Occupational Medicine

Entry requirements

A postgraduate diploma can usually be taken at any time after the completion of your bachelor's degree.

If your first language is not English you need to meet our English language requirements as follows: IELTS score of 6.5 in the academic module (with no individual band below 6.0); we also accept a number of other English language tests. Due to COVID-19, we currently accept Duolingo English Test (DET), IELTS Indicator Test, and TOEFL iBT Special home Edition.

Don’t meet the English language requirements? The University of Otago Language Centre "English for Otago" programme offers a pathway for Undergraduate and Postgraduate students to meet the English language requirements for undergraduate and postgraduate study.

Months of entry

February, July

Course content

The Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Medicine (PGDipOccMed) is a two-year, part-time, distance-taught programme for international students. The diploma is a stand-alone qualification used as a qualifying entry point for admission to Fellowship of Occupational Medicine training for specialist training in many countries around the world.

Occupational medicine practice encompasses the full breadth of clinical medicine, but also requires practitioners to be highly competent in a range of other specialist areas of practice. Managing the health of workers requires not only a good understanding of the hazards that affect the health of workers, and the effect that worker’s health status has on work ability, but also their clinical and operational significance. This requires a good understanding of how to assess the scientific literature and its meaning in terms of application.

Programme Requirements

The programme shall consist of four papers in Occupational Medicine:

• AVME 715 Health, Work and Behaviour
• AVME 716 Clinical Occupational Medicine
• AVME 723 Managing Occupational Medicine
• AVME 724 Health and Industry

A candidate may apply to substitute a research paper, AVME 780 or AVME 785, for one paper above.

Subject to approval, a candidate may be granted an exemption for up to two of the prescribed papers on the basis of having completed an appropriate paper or papers at an equivalent level offered by the University of Otago, another university or an approved examining body.

A candidate who has completed the requirements for the Postgraduate Certificate in Occupational Medicine shall be exempted from those papers in the programme for the diploma which have been previously passed for the certificate.

Information for international students

Otago offers students an unrivalled campus experience and a vibrant, social student culture. The majority of Otago’s 21,000 students live, work and play in Dunedin - New Zealand’s only true university city. Otago is home to over 3,000 students, from over 100 countries.

Fees and funding