Bachelor of Nutrition / Master of Dietetics and Food Innovation

This five-year program provides unmatched experiential learning opportunities with ample space to learn, explore and develop as a healthcare professional. Your hands-on training starts in year one, giving you time to build confidence in your ability to practice. This structure allows for a greater breadth of practical training, providing experience across diverse clinical and non-clinical environments to ensure you become a competent, well-rounded practitioner. 

When you graduate, you’ll be highly skilled, adaptable and ready to transition to the workforce. You’ll be prepared for the working environment and will be confident interacting with other professionals. 

• This program has a strong focus on experiential learning in locations such as farms, urban food gardens, markets and food retail businesses.
• In your fifth year, you’ll complete 100 working days (800 hours) of placements in clinical, community, private and industry settings.
• Throughout your degree, we offer 40 hours of off-site experiences in health facilities and community organisations in addition to the usual placement offering.

Best practice healthcare requires a high degree of collaboration among professionals from different disciplines.

This degree has an embedded professional practice stream, where you’ll learn with students from our physiotherapy, exercise physiology and pharmacy programs. The stream provides an opportunity to start building connections with your future health colleagues and mirrors real-world practice, where professionals work in integrated healthcare teams. You’ll gain an understanding of how different teams work together to improve patient outcomes, such as how and when to refer a client to another health professional. 

Our professional practice stream includes seven courses, which will teach you critical interprofessional skills in:

• professionalism and cross-cultural communication
• teamwork and collaboration
• evidence-based and value-based healthcare
• ethics and law
• leadership and business management skills
• innovation and entrepreneurship
• advocacy
• investigation and creative problem-solving

This degree incorporates learning from experts in our science, law and business faculties. You’ll engage with experts from a wide range of fields including food scientists, agriculture, communications and marketing.

With a strong focus on networking, you’ll start to build your professional connections, which are essential for securing a role in the dietetics field. We offer an annual networking event, where you'll learn more about the field, connect with industry professionals and be welcomed into our healthcare community. We have connections with some of Australia’s best hospitals, private practices and health organisations. You'll have contact with industry professionals throughout your degree, giving you the opportunity to grow your professional network while you study and give you a head start in your career.

As one of the world's top medical schools*, we're creating the health leaders of tomorrow. Our diverse community of students, educators, clinicians and researchers are working together to tackle the world's most pressing health challenges. 

Our internationally recognised research centres and institutes are translating ground-breaking research into cures, treatment strategies and therapies. This degree offers research opportunities to develop your investigative skills and provide a pathway if you want to pursue a career in research. You’ll gain a strong understanding of research methods and the application of research to practice. The principles of evidence-based practice and value-based care will inform your clinical decisions. 

^{*Ranked 54th globally according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024}

This unique combination will prepare you for a much wider scope of practice compared to traditional dietetics programs. This breadth of knowledge, skills and experience is your competitive edge - employers are looking for graduates who will be able to adapt to changes in this rapidly evolving field.

Learn more about our work across the multidisciplinary fields of nutrition, dietetics and food innovation. 

Significant industry consultation was undertaken to ensure our programs align with industry needs, both in contemporary and future practice. This degree is grounded in food equity, social justice and sustainability values.

Unlike many dietetics programs, this degree will prepare you to deliver dietetic counselling to people from different religious, cultural, regional or remote and disability backgrounds. You'll gain the knowledge, skills and experience you need to work with diverse populations. Mental health first aid, counselling and behaviour training is introduced early in the program to ensure you become confident with those skills.

We start our nutrition and dietetic training in year one to ensure your learning is spread evenly across the five years. This gives you time to build your confidence as a healthcare professional, under the guidance of our expert staff.

UNSW Medicine & Health offers a diverse range of facilities across our Kensington campus, rural and metropolitan teaching hospitals and our world-class research centres and institutes. You’ll be learning in our exceptional food science kitchens and labs, with state-of-the-art appliances, sensory labs, fermentation equipment and food gardens.

The UNSW Health Translation Hub (UNSW HTH), which will soon form part of the wider Randwick Health & Innovation Precinct in Sydney, reflects our commitment to transforming healthcare. The UNSW HTH will integrate health education, training and research with healthcare services to drive improvements in patient care and health outcomes. Through the UNSW HTH, you’ll have opportunities to work in interprofessional clinics and pursue research interests.

Our UNSW Lifestyle Clinic brings together some of Australia’s most innovative teams of healthcare professionals and researchers. The Clinic provides a practical learning environment where you can gain hands-on training, complete clinical placements and engage with the community.