Step 1 Understand the Australian Education System

International students often come to Australia to get their bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree, or Doctoral degree. However, it can be difficult to meet the english or academic requirements. Therefore, it is important to understand the Australian education system to find the degree and pathway most suited to you.

1.1. Understanding your pathways

If you did not meet the specific requirements of a particular degree in a specific university, other pathways are open.

There are four ways for an international student to get a Bachelor’s degree. Based on academic performance and English ability you can choose the most suitable.

Tips:

You can get a bachelor’s degree after three years of studying at a university. However, with high performance (usually top 5%) students can elect to take an extra year to get a bachelor’s degree with honours. This also gives you direct access to a PhD.

There are two types of master’s degrees:

  • Postgraduate study (coursework)- knowledge developed through coursework
  • Postgraduate study (research)- knowledge developed by completing a major research project 

Based on english performance, international students may need to attend a language course first. Upon entry into the university, the master’s degree generally requires two years. To be eligible a bachelor’s degree is required.

The Doctoral Degree is the highest level in Australian qualification framework and is also the most difficult. To be eligible, you must complete a master’s degree or a bacherlor’s degree with honours.

Generally, it takes 3 years of full-time study to complete a PhD and while part-time PhDs are possible, this is not available to international students.

Bachelor's degree

There are four ways for an international student to get a Bachelor’s degree. Based on academic performance and English ability you can choose the most suitable.

Tips:

You can get a bachelor’s degree after three years of studying at a university. However, with high performance (usually top 5%) students can elect to take an extra year to get a bachelor’s degree with honours. This also gives you direct access to a PhD.

Master's degree

There are two types of master’s degrees:

  • Postgraduate study (coursework)- knowledge developed through coursework
  • Postgraduate study (research)- knowledge developed by completing a major research project 

Based on english performance, international students may need to attend a language course first. Upon entry into the university, the master’s degree generally requires two years. To be eligible a bachelor’s degree is required.

Doctoral Degree

The Doctoral Degree is the highest level in Australian qualification framework and is also the most difficult. To be eligible, you must complete a master’s degree or a bacherlor’s degree with honours.

Generally, it takes 3 years of full-time study to complete a PhD and while part-time PhDs are possible, this is not available to international students.

Step 2 choosing your major

Your major affects your future significantly. However, it is hard to choose your major; there are too many factors to be considered. Your personal interests, expected salary, your future career growth. These are some considerations you should make:

2.1 check your work style

The quiz above may help you gain a better understand or formulate how you work and what kind of work you enjoy most. Depending on your personal interests it can then help you match up to some potential careers.
https://joboutlook.gov.au/career-tools/career-quiz/#/

2.2 Explore your career options

The career profiles might help you gain a better understanding of the tasks you may be expected to do in different professions as well as hours, environment etc. Another thing you may want to assess is what future these potential careers have in an ever changing world. Check what kind of jobs you might be looking at after certain majors.
https://joboutlook.gov.au/

2.3 Personal interests

What interests you? What are you passionate about? What could you spend the rest if yout life doing? We learn and perform better when we do something we enjoy and while for some professions it may only matter that you have a degree, others will require specific prior knowledge. Look into what courses different majors require, you may be surprised by what is involved in that field.

2.4 Consider your current options

You may want to take in your current options into consideration, if you do not have the academic merit to enter the degress and university you wish, be realistic about your pathways. You can find other longer ways to achieve these goals but are you committed to putting in the extra time and effort? Is this the pathway you want to take?

Step 3 Choose your university

While many people just look to university rankings, you should also consider industry connections and opportunities offered by the university. You can also check what percentage of students is employed straight out of university for each major in each university. Different universities suit different people, to have the best experience and do well you should consider what environment the university fosters and what kind of a life each university might mean. It would be very good to talk to our uni mentors about this. You can check our appendix to see university rankings. Generally QS is the most trusted.

3.1 Check the English requirement

In Australia, university applicants need to provide evidence that their English language ability meets the minimum requirements for admission.
Generally the following English language skills tests are accepted:

  • International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic (non-academic tests not accepted)
  • Test of English as a Foreign Language internet-based (TOEFL  iBT)
  • PTE Academic (non-academic tests not accepted)
  • Cambridge C1 Advanced & C2 Proficiency

Usually, an international student will need to reach an overall score of 6.5 with a minimum of 6.0 in each component of the test in IELTS or equivalent, some majors such as Law have higher requirements.

If you do meet the language requirement, you can take an ELICOS course. However, you need to get at least 4.5 in IELTS exam or equivalent to be able to apply for a student visa.
https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/student-500#Eligibility

3.2 Academic requirement

Check requirements for your preferred degree and major on the university website. Most courses will guarantee you entry if you meet the minimum required grade, however for some competitive courses such as medicine or IT this may not be the case.

Step 4 Choosing Courses

After choosing your major you will need to select the courses. You will have elective courses and compulsory courses however you may be able to choose out of a selection of core courses. Some things you might want to keep in mind are:

  • how do you want to space out the credits you need for your degree?
  • What prerequisites are required for each course? (plan of your total degree)
  • What order should you do the courses in?
  • What kind of content or learning will be required for each course? (try to keep some variation in each semester)
  • Normally you can still drop or change courses within the first two weeks of the semester

Appendix

1 Check the university ranking & the ranking methodology
University ranking is a good indicator to choose your university, and there are four main university ranking websites

  1. QS ranking
  2. THE ranking
  3. ARWU ranking
  4. US news ranking

Before you choose your university base on the ranking, make sure you understand the methodology of each ranking.

  1. QS methodology
  2. THE methodology
  3. ARWU methodology
  4. US news methodology

2 Understand AQF
Australian education qualifications are regulated under the policy of The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). The AQF levels show how students can progress through the Australian education system.
https://www.aqf.edu.au/

aqf