Australia & New ZealandHigher Education

Destination Coffees April 21, 2011

Why Australia/New Zealand?

Why not? – Australia and New Zealand are some of the best places to live while you learn

In comparison to other countries, cost of higher education is affordable; international students can often work on a student visa

Strong international reputation for excellence – standings in world rankings of research universities

Great preparation for future success

Multicultural societies with English-speaking cultures

Built in 6 month “gap” experience

What To Think About Australian universities operate separate admissions procedures for

domestic and international students.

Many Australian universities have intakes in both Semester 1 (February/March) and Semester 2 (July). Applications submitted in September for February intake.

Faculty Admissions Committees often set specific subject requirements and selection procedures relating to particular degree courses.

You may direct entry to Law or Medicine

Standard university degree is 3 years

Although some courses at some institutions operate strict quotas (and particular application procedures will apply) most courses operate on a “rolling” admissions basis in that selection decisions are made as applications from international students are received.

Australian Unis There are different types of universities in Australia: the "Group of

8" research universities (ANU, Monash, Universities of Adelaide, Melbourne, Western Australia, Queensland, Sydney, South Wales)

Technology universities (RMIT, Curtin, University of South Australia, University of Technology Sydney, Queensland University of Technology)

Universities that focus on undergraduate teaching (Edith Cowan, University of Canberra, Central Queensland, Charles Sturt)

TAFE (Technical and Further Education) Colleges and Institutes: Vocational education institutions, sometimes bridging institutions between high schools and universities.

Admission criteria will differ among these groups, and even from one university to another.

New Zealand Unis New Zealand has 8 Universities (University of Auckland, University of

Waikato, Victoria University of Wellington, Canterbury University, University of Auckland, University of Otago, Lincoln University, Massey University)

25 Polytechnics and/or Institutes of Technology (Auckland Institute of Technology, Central Institute of Technology, Christchurch Polytechnic, Waikato Polytechnic)

What is the difference between Universities and Polytechnics and Institutes of Technology? Historically the main difference had been that Universities focused on

academic programmes and the Polytechnics focused on practical training.

Taylors Auckland Foundation Year (TAFY) designed to prepare you for entry into the University of Auckland, AUT University and Massey University.

General Requirements Secondary School Leaving Certificate:

Prefer IB diploma, but also possible to enter with a High School Diploma and scores from SAT (for non-citizens)

Language proficiency: Prefer the IELTS, but may take TOEFL

Foundation Year: Also possible to do a Foundation Year if you don’t meet general requirements

Application Process New Zealand – Apply directly to each

institution.

Australia - Australian citizens and permanent residents apply through the tertiary admissions centre in the state in which they plan to study

IB students – convert your IB score to the tertiary leaving exam score equivalent to see what minimum points are required for each course, at each uni

Tertiary Admissions Centers

New South Wales – University Admissions Centre (UAC) www.uac.edu.au

Queensland – Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre (QTAC) www.qtac.edu.au

South Australia – South Aus. Tertiary Adms. Centre (SATAC) www.satac.edu.au

Western Australia – Tertiary Institutions Service Centre (TISC) www.tisc.edu.au

Victoria – Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) www.vtac.edu.au

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Resources http://www.internationalstudent.com/school-search/inter

national-colleges.shtml

http://www.australian-universities.com/

http://www.idp.com/

http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/Australia/Education/Higher_Education/Colleges_and_Universities/

http://studyinaustralia.gov.au/Sia/en/Home.htm

http://www.studyingnewzealand.com/

http://www.i-studentadvisor.com/international-courses-new-zealand.html

Advice from WAB families

Residence is very difficult to get – think about shared housing and start looking before you apply.

Important: which city, lifestyle do you want?

Think carefully about your “gap” semester

Keep an open mind, especially when returning to your home country

Aussie unis moving towards more general education in first year – to help retain students For example, Monash will move to a 4-year degree

in 2012

Q & A Ms. Bernie Longboy

A-I

Mr. Peter Hauet J-M

Ms. Aleka Novitski Bilan N-T

Ms. Michelle Chow-Liu U-Z