Psychology pathways

Undergraduate psychology degrees at Deakin offer a unique and rewarding experience. You'll be exposed to diverse areas of learning, including human behaviour, child and adolescent psychology, relationships and the psychology of groups, personality, cognitive psychology, psychopathology, research methods for psychology, and more.

You can also tailor your degree to your career goals by focussing on specialisations such as child and family, forensic studies and organisational studies.

Whether you're planning to land a job in the mental health field after your first degree, pursue postgraduate study to become a registered psychologist, or follow a research pathway; you'll be career ready.

Study psychology at Deakin and gain an understanding of the human mind and behaviour. You'll develop sought-after skills in critical thinking, reasoning, reading, writing, and research methods; all of these in high demand in professional psychology and a wide range of sectors.

Wanting to become a registered psychologist? Your first step should be to study an approved three-year undergraduate degree (or the undergraduate-equivalent Graduate Diploma of Psychological Science), plus an honours year/fourth year of study. A solid start in completing the minimum six years of full-time equivalent university study required.

Course options at Deakin include:

• Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours)
• Graduate Diploma of Psychology (Advanced)
• An embedded fourth year in the Bachelor of Psychology (Honours).

Following your first four years of study, you can then opt to undertake one of our masters degrees:

• Master of Psychology (Clinical)
• Master of Psychology (Organisational)
• Master of Professional Psychology.

While some graduates will go on to become registered psychologists, many will work in complementary professions or in entirely different fields, from youth work to marketing to policy.

Our undergraduate program is available both on campus and online. You can choose to study face-to-face, online or a mix of both.

If you complete an undergraduate degree in psychology, you can enrol in an approved 'fourth year' of study in psychology. This may be either honours in psychology (e.g. Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours) or the Graduate Diploma of Psychology (Advanced).

Completion of a fourth year is required for provisional registration as a psychologist with the Psychology Board of Australia. The fourth year combines coursework and an in-depth research project with an academic advisor.

If you complete four years of psychology studies (i.e. an undergraduate degree and an honours year/fourth year of study), you can then apply to study at the postgraduate level.

Our postgraduate degrees equips graduates with the specialist knowledge and skills for the professional practice of psychology, and the core competencies required by the Psychology Board of Australia to register and practise as a generalist psychologist.

Four years of academic study in psychology, recognised by the Psychology Board of Australia, is required to gain provisional registration as a psychologist. You can then apply for provisional registration with the Psychology Board of Australia and for Associate Membership of the Australian Psychological Society.

To gain general registration, a minimum of two years further postgraduate study through our masters or HDR programs is required. It’s at this stage you can specialise, following further supervision and training, in a particular area of psychology that appeals to your interests and career aspirations.

Find out more about psychology registration

Master of Professional Psychology

The Master of Professional Psychology has been designed in consultation with our industry partners to help you develop the academic, practical, and research skills necessary to set you up for supervised practice on your way to general registration as a psychologist.

Learn more about the Master of Professional Psychology

Master of Psychology (Clinical)

The Master of Psychology (Clinical) has been designed in consultation with our industry partners to help you develop the academic, practical, and research skills necessary to gain general registration as a psychologist. You can then complete further supervised training to gain an area of practice endorsement and be endorsed as a clinical psychologist. This degree is based on an integrative approach to clinical psychology that emphasises evidence-based practice.

Learn more about the Master of Psychology (Clinical)

Master of Psychology (Organisational)

Throughout Deakin's Master of Psychology (Organisational), you’ll acquire the academic, practical, and research skills necessary to gain general registration as a psychologist. You can then complete further supervised training to gain an area of practice endorsement and be endorsed as an organisational psychologist.

You can find employment either as a practising organisational psychologist, or as an employee in one of the many organisations and industries employing psychologists.

Learn more about the Master of Psychology (Organisational)

Doctor of Psychology (Clinical)

A HDR program that also leads to general registration as a psychologist. It is designed to enable the completion of coursework, practical placement units and a research thesis within 3.5–4 years. The course is based on the scientist/practitioner model that rests firmly on a foundation of established knowledge and current evidence-based research. It covers clinical psychology across the lifespan and also includes a focus on the assessment and treatment of children, adolescents and families.

Learn more about the Doctor of Psychology (Clinical)

You might find that your interest in psychology is research-based rather than clinical. In that case, consider a research PhD from Deakin. Our staff and students are interested in a number of fascinating research areas, including:

Learn more about our research PhD course structure

Learn more about psychological research