Master of Counselling

At the heart of a career in counselling is a desire to help others. Build on the skills acquired in your previous degree or professional experience with UNE's accredited, flexibly delivered Master of Counselling. Underpinned by a humanistic philosophy that focuses on the person rather than the symptoms, our course equips you to support people in need with practical skills and advanced knowledge. Future proof your career as a registered counsellor, able to engage in professional, reflexive counselling practice in an environment of genuineness, acceptance, caring, compassion and empathy.

Why study the Master of Counselling with UNE?

Counsellors provide support to people of all ages who are experiencing challenges in their lives. Whether you are new to the profession or seeking to expand your current knowledge and skills, UNE’s Master of Counselling offers an integrative approach, with professional training and supervision that equips you with advanced knowledge and skills to enable you to work collaboratively with your clients, and create environments that facilitate personal insight, change and growth.

Our course is underpinned and informed by a Humanistic and Existential philosophical framework that deals with questions of meaning and freedom, grapples with what it means to be human, and emphasises the value of individual and collective agency.

Develop your skills in counselling, supervision and health and social research. Learn about the theories and concepts that underpin common research approaches to ensure that you have the right foundation to identify and select appropriate methods to answer particular research questions. You will also gain an in depth understanding of the processes that guide research design and practice. The course provides a pathway to UNE's Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), if you are interested in pursuing further research.

What makes our course different?

At UNE, we have been preparing students for a rich career in counselling for over 25 years. Our long established, specialist master’s course is taught by passionate and experienced academics and practitioners, ensuring that you gain the theoretical knowledge and practical skills required for contemporary, interdisciplinary, person-centred practice in the rapidly changing world of health and social care. With a focus on humanistic counselling approaches that require a commitment on the part of the counsellor to connect with others and explore what happens when those connections are made, you might find the learning experience of this course different to what you have experienced in the past.

Counsellor training requires independent, self-directed and reflexive learning. Our aim in this course is to provide you with the same growth-promoting learning environment that you will create for your clients. We support your development as a skilled professional, ready to respond to the challenges you may face in practice with emotional and psychological agility. Engagement with your teachers and peers throughout will assist to deepen your understanding of the humanistic approach to counselling, fostering genuineness, acceptance, caring, compassion and empathy. This course gives you opportunities to:

Equip yourself with professional training in a range of specialisations. Core units of the course include supervision theory and practice, and focus on giving you the skills and knowledge required to support people of all ages dealing with a range of issues including life transitions and relationships, addiction, abuse, mental health, and many other areas of health and wellbeing.

Choose your own pathway, with options for the Generalist Counselling Pathway, the Mental Health Practice Pathway or the Counselling Placement Pathway which includes 40 hours of face-to-face counselling, 10 hours of clinical supervision and 150 hours of agency-based activities.

Gain real research experience — UNE’s Master of Counselling includes a capstone research project, undertaken in your last trimester of study, where you choose a specialised area of counselling to investigate independently. With a collaborative approach and excellent support from your supervisor, you will produce a piece of professional research and demonstrate your skills in problem solving, critical thinking and analysis. If you wish, this can also be a pathway to further higher degree research in the School of Health.

Study flexibly — at UNE, our counselling students come from a wide range of backgrounds, and we know that you need to balance study with family, work and other commitments. Flexibility is the key to our online learning programs, and we offer options that allow you to study units across UNE's trimesters allowing you to tailor your program of study to your individual needs.

By choosing UNE, you are choosing an industry leader in the provision of online lifelong learning. Year after year, students award UNE the maximum 5-star ratings for Overall Experience and Student Support in The Good Universities Guide. When you choose UNE, you are setting yourself on a pathway to a rewarding future.

Study online

Most of our students choose to study online across three study periods with 24/7 tutor support* and fit study around work and family commitments. Uniquely, our online students are mostly over 30 and bring valuable experience with them. They form a community of adults juggling the same challenges and priorities and who bring their life and work experience together at UNE in order to become future-fit and better respond to a rapidly changing world.

24/7 tutor support includes: essay feedback (within 24 hours); live chat 24/7 for generic feedback on academic writing; and subject-specific help at a foundation or first-year level for subjects including mathematics, chemistry, biology, physics, business, accounting, microeconomics, macroeconomics and statistics. There are also a wide range of workshops, resources and courses available in academic skills support to assist you and help you to succeed.

