Bachelor of Health Promotion

The Bachelor of Health Promotion at The Australian College of Physical Education (ACPE) is a three-year degree for people who want to keep others well, not just treat them when they're sick. Health promotion is the work of getting whole communities to move more, eat better, quit smoking, manage stress and use health services properly. It's the prevention side of health, and it's where a lot of the interesting public health jobs sit.

What you'll study

Over three years full time you'll work through units of study that cover the building blocks of the field: health promotion theory and practice, public health, epidemiology (how disease moves through populations), health communication, program planning and evaluation, and the social and cultural factors that shape health. You'll look at how to plan a campaign, how to measure whether it worked, and how to work with communities rather than doing things to them. Later units let you specialise or go deeper into areas like community health, health policy, or working with specific populations such as young people, older Australians or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

How the degree is structured

Like most Australian bachelor degrees, this one runs on a semester or trimester calendar, with units of study each carrying credit points. You need to pass a set number of credit points to graduate, and the degree is designed to be completed in three years of full-time study. ACPE is known for its sport, health and movement focus, so expect a practical, hands-on feel rather than a purely lecture-based course. Many health promotion degrees finish with a capstone unit or a professional placement where you work with a real organisation, a local council, a community health centre, a sporting body or a government health department, and apply what you've learned to an actual project. Placement is common in this field because employers want to see you've worked with real people and real programs.

Skills you'll build

By the end you should be able to design a health program, write a funding submission, run a focus group, analyse health data, and explain health messages clearly to people who aren't health professionals. You'll also get better at working in teams, because health promotion is almost always a group effort. If you're interested in research, an honours year is the usual next step after a bachelor degree, adding a fourth year with a research thesis.

Who it suits

This degree suits school leavers who liked biology and PDHPE and want a career that helps people, as well as mature-age students moving out of a job in fitness, community services or aged care who want to step up into program and policy work. It's also a good fit if you care about fairness in health, why some groups get sicker than others, and want to do something about it.

Practical things to know

ACPE is a small, specialist institution, so class sizes tend to be smaller than at a big university. The course is registered on CRICOS (code 107272J) for international students. Tuition is published on the CRICOS register, check there for the current figure. International applicants need to meet English requirements; IELTS Academic 6.0–6.5 overall is the common standard for undergraduate courses, and TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic and Cambridge C1 Advanced are accepted as equivalents. The Department of Home Affairs sets a separate English threshold for the Student visa itself, so you may need to meet both. While studying, a student visa lets you work up to 48 hours per fortnight. After you finish, the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream may be available depending on your circumstances, check the Home Affairs website for current rules. Always confirm entry requirements, unit lists and fees on the official ACPE page or the CRICOS register before you apply.

• Health promotion officer, designing and running community health programs for local councils, community health centres and non-profits.
• Community health worker, working directly with communities on prevention, screening and health education.
• Health education officer, developing resources and sessions for schools, workplaces or community groups.
• Public health project officer, supporting state health departments and primary health networks on prevention campaigns.
• Program coordinator, managing health and wellbeing programs for sporting organisations, clubs or fitness providers.
• Workplace health and wellbeing coordinator, running employee health programs in large organisations.
• Policy or research assistant, supporting health policy teams, research centres or advocacy organisations.
• Community development officer, working with local government on social and health programs.

Typical employers in Australia include local councils, state and territory health departments, community health services, primary health networks, non-government organisations, sporting bodies, schools and large employers with wellbeing programs. Some graduates go on to further study, an honours year, a master's in public health, or a teaching qualification, to open up more specialised roles.