A Guide on Studying Abroad in Australia

Australia is a more “magical” place. Although its 43 institutions are not ranked high in the world, they are very popular internationally.

In fact, it is not difficult to understand that Australia is a country that is very friendly to international students. Multiple favorable policies attract international students to live in Australia. Of course, aside from the advantages of Australia’s living environment and tourism, its work and education are also internationally recognized.

It should be noted that Australia’s education system and application process are different from other English-speaking countries. For this reason, this Australian school selection guide is written to help student who plan to apply for universities in Australia.

Distribution of Australian universities

Australian universities are mainly concentrated on the east coast, with 21 institutions in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and cities in Queensland and New South Wales.

• Melbourne has 8 universities;
• Adelaide, a coastal city in South Australia, has 6 universities;
• There is also 1 university located between Adelaide and Melbourne;
• There are 5 universities in Perth and Fremantle on the west coast;
• Darwin in the north has only one university;
• The 43^rduniversity is located in Hobart, Tasmania.

Generally speaking, basically every state or territory has at least 1 university.

QS ranking of Australian universities

• Australian National University (ANU) (ranked 30^th in the world): Technological influence and proportion of international students are high.
• The University of Melbourne (ranked 33^rd in the world): The student body is quite diverse, with more than 50,000 students, 40% of whom are international students.
• The University of Sydney (ranked 41^st in the world): The employment prospects of the University of Sydney graduates are ranked fourth in the world, and Australia is naturally first.
• UNSW (ranked 45^th in the world): One of the founding members of Group of Eight in Australia, a university with outstanding scientific research strength. It is the university with the highest proportion of millionaires among university graduates in Australia.
• The University of Queensland (UQ) (ranked 50^th in the world): Scientific research and innovation have made remarkable achievements, and the cervical cancer vaccine is one of its research and development achievements.
• Monash University (ranked 57^th in the world): Monash University is primarily based in Melbourne, but has five campuses in Victoria and two in Malaysia and South Africa.
• The University of Western Australia (UWA) (ranked 90^th in the world): The proportion of international teaching staff is relatively high.
• The University of Adelaide (ranked 109^th in the world): Get extra points for immigrants in remote areas, a sandstone university that has won 5 Nobel Prizes
• University of Technology Sydney (UTS) (ranked 137^th in the world): The University of Technology Sydney library has a China Pavilion launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping, which is also the first China Pavilion ever presented to Australia by the Chinese government.
• University of Wollongong (ranked 185^th in the world)

Overview of Australia’s top schools

If you go to Australia to study abroad, the most important thing is the academic experience, the Australian Group of Eight is a good choice for you.

There are also some young universities that you may not be familiar with, but the quality of education is also world-leading. More than a quarter of Australia’s universities are in the top 100 universities under 50 years old, including the University of Technology Sydney; Charles Darwin University and Queensland University of Technology.

In Australia, students can choose a single or double degree, or a combination of arts and sciences, arts and law, or business and engineering. It usually takes three years to earn an undergraduate degree, but it can take longer for comprehensive courses and some specific subjects. To get more details about the courses in Australia, you can check via their official websites or Course Finder.

Course application planning

Application time

International students can choose to start their studies from February to June (semester 1) or from July to October (semester 2), just like native Australian students.

If you want to enrol in the first semester from February to June, your application must be submitted no later than December.

If you want to start the second semester from July to October, the submission date should not be later than May.

Financial support

To study an undergraduate degree in Australia, the annual tuition fee is expected to be between AUD 15,000 to AUD 33,000. But this cost doesn’t necessarily have to be fully covered by yourself, as there are plenty of Australian Government scholarships and funding opportunities directly from universities that can ease some of the financial burden.

In particular, Australian scholarships are only available to international students from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Pacific.

485 work permit application

At present, the Australian Immigration officially opened the second visa application for graduate work permit 485 on January 20, 2021!

That is to say, from now on, students who graduate in regional areas of Australia will have the opportunity to renew the 485 visa for an additional 1-2 years.

It should be noted that the latest planning for regional areas in Australia is: all of Australia except Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane are remote areas. Regional areas are not defined by urban infrastructure or economic development, but by the local birth rate.

So going to school in regional areas of Australia is not going to school in an underdeveloped city. For example, Canberra, the capital of Australia, is in the regional ranks!