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For science graduates, the Master of Nutrition and Dietetics will launch you straight into a career as a dietitian. With practical training in human nutrition plus access to eminent dietitians, this highly regarded postgraduate course will bring you to the forefront of dietetic and nutrition research and practice.
This program is currently accredited by the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA). A graduate of this program is eligible to become a full member of DAA and to join the Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) Program. The University is required to maintain a current accreditation status as outlined in the DAA accreditation process available on the DAA website.
The two-year course builds on major concepts from the study of human biochemistry and physiology to discuss the roles of nutrients, nutritional contents of food and diet in health and disease. The program covers all the content and skills needed for you to become a career-ready professional across public health, medical nutrition therapy, food service management, communication, management, and research and evaluation.
The Master of Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Sydney draws on the expertise of researchers and clinicians in nutrition science, public health, medicine and dietetics. Being in central Sydney gives us the advantage of calling on external guest lecturers. We have access to members of the Science and Medicine faculties and utilise leading University teaching hospitals (Sydney and rural if preferred) for placement experiences. Our master’s program includes a full semester of supervised research training which meets requirements for entry to a PhD.
Our academics teach from a research-driven base but understand the importance of the translation of the research into evidence-based dietetic practice. The course will equip you with the skills for life-long professional development as a dietitian/nutritionist whether you want to work in the clinical or public health fields, in a hospital or primary care private practice, in a community health facility or a research organisation.
Please note that places in this course are limited and subject to strict enrolment quotas.
To assist students to make informed choices about their study, we have identified the Inherent Requirements for the Master of Nutrition and Dietetics. For more information about the requirements, please read the inherent requirements for this course.
Commonwealth Supported Places
Commonwealth Supported Places (CSP) are available for this course for eligible domestic students. This means that your course fees are subsidised by the Australian Government and you pay a student contribution amount (SCA). CSP places are limited in number and are allocated based on academic merit.
For academic requirements check the ‘Admission requirements’ section on this page.
You can apply online via the application portal. When you are ready to apply, select the ‘Apply’ button on this course page. Visit the How to apply page for other important information.
Keep in mind that you may need to supply supporting documentation and this will be outlined in the online application form. You may need to scan, upload and attach supporting documentation to your application. You can also save your application and finish completing it at a later date. Applications are made directly to the University and assessed by the Faculty of Science. To enable assessment of meeting prerequisites, any applicant with international qualifications (e.g. bachelor degree completed at an overseas university) must submit unit of study outlines for all prerequisite units of study as listed above.
Closing dates
Semester 1 - 17 October of the preceding year
We strongly encourage applicants to apply as early as possible, offers are made on a rolling basis and places are limited. Separate scholarship deadlines apply - check the scholarships website for details.
Semester 1 (March)
You can apply online via the application portal. When you are ready to apply, select the ‘Apply’ button on this course page. Visit the How to apply page for other important information.
Keep in mind that you may need to supply supporting documentation and this will be outlined in the online application form. You may need to scan, upload and attach supporting documentation to your application. You can also save your application and finish completing it at a later date. Applications are made directly to the University and assessed by the Faculty of Science. To enable assessment of meeting prerequisites, any applicant with international qualifications (e.g. bachelor degree completed at an overseas university) must submit unit of study outlines for all prerequisite units of study as listed above.
Closing dates
Semester 1 - 17 October of the preceding year
We strongly encourage international applicants to apply as early as possible to allow time for visa and travel arrangements. Separate scholarship deadlines may apply - check the scholarships website for details.
Semester 1 (March)
To qualify for the Master of Nutrition and Dietetics, you must complete a prescribed program of 96 credit points, including:
Degree sample plan: Master of Nutrition and Dietetics
Semester 1 |
Semester 2 |
Year 1 |
|
Dietary Intake and |
Food Service Management |
Year 2 |
|
| Semester 1 |
Semester 2 |
Dietetics Training |
Nutrition Research Project |
First year
The first year consists of coursework, lectures, tutorials and practicals, all of which are offered during the day only, and are held at the Camperdown Campus or at specialised sites off-campus at various health sites.
The timetable is comprised mostly of standard business hours (9am-5pm), although there may be some presentations outside these times such as in the evening. The presentations are mostly held on the Camperdown Campus, but there may be special workshops at other venues, i.e. Concord Hospital, Westmead Hospital, The Children’s Hospital Westmead and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
Second year
One semester of second year is devoted to clinical training and the other semester is spent on a small research project. The dates for the placement program do not follow the undergraduate academic year. The research semesters follow the standard University academic semester.
The second year of study will commence in late January for students on placement in Semester 1, or late June / early July for second semester placement.
During your placement semester, you will participate in 20 weeks of individual case management, community and food service placement training. For the individual case management dietetics placement, you will typically be attached to two or more teaching hospitals and their associated centres, where you will be supervised by Accredited Practising Dietitians. The majority of time is spent in either inpatient or outpatient settings of mainly public hospitals. Six weeks are spent in the community gaining experience in community and public health nutrition and four weeks in food service management.
