Education & Experience

Graduate

To be appointed as a Medical Officer in the Air Force, you must be registered as a medical practitioner under the laws of the Commonwealth or a State of Australia, or hold qualifications, which will enable you to be registered. Documentary evidence of registration must be provided.

Applicants completing their Intern / Residency phase are also eligible to apply.

Graduate Medical Program

You must have completed an appropriate undergraduate degree, which may include humanities related degrees such as BA, BBus or BEd. In addition, you must have successfully completed the Graduate Australian Medical Schools Admission Test (GAMSAT) and been accepted by an Australian university of your choice. Applicants may be sponsored from commencement of the four-year degree.

You may attend an Officer Selection Board pending receipt of an offer to attend your chosen university.

The ADF will also accept applications from unencumbered (not bonded) or full-fee paying students. Full-fee paying university students will be reimbursed the equivalent amount of HECs for that degree stream. The refund will be the highest amount specified in the government-approved, student contribution range for each degree stream as displayed at www.goingtouni.gov.au.

Failure during Degree Studies: If you fail an examination and are unable to progress to the next academic year or graduate, your appointment may be terminated (recovery of costs including fees, salary and books would usually be initiated in these cases). Approval may be given for the student to repeat the year at the member's or ADF expense, provided that the failure was not due to a lack of application on the part of the student.

Undergraduate

To be eligible for an Air Force Undergraduate sponsorship, applicants must have completed:

• Year 12 with passes in English and three other Board of Secondary School Studies registered subjects; and
• the first full year of study (preferably with academic results) of a full-time degree at a Faculty of Medicine.

South Australian Undergraduate applicants may achieve a pass at Year 11 English and a pass in a language rich subject at Year 12.

In addition, candidates who have English as a Second Language qualifications completed after 1991 which contribute to the candidate's Tertiary Entrance Ranking (TER), may be used as an alternative to mainstream English for all training.

As part of their medical degree Medical graduates will be required to undertake residency training of up to two years duration as directed by the medical registration authorities. Residency will be undertaken at a hospital in Australia approved by the Air Force.

Specialist Reserve

To be appointed as an Air Force officer under this stream, you must be registered as a medical practitioner with the Medical Board of Australia.

Post-graduate qualifications in a relevant discipline are generally required and you must be accredited by the relevant college where applicable.