UNE is one of Australia’s oldest universities with a 85 year reputation for excellence in teaching, learning and research. The University of New England (UNE) was the first Australian university established outside a capital city. With a history extending back to the 1920’s UNE has a well-earned reputation as one of Australia’s best teaching, training and research universities. Many graduates of UNE have gone on to hold senior positions around Australia - and overseas - in business, government, education, research and community development. UNE has over 22,000 enrolled students with the majority studying their course online. There are over 4,500 students that study on the University’s traditional Armidale campus, including over 1,200 international students from over 70 different countries. Choose to study in Armidale, Sydney, Adelaide, or online.

At the University of New England, we work hard to give you the best possible learning and research environment.

If you decide to live on or near our main campus in Armidale, a regional city on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, you will find your second home. If you want to live in a major Australian city, our Sydney campus is an ideal choice.

Like many international students, you might decide not to study on campus at all. UNE offers many flexible and online learning options.

No matter how you prefer to study, our academic and professional community will be on-hand to provide advice and support.

Come to UNE to improve your English, make lifelong friends and build a professional network. UNE is also an excellent choice if you are looking for a research centre with more than 700 PhD candidates. Our researchers are pursuing world-class fundamental and applied research in their fields.

While UNE offers a range of courses and study options, you will leave here with so much more than a degree. We will help you master the skills you need to make a real difference in the world.

One of Australia’s most respected universities

UNE is one of Australia’s oldest universities, with a reputation for excellence in teaching, learning and research.

We have over 22,000 students enrolled in undergraduate and postgraduate coursework, as well as Higher Degree Research programs across fields of study such as:

• Arts and humanities
• Education
• Health and Nursing
• Business and Law
• Environmental and Rural Science
• Science and Technology

An affordable, truly Australian lifestyle

UNE's primary campus is nestled into the city of Armidale, in the heart of the picturesque New England Tableland region of New South Wales.

The New England region is famous for its magnificent gorges, waterfalls and rivers. Our area has a rich history and vibrant culture and is loved for the contrasting beauty of the four distinct seasons.

The Armidale community is proud of its diverse, multicultural society. We have students from over 70 nations studying here. The engagement of international students with the broader community is an important aspect of life at UNE. We know our students enjoy the warm welcome they receive when they arrive. They also appreciate the lower cost of living here compared to capital cities.

Read more about life in Armidale.

UNE has a second campus located in Parramatta, Sydney that offers International students a vibrant city experience. UNE Sydney has a range of courses designed to help students meet the future needs of business, computer science, and the healthcare sectors globally.

Students who choose to study at UNE Sydney will have opportunities to network and explore career paths with Australia’s largest and leading companies, along with easy access to countless restaurants, bars and clubs, retail outlets, the scenic outdoors, and accessible public transport to keep them busy outside of their studies.

Read more about life in Sydney.

Close interaction with teaching staff

With one of the lowest staff-to-student ratios among Australian universities, we give you the chance to interact more easily with your classmates and academic staff.

When you have this close contact with your teachers and peers, you can have in-depth discussions and ask questions more freely.

Smaller class sizes also mean that you are not just a number at UNE. One of the things international students like most about our university is that lecturers and academic staff know their names.

Flexible and distance study options

In addition to UNE's on-campus degrees, we also offer an extensive range of programs via the online mode.

We have an outstanding reputation for our commitment to distance education, and for setting standards for academic learning across the world.

UNE is Australia's longest continuous provider of online education. We have more than 17,000 online students. The flexibility offered by this mode of study allows you to arrange your study around work, family and other commitments.

Browse UNE courses (full-time, on-campus and online programs).

A modern English language centre

The English Language Centre (ELC) at UNE provides a range of English language courses as well as a direct pathway to tertiary study.

The ELC is a fully accredited, modern language centre. Whether you are just beginning to learn English, or you are preparing for entrance into the highest levels of university study, there’s an English language study option for you here.

Read more about our English language programs.

Support when you need it

When you start looking for a university, you have lots of questions. You might be wondering if you are eligible to study here or want to know more about visas and fees.

Maybe you need to find a supervisor to support your Higher Degree research proposal.

There’s plenty of information online, but sometimes you want to speak to someone from the university. Find a full list of UNE International team contacts here.

If you are ready to apply, you will find the online application process is easy. We also have a list of approved education agents in your country who can help you.

We wish you a happy and rewarding time at UNE and look forward to seeing you soon. View our Welcome to UNE brochure for a quick look around before you arrive.