During your research semester, you will undertake a research project, which may be a small survey, laboratory work, supervised hospital project or a literature review. University and/or external supervisors guide you. The project may be based at the University, a hospital or in the community. You will present your findings as both an oral presentation and a written report in the form of a journal article.
Assessments
Assessments cover both knowledge and skills and include formal examinations, written assignments, reports, oral presentations, practicals and workshops
Mandatory work component = 800 hours.
This mandatory work component must be completed as part of the award requirements for the course.
This is equivalent to 20 weeks of mandatory work activity.
Current entry requirements:
Admission to the degree requires a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Sydney, or equivalent qualification, with at least an average result of Credit. The applicant must also have successfully completed the following prerequisite units of study within the last 10 years:
Entry from 2021 requirements:
Admission to the degree requires a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Sydney, or equivalent qualification, with at least an average result of Credit. The applicant must also have successfully completed the following prerequisite units of study within the last 10 years:
Junior refers to 1000-level units of study.
Intermediate refers to 2000-level units of study.
Senior refers to 3000-level units of study.
A credit average means a minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) of 65.
These are the minimum admission requirements for this course. As entry into this course is very competitive, applicants who meet the minimum admission requirements are then ranked according to academic merit. Course numbers are limited and offers will be made on the basis of rank, subject to a strict enrolment quota.
To enable assessment of whether prerequisites are met, any applicant with international qualifications (e.g. bachelor degree completed at an overseas University) must submit unit of study outlines for all prerequisite units of study as listed above.
Top-ranked applicants will be made early rolling offers. For all other applicants, the first offer round occurs in late November prior to the year of commencement. The second offer round occurs in mid December prior to the year of commencement. The third round occurs in early to mid January in the year of commencement. Subsequent rounds may occur in February in the year of commencement, again subject to availability of places in the enrolment quota. Unconditional offers of admissions must be accepted within 2 weeks of the date of offer, or may lapse.
Applicants are unable to defer an offer of admission to a later semester or year. Applicants who wish to defer will instead need to make a new application for admission to a later year. There is no mid-year intake.
A limited number of Commonwealth Supported Places (CSP) may be available to domestic applicants for this course from year to year, subject to confirmation from the Australian Government.
The Handbooks Online and the University of Sydney Calendar are the official legal source of information relating to study at the University of Sydney, and you are referred to those documents.
Inherent requirements are the essential tasks and activities necessary to be able to achieve the core learning outcomes of a course. They are specific to a particular course or discipline. To assist students to make informed choices about their study, we have identified and set out the Inherent Requirements for this course.
Is my degree equivalent to a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Sydney?
Your degree must be equivalent to AQF Level 7 and should be completed at a recognised tertiary institution such as a University. Qualifications from colleges, including those of Alternative / Natural Therapies, are generally not considered equivalent.
Your degree must have sufficient Science content (including at the appropriate senior level) to be equivalent to a Bachelor of Science. Generally, this will include at least 96 credit points of Science units of study (including 12 credit points of mathematics and a Science major).
If you do not have a Bachelor of Science degree or equivalent, or your qualifications are older than 10 years, you will need to undertake this degree before you can be considered for admission into MND, including all prerequisite units of study. A credit average must be achieved.
Do my units of study satisfy the prerequisites?
I have completed a Bachelor of Science degree within the last 10 years with a GPA of 65, but I am missing a few prerequisite units of study. What do I do?
Many applicants have completed a Science degree with a credit average, but unfortunately do not meet the prerequisite units of study (e.g. missing one unit of human physiology and one unit of food science). In such cases, the applicant may be eligible to undertake the outstanding prerequisite units of study as a non-award student at the University of Sydney or at your home University. The outstanding unit would be taken as “Science Undergraduate Non-Degree Study”. All prerequisite units must be completed prior to admission to MND. Under no circumstances will applicants be able to undertake outstanding prerequisite units concurrently with MND.
I have completed a Bachelor of Science degree and all the necessary prerequisites within the last 10 years with a GPA of 65, but wasn’t made an offer. Why?
These are the minimum admission requirements for entry this course. As entry is very competitive and places are limited, all applicants meeting the minimum admission requirements must also be ranked according to academic merit (GPA). Offers are made to applicants in order of rank, subject to available places in the course.
I have completed a degree which includes one of the required MND units of study, or a research component. Can I gain credit for this?
No. The degree is a package which is accredited by the Dietitians Association of Australia and it is essential that the full training as accredited is undertaken. We do not give credit for prior training.
This program is currently accredited by the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA). A graduate of this program is eligible to become a full member of DAA and to join the Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) Program. The University is required to maintain a current accreditation status as outlined in the DAA accreditation process available on the DAA website.
Throughout this course you will develop knowledge of:
You will also develop skills of:
Our graduates can be found in almost all areas of dietetic and nutrition practice, for example in large and small hospitals, in private practice, in community health, in NGOs such as Cancer Council, in government positions like Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), working for the professional body DAA, in the food industry, in food service management and in academia and research.
There are increasing avenues of opportunity and careers for dietitian/nutritionists.
