Graduate Certificate in Environmental Health Sciences

Upon successful completion of this program, students will:

1. Be prepared for a wide variety of roles and responsibilities across a number of employment sectors.
2. Learn from a broad range of UQ experts while undertaking courses tailored to your specific needs.

With options to study online, on campus, or a combination of both, you can structure your study to suit your needs.

Physical, chemical and microbiological hazards present constantly changing health challenges. Coupled with population growth, globalisation and climate change, the potential for emerging or re-emerging environmental health risks and threats to human health puts governments, industry and communities under pressure to adapt and apply sustainable solutions.

This is an interdisciplinary program that teaches courses relevant to environmental health practice; it is a collaboration between UQ School of Public Health and the Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, an internationally renowned research centre incorporating the former National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology (Entox).

This part time program, taken over two semesters, aims to equip public health professionals with knowledge and skills to address complex environmental health challenges. Such challenges require graduates to be skilled in developing anticipatory and integrated responses, which in turn rely on an understanding of the interrelationship among risk factors related to a broad range of hazards and contexts, skills in coordination across sectors and jurisdictions, and risk communication with communities, the private sector and government agencies

Recommended study pattern

The Graduate Certificate in Environmental Health Sciences is a 1 year course for a part-time student. Each year consists of 2 Study Periods, also known as semesters. The recommended study pattern consists of 3 core subjects and 1 elective subject, with 2 to be completed in your first study period and 2 in your second.

Award requirements

To qualify for the Graduate Certificate in Environmental Health Sciences, students must satisfactorily complete a program of study consisting of 4 subjects.

Open Universities Australia is a not-for-profit organisation. You will not pay any fees for using our services.

Indicative total fee $6,112

The amounts shown here are indicative for an Australian citizen studying full-time, which is typically 8 subjects per year.

Fees may vary depending on:

• the subjects you choose
• credit from previous work experience
• your eligibility for government funding loans or subsidies such as HECS-HELP or a Commonwealth supported place.

To learn more, go to Fees or contact a student advisor.

For more than a century, The University of Queensland (UQ) has delivered knowledge leadership for a better world. The most prestigious and widely recognised rankings of world universities consistently place UQ among the world's top universities. UQ has also won more national teaching awards than any other Australian university. This commitment to quality teaching empowers our 56,000 current students, who study across UQ’s three campuses, to create positive change for society.

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QS World University Ranking 2025, within Australia:

6

Times Higher Education World University Ranking 2025, within Australia:

5

To be eligible for entry, you'll need:

• a bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in a relevant discipline (see below), or
• to have completed post-secondary studies and have 2 years full-time equivalent, relevant work experience in environmental health or related public health setting. 

Applications based on post-secondary study and work experience will be assessed individually.

You must have a grade point average (GPA) of 4.0 on a 7-point scale in your previous qualification.

Relevant disciplines include nursing, paramedicine, environmental technology, medicine, environmental management, public health management, environmental science, science and health sciences.

All applicants must satisfy the UQ English language proficiency requirements for admission.

If you've completed previous study, you may be eligible to receive credit for – or exemption from – certain subjects in a UQ program. 

Please note that select subjects and assessments may require in-person attendance. Please review the courses and program structure for further details.