Don’t just level up. Lead the way.
Please use plan code GC215OX in the application system for this degree.
Next intake
January 2026
Applications close for next intake
2 January 2026
Future intakes (2026)
Gain skills that can be specifically applied in future-orientated organisations with a strong technology, digital and innovation focus.
Learn from leading research academics who specialise in all areas of the business landscape, including sustainability, technology and innovation.
Develop the ability to apply leadership skills in varied organisational contexts. Equipping you to thrive in any industry impacted by technological advancement and innovation.
In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, effective leadership is more critical than ever. The Graduate Certificate in Leadership is designed to equip you with the skills, strategies, and mindset needed to navigate complex organisational challenges, inspire teams, and drive meaningful change.
Through subjects focused on organisational behaviour, personal branding, digital entrepreneurship, and leadership in the age of disruption, you'll gain insights into what makes great leaders thrive in diverse environments. You'll explore the impact of innovation and technology on leadership, develop strategies to tackle real-world challenges, and build essential skills such as decision-making, communication, and team-building.
Ideal for professionals looking to step into leadership roles or enhance their current expertise, this course connects you with a global network of industry experts, academics, and like-minded peers. By the time you complete the course, you'll be prepared to lead with agility, harness opportunities in the digital era, and make a lasting impact in your organisation and beyond.
By the end of the Graduate Certificate in Leadership, you'll be able to:
As a graduate, you'll have the skills and knowledge needed to thrive in a variety of leadership roles, and the opportunities available to you will continue to grow. Some examples of the roles you will be ready to step into include:
Develop skills that have been validated by industry, while getting credentialed by a world-leading university.
You'll gain knowledge and practical skills from renowned industry partners who are at the forefront of their field.
Advance your career while you study. RMIT Online courses let you balance work, study and life commitments.
Be guided by a network of industry experts and peers, and supported by our dedicated success team.
Gain the skills to lead with confidence, drive innovation, and navigate organisational challenges. Explore leadership strategies, digital entrepreneurship, and personal branding, equipping you to inspire teams and create lasting impact.
In this course you will explore human behaviour in the work context by considering the interaction between individuals and teams, within and toward organisations. You will develop your abilities to evaluate individuals' diversity, attitudes, emotions, motivations and stress; and issues of communication, power, conflict management and negotiation within teams.
The study of individuals and teams provides insights into the complex issues of organisational structure, culture and change. This multi-level exploration will develop your ability to apply evidence-based research and theory to contemporary issues of behaviour within organisations to inform human resource management and organisational performance.
The importance of a leader's personal, social, and organisational identity is directly relevant to how that leader is perceived by followers and has strong implications for levels of employee organisational commitment and loyalty. Issues of authenticity and personal branding relate not only to identity but also to wellbeing for both leaders and followers.
This course is designed to equip students with an understanding of key issues and skills required to express who they are as a 'personal brand' and to authentically lead organisations and employees. You will identify your own strengths and discover your own style, with the objective of developing an honest and consistent 'brand' of leadership. The exploration of personal branding will also focus on how to increase digital presence and influence and how to boost digital networking opportunities.
The course will examine contemporary key literature relevant to personal brands and authenticity. In this course you will be connected with new conversations exploring contemporary leadership issues such as: what it means to be authentic; personal, social, and organisational identities and their alignment; the importance of a disentangled self-narrative; recognition of personal values and personal purpose; becoming an entrepreneur of identity for oneself and for others; formulating and articulating a personal brand; authentic communication; and leading when you are not prototypical.
This course is intended to encourage you to reflect and apply the managerial capabilities required in the face of the digital revolution. The course focuses on digital innovation and transformation, adoption of an entrepreneurial mindset to understand and apply digital entrepreneurship management within existing organisations, and the start-up of new digital ventures.
The course examines the business application of concepts drawn from the key literature on digital innovation. You will develop your understanding of how digital entrepreneurship contributes to the digital economy, the trends and issues affecting digital entrepreneurship including digital technologies and digital innovation, facilitators and barriers to digital entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship and the differing requirements for success in various countries and regions.
You will develop your understanding of what is required to succeed as a digital entrepreneur in both existing businesses and innovative new start-ups, and how to manage and lead these organisations in an ethical and sustainable manner.
Digital transformations are changing the world and the workplace as we know it, offering increased interconnectedness of people, organisations and machines, greater speed and agility, but also an important leadership challenge. Leaders in this fast-moving digital era are charged with navigating dynamic complexities of blurred boundaries, fluid collaborations and agility pressures, and must consider new skills and associated mindset shifts. This course is designed to equip students to understand key leadership issues in the digital age, and develop the skills required to lead in a world where digital disruption is the norm.
To be eligible for the Graduate Certificate in Leadership, you must have:
If you do not meet the above entry requirement for the Graduate Certificate, you may be considered if you have a minimum of 5 years of full-time equivalent work experience. Applicants will be required to submit a full curriculum vitae (CV).
You must meet the University’s minimum English language requirements for postgraduate coursework programs to be eligible for a place in this program.
Upon successful completion of the Graduate Certificate in Leadership, you may pursue further study through a pathway to RMIT's Online Master of Business Administration (MBA) or credit into the Master of Human Resource Management (MHRM).
If you choose to continue studying towards RMIT's Online MBA, you can specialise or select individual courses based on your career goals and aspirations with 6 future-focused and on-trend specialisations.
