Graduate Certificate in Business Administration (GCBA)

CRICOS Course Code: 107618K

The Graduate Certificate in Business Administration (GCBA) is a 4 subject postgraduate award designed for students to gain advanced knowledge and skills in core business areas. Conceptually, the GCBA has been developed to provide graduates with the capacity to operate within a narrower range of business environments. It is also envisioned that the course will provide business knowledge to newly promoted managers in other industries and fields. Graduates will gain a range of important management related skills.

Course Design and Structure

The subjects and sequence for the Graduate Certificate in Business Administration are outlined below. Students will complete 4 compulsory core subjects, each of 6 credit points in value.

UNIT CODE	Unit Name	Credit Pts.
	TRIMESTER 1
MBA601	Accounting for Managers	6
MBA602	Marketing Management	6
MPA503	Economics for Business	6
MBA603	Management, Leadership and Ethics	6
		24

Learning Outcomes

Purpose

The Graduate Certificate prepares graduates to identify, delineate and manage a range of complex challenges faced by organisations in the current and future business environment.

Knowledge

Graduates of the Graduate Certificate of Business Administration will be able to:

Conceptually and practically consolidate the key learning’s from selected foundational theories and materials from and including the following areas in accounting, management leadership, ethics, economics and marketing.

Skills

Graduates of the Graduate Certificate of Business Administration will be able to:

Critically evaluate a range of key foundational management theories from accounting, leadership, management, economics and marketing required in a range of business
Apply their knowledge of a range of key business and management theories to identify and provide effective solutions
Conceptually and practically integrate the learning outcomes from the key program competencies
Communicate their understanding of the theoretical aspects of the management administration discipline within curriculum constraints.
Interpret and effectively communicate complex business administration information for selected audiences.

Application of knowledge and skills

Graduates of the Graduate Certificate of Business Administration will be able to:

Demonstrate the application of knowledge and skills through the provision of expert and informed advice from a range of sources for business decision-making
Apply leadership, communication and interpersonal knowledge and skills to operate effectively across a range of business settings.

Subject Descriptions

MBA601: ACCOUNTING FOR MANAGERS

Accounting for Managers introduces students to a range of financial information for business reporting, planning and investment decision making. This unit focuses on the role of accounting for managers and provides students with broad understanding of the principles of financial and management accounting and enables them to confidently understand financial and management accounting reports from a user perspective. Financial statement analysis will help students make decisions about an organisation’s financial position, performance and cash flow. Students will also explore other forms of corporate reporting and critically evaluate issues of ethics and corporate governance in business. This course will develop the essential ability of all managers, to use complex accounting information as a platform for decision-making.

MBA602: MARKETING MANAGEMENT

In this subject, students will critically evaluate the theories and practices in the field of marketing management. They will develop an understanding of practical concepts and tools in marketing such as marketing planning, market research, customer and competitive analysis and marketing strategy, and evaluate the effectiveness of marketing practices across varied contexts and environments. The subject challenges students to evaluate ethics and social responsibility when making marketing decisions.

MPA503: ECONOMICS FOR BUSINESS

Economics is a foundation of business subject that is concerned with the efficient allocation of limited resources for the optimal satisfaction of human needs. As such, this introductory economics subject for MBA students is crafted to provide an understanding on how individuals, firms, and governments make economic decisions; how they intermingle with each other in domestic and international markets when challenged with resource scarcity; how to evaluate the outcomes of such decisions and what type of economic tools to use. Completion of this subject helps students with a solid foundation to a vast array of economic analysis and understanding. This subject starts with an introduction to the subject matter of economics and a brief analysis of the economic models and problems. First part of the subject builds the foundation by focusing on micro-economics concepts, tools, and market models, introduces students to basic demand, supply, elasticity models, cost-and-production structures, and extends that understanding to different market models and to an evaluation of market failures. The second part of the subject explains the macro-economy with aggregate demand and aggregate supply; national income and price levels; government interventions on markets; fiscal and monetary policy tools and international economics, which include exchange rates and foreign exchange markets. While this subject focuses on dynamism in the world economy, a strong emphasis is placed on ethical behaviour when making economic decisions.

MBA603: MANAGEMENT, LEADERSHIP AND ETHICS

In this subject, students will explore the theories of leadership, management and ethics and the application of these in contemporary business and organisational settings. Students will gain an appreciation of their own leadership styles and approaches to management and reflect on their practice. This includes developing strategic thinking skills that lead to organisational dialogue to manage processes and were necessary change. An important aspect of leadership and management is the ability to approach decision making in an ethical way given the conflicting demands of today’s business and organisational environments.