Australia · Currency: AUD
Study in Australia
Enrolment comes first: the course has to be on a national register before a student visa is possible.
Overview
Australia runs the sequence in the opposite order to the one most applicants expect. You do not get a visa and then find a course - you are enrolled first, and it is the enrolment that makes the visa possible. The Department of Home Affairs requires a Student visa applicant to be enrolled in a full-time course registered on the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students, and to hold a valid Confirmation of Enrolment when the visa is decided. CRICOS is a public register, so whether a course can carry you to Australia at all is something you can check yourself before you apply to anyone. Australia is home to 42 universities, 36 of them public and 6 private.
Education system
Tertiary qualifications sit on the Australian Qualifications Framework, the national post-secondary system, which has ten levels, and you can move from one level to the next as long as you continue to meet your student visa requirements. Higher education is delivered by universities and by non-university providers, including private institutes and government-owned TAFEs. A bachelor degree typically takes three years, and four for a bachelor honours degree. Postgraduate programmes take one to two years. A doctoral degree takes three years plus a year for review, and most candidates work under academic supervision rather than attending classes. Most providers run two semesters, though some now offer three trimesters. Alongside higher education, vocational education and training runs one to four years through TAFE institutes and private registered training organisations, ELICOS covers English-language courses from five to sixty weeks, and foundation or pathway programmes are usually a year for applicants who do not yet meet direct-entry requirements.
Popular courses
BusinessInformation TechnologyEngineeringNursing & HealthAccountingData Science
How tuition works
Tuition is set per course and per institution and is revised every year. Take the figure from the fee table on your specific course page — a national average will not match what you are quoted.
How living costs work
Living costs depend far more on the city than on the country, and are often the larger half of the total. Build an estimate from current rent, transport and food figures for the specific city you are considering.
Admission requirements
Requirements are set per course by each provider, but Study Australia states the general baseline. Undergraduate entry needs an Australian Senior Secondary Certificate of Education - Year 12 - or an equivalent qualification, and some courses add prerequisite subjects. Postgraduate entry needs at least one completed undergraduate degree, and providers may also weigh research ability or relevant work experience. If you do not yet meet direct entry, foundation courses are usually a year long and are offered by most higher education institutions, and some providers grant course credit for previous study through recognition of prior learning. Take the actual requirement from the provider's own course page.
English-language requirements
There are two separate English requirements here and they are not the same thing. The provider sets an English requirement for the course, and it varies by course and by institution. The student visa has its own: the Department of Home Affairs uses your main course of study to work out what English language skills evidence you must give with the visa application. Satisfying one does not automatically satisfy the other, so confirm the course requirement with the provider and the visa requirement on the immigration portal.
Main intakes
University study usually starts in March, and mid-year or second-semester starts are commonly available too, though start dates vary by course and by provider. Vocational courses and schools generally start in late January or early February, and doctoral start dates are negotiated with a supervisor. There is no national deadline: application windows are set by each provider, so take the dates from your course's own admissions page.
Application process
There is no central national admissions service. You apply directly to the provider, through its own website or an application form requested from it, or through an education agent. The provider assesses the application, which can take a few weeks and longer for postgraduate courses, and a successful application produces a letter of offer and an acceptance form. Accepting the offer is what produces the Confirmation of Enrolment, and only then do you lodge the visa application with the Department of Home Affairs. If your plan packages several courses together, Home Affairs requires a Confirmation of Enrolment for each of them.
Scholarship options
Providers and government-linked bodies both run scholarship schemes, and eligibility and value change from year to year. Check the current round on the provider's own pages and through the national Study Australia scholarship listings rather than relying on a figure quoted elsewhere.
Work rights
The Department of Home Affairs states that a Student visa holder may work up to 48 hours a fortnight while their course of study or training is in session, and may work unlimited hours when the course is not in session. Family members included in the visa hold more limited work rights. Checked 2026-09-02. These conditions are set nationally and do change, and the department advises checking your own visa conditions, work rights included, through VEVO.
Student-visa overview
Most international students apply for the Student visa, subclass 500. The Department of Home Affairs requires you to be enrolled in a full-time course registered on CRICOS and to hold a valid Confirmation of Enrolment when the visa is decided, to hold Overseas Student Health Cover unless you fall into an exemption category, and to be a genuine student - able to show an understanding that studying in Australia is the primary reason for the visa - alongside the character and health requirements. Evidence of financial capacity may be required, and the department states it may refuse an application without asking for more information if evidence it has asked for is not attached. Checked 2026-09-02. Requirements change and vary by nationality, so confirm the current conditions on the official portal before you apply.
⚠️ Immigration policies change frequently and vary by nationality. This is general information only — always confirm on the official government website.
Official student-visa source ↗Post-study opportunities
Staying on after graduation needs a different visa. Study Australia states that graduates holding a bachelor, master or doctoral degree may be eligible for the Temporary Graduate visa, subclass 485, under its Post-Study Work stream; employer sponsorship and a skilled-migration expression of interest through SkillSelect are the other routes. Eligibility and length of stay are set in immigration policy and are revised, so take the current terms from the Department of Home Affairs rather than from a period quoted elsewhere.
Universities in Australia
Our directory does not list institutions in Australia yet, so filtering it by this destination returns nothing. The guidance above still applies.
For the institutions themselves, use the official list: List of Australian universities - Study Australia ↗