Education System in Australia

Australia offers a varied range of study programs with more than 22000 courses to choose from.  More importantly when international students select a program, it has to be related to the education history of the student or else the student must provide a clear justification explaining why they wish to change to a different stream for their studies in Australia.

Importantly Australian education system is ranked top among other education destinations based on  student satisfaction, employability, quality of life and especially support and the priority given to international students.

Qualifications framework

The Australian education system is distinguished from many other countries by the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). The AQF was established in 1995 and is a national policy that covers qualifications from the tertiary education sector (higher education, vocational education and training) in addition to the school leaving certificate, called the Senior Secondary Certificate of Education.

Scholarships

There are a range of scholarships available for international students. High performers in local education will be eligible and rewarded with scholarships in Australian Universities as well. Most popular scholarship schemes are, Vice Chancellor’s high achievers scholarships, and territory wise government scholarships etc.

Education programs

Australian higher education can be divided in to qualification levels mainly as Academic focused programs such as undergraduate, master’s degree by course work or by research, PhD and VET courses. Apart from that there are pathway programs which allow students who do not automatically qualify for entry into a bachelors or master degree program to gain admission to their preferred course through a recognized pathway.

Academic year

There are two main intakes in the Australian Education system; February and July with some institutes offering an additional intake in November for a limited number of programs. Generally the year is divided into 2 semesters. The duration of a bachelor degree is generally 3-4 years and a masters degree is 2 years. International students are allowed to work part time while studying enabling you to gain valuable work experience.

After graduation

Australia has a strong economy and very low unemployment rate. After graduation you may be eligible for a Temporary graduate visa (subclass 485) which allows you to live, work and study in Australia