Community development courses

Community development professionals work with communities to run projects and programs that make them stronger and healthier.

Working in this field, you could find yourself based in an Indigenous community in Australia’s top end, delivering projects for better education outcomes; or working with a local council to help young people feel safer in their community; or even overseas, helping a village run environmentally sustainable projects.

It’s crucial that community members are involved in the development process and your key job will be to support them.

Working with different, sometimes vulnerable, communities can be complex. In your community development course, you’ll learn how to interact with people in constructive, respectful, and culturally safe ways.

Depending on your course, you may study topics such as:

• Counselling

• Social justice

• Advocacy

• Policy

• Welfare

• Foreign aid

• Human rights

• Sustainability

• Working with Indigenous communities

If you’re not yet sure if community development is quite right for you, browse other study options:

• Sociology courses

• Mental health courses

• Public health courses

• Environmental science courses

The entry requirements for online community development courses will vary depending on the study level you choose. Check individual course pages to find out more.

Luckily, even if you don’t think you meet the entry requirements, Open Universities Australia may be able to help you find a pathway into your chosen field of study. Chat with us to find out how.

It depends on the course and whether you choose something short or long-term. Here’s a general guide: 

If you study a degree in community development through Open Universities Australia, you have the flexibility to choose how many subjects you take per term. This means you can complete your qualification at a faster or slower pace than you would on campus.

Absolutely. Studying online through Open Universities Australia will give you the flexibility you need to balance your studies and life commitments.

Opting for an online community development course means you can build your skills at a pace that suits you. You’ll be able to study where and when you want, and fit your study around existing work commitments, while accessing all the study support you need.

This will depend on the specific online community development course that you choose. Check the course page of the course you are interested in to find out more.

After graduating your community development course, you could land a role as a:

• Community service officer

• Project coordinator

• Community health worker

• Youth engagement officer

• Policy officer

• Support worker

• International aid worker

• Researcher

As a community development graduate, you could find work in the:

• Not-for-profit sector, working for an NGO

• Public sector, for a government agency or local council

• Private sector, as a consultant for a private company

Here at Open Universities Australia, we make enrolling online as straightforward as possible. To get started, find the course for you by browsing the options on this page. You can also compare different qualifications using our handy comparison tool, or request help from one of our student advisors.

When you’ve made your choice, click ‘Apply now’ on the relevant course page and follow the prompts to begin your enrolment. We’ll ask you to supply some supporting documentation, including proof of your identity, your tax file number, and a unique student identifier (USI) during this process.

Your university will get in touch with you via email to confirm whether or not your application has been successful.

Please note that enquiries and applications for some courses are handled directly by the university. If this is the case, it will be indicated on the course listing page.  

For more information about enrolment, read our online self-service enrolling instructions. If you get stuck at any time, contact us and we’ll talk you through it.