Completion of an additional 8–12 courses at a master degree level affords you both graduate certificate and master's qualifications.
RMIT assesses each student’s prior learning and qualifications to grant credit so you can complete your online postgraduate degree sooner. Your application will be decided on a case-by-case basis. RMIT aims to grant as much credit as possible at the time of offer, so it’s important to provide as much evidence of prior study and work experience as possible with your application.
To be eligible for the Graduate Certificate in Leadership, you must have:
If you do not meet the above entry requirement for the Graduate Certificate, you may be considered if you have a minimum of 5 years of full-time equivalent work experience. Applicants will be required to submit a full curriculum vitae (CV).
International students are required to provide current evidence of English language proficiency for admission to RMIT University.
For detailed information on English language requirements and other proficiency tests recognised by RMIT, visit English language requirements and equivalency information.
RMIT's Online Graduate Certificate in Leadership does not meet Australian Student Visa requirements. For an Australian student visa, you must have an on-campus place in a program of study.
Upon successful completion of the Graduate Certificate in Leadership, you may pursue further study through a pathway to RMIT's Online Master of Business Administration (MBA) or credit into the Master of Human Resource Management (MHRM).
If you choose to continue studying towards RMIT's Online MBA, you can specialise or select individual courses based on your career goals and aspirations with 6 future-focused and on-trend specialisations.
Completion of an additional 8–12 courses at a master degree level affords you both graduate certificate and master's qualifications.
RMIT assesses each student’s prior learning and qualifications to grant credit so you can complete your online postgraduate degree sooner. Your application will be decided on a case-by-case basis. RMIT aims to grant as much credit as possible at the time of offer, so it’s important to provide as much evidence of prior study and work experience as possible with your application.
In 2026, the annual student contribution amount (tuition fee) you will pay for the standard year of full-time study in the Graduate Certificate in Leadership is:
^Fees apply to 2026 only and are adjusted on an annual basis. Typically increase each year and may change without notice. Total fees are estimates and should only be used as a guide.
For information on how to apply for a deferral, withdrawal or refund please see deferrals and withdrawals.
In addition to tuition fees, you will be charged an annual student services and amenities fee (SSAF), which is used to maintain and enhance services and amenities that improve your experience as an RMIT student.
The SSAF is calculated based on your enrolment load and the maximum fee for 2026 is AU$373.
You may also be required to purchase other items related to your program, including field trips, textbooks, and equipment. These additional fees and expenses vary from program to program. Find out more about calculating your actual SSAF.
Some students may be eligible to apply to defer payment of some or all of their tuition fees via the Commonwealth Government’s FEE-HELP loan scheme. FEE-HELP is for eligible full-fee paying students and allows you to defer payment of your tuition fees to the Australian Tax Office up to your HELP limit.
You may be eligible to apply to defer payment of the student services and amenities fee (SSAF) through the SA-HELP loan scheme. If you use SA-HELP, the amount will be added to your accumulated HELP debt.
If your FEE-HELP and/or SA-HELP loan application is successful, the Australian Government will pay RMIT, on your behalf, up to 100% of your fees. This amount will become part of your accumulated HELP debt.
You only start repaying your accumulated HELP debt to the Australian Government once you earn above the minimum income threshold for repayment, which is set each year by the Australian Government (this also applies if you are still studying.)
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will calculate your compulsory repayment for the year and include this on your income tax notice. For more information about loan repayment options see Commonwealth assistance (HELP loans) or Study Assist.
Visit our HELP loans page for lots of useful information about eligibility, how to apply and payment. You can apply for FEE-HELP once you have enrolled in a degree.
HELP loans are not available to international students.
In 2026, the annual student contribution amount (tuition fee) you will pay for the standard year of full-time study in the Graduate Certificate in Leadership is:
^Fees typically increase each year and may change without notice. Total fees are estimates and should only be used as a guide.
For information on how to apply for a deferral, withdrawal or refund please see deferrals and withdrawals.
In addition to tuition fees, you will be charged an annual student services and amenities fee (SSAF), which is used to maintain and enhance services and amenities that improve your experience as an RMIT student.
The SSAF is calculated based on your enrolment load and the maximum fee for 2026 is AU$373.
You may also be required to purchase other items related to your program, including field trips, textbooks, and equipment. These additional fees and expenses vary from program to program. Find out more about calculating your actual SSAF.
Professor Zhou (Joe) Jiang is Head of Department (Business Administration) at Graduate School of Business and Law, RMIT University, Australia. Professor Jiang is a researcher ranked in the top 2% of scientists globally by Stanford University (single year impact: 2021, 2022, and 2023). He was a recipient of the ANZAM Early Career Researcher Award (2016), which is to foster and recognise the research and scholarly achievements of emerging researchers who are at an early stage in an academic career. He also received Best Paper Awards from the US Southern Management Association (Careers/Social Issues/Diversity Issues/Ethics Track) (2022) and the ANZAM Gender, Diversity, and Indigeneity Stream (2015) for a paper focused on LGB individuals’ work-related wellbeing.
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Use our Frequently Asked Questions to learn about the application process and its equity access schemes, find out how to accept or defer your offer or request a leave of absence, discover information about your fees, refunds and scholarships, and explore the various student support and advocacy services, as well as how to find out more about your preferred program, and more.
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.
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