest of the KBS postgraduate suite.

Because it's shorter than the MBA, there's less room for elective specialisation, so the degree leans on the shared core (leadership and people management, governance and ethics, and financial/economic literacy for managers) rather than offering the eight-track specialisation menu the full MBA carries.

Cost & duration

Duration1 yr
Tuition (international)A$20,000
Application feeA$0

English test scores

IELTS6 overall

Course structure

4 terms of coursework

  • Core subjects: People, Culture and Contemporary Leadership (MBA401)
  • Governance, Ethics and Sustainability (MBA402)
  • Financial and Economic Interpretation and Communication (MBA403)
  • Electives (selected from the MBA elective pool): typically drawn from Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Psychology, Dynamic Strategy, International Business, Project Management
  • Structure: 8 subjects, shorter than the full 12-subject MBA
  • credit pathway into the MBA for students who continue
  • Delivery: Adelaide, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, or online

Admissions

Relevant bachelor's degree (or equivalent); some programs consider work experience in lieu (approximate, typical bar)

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Graduate Diploma of Business Administration at Kaplan Business School — Requirements & Cost | Where To Apply