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University

Australia

Two years of open work afterwards — if you are thirty-five or under.

5/5
ingredients confirmed
Every ingredient this page asks for has a figure and a source.
Tuition
~$31–41k/yr
Living
~$1,700/mo
Single student, all in. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level behind it prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.
Education
Internationally recognised
Research impact 88th percentile globally — median of 39 ranked universities (CWTS Leiden Open Edition 2025). Research output, not teaching quality; it informs the band, it does not set the score.
Work after studyRecently changed
Two years of open work, under an age ceiling
The age ceiling fell from 50 to 35 on 1 July 2024, with an exception to 49 for research master’s and doctoral graduates, and the English requirement rose in March 2026. Guidance written before 2024 describes a different visa.
Safety
High
Twentieth globally and fifth in the Asia-Pacific region

More is being checked.

What we corrected here

Figures we published, and what reading the source did to them. The old ones were ours, not anyone else’s — this is our record of being wrong, kept where the figure it is about lives.

Tuition×1.3

We had about A$42,000 a yearNow ~$31–41k/yr

It is no longer what either university charges.

Read from the source in 2026-09.

Where these figures came from

One row per ingredient. Open any of them for the source, how far we trust it, and when we last checked.

Tuition~$31–41k/yr

Australian universities set their own fees. The University of Sydney's 2026 table for international undergraduates, quoted per year at a full-time load of 48 credit points, runs from A$49,200 (nursing, part of arts) through A$56,300 (law, economics) to A$60,600 (engineering and computer science), a median of A$56,300 across its faculties. UNSW publishes a 2026 price per unit of credit which at the standard 48 units a year gives A$47,280 (arts) to A$62,640 (science), a median of A$56,760. Medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and health sciences are left out of both. Recorded at the median of the two, A$56,530 a year. The previous figure was about A$42,000, which is no longer what either university charges.

Confidence
printed in the source
Last checked
2026-09
Living~$1,700/mo

Pathoff judgement directed by evidence, not computed from it: the country’s position comes from the World Bank household consumption price level for 2024 (0.942 of the United States, CC BY 4.0 — the ICP benchmark carried forward annually by the World Bank’s own method); the US reference budget is ours. See the Pathoff method, section 12.

Single student, all in. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level behind it prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.

Confidence
made by us from the source
EducationInternationally recognised

Pathoff education rubric (the Pathoff method, section 9-1), degree band "Internationally recognised": An English-language degree accepted without explanation across the anglophone world and Asia, with several institutions known by name. High in the band; short of the one above because outside those the name still needs introducing in a third country.

Research impact 88th percentile globally — median of 39 ranked universities (CWTS Leiden Open Edition 2025). Research output, not teaching quality; it informs the band, it does not set the score.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Work after studyTwo years of open work, under an age ceiling

Pathoff outcome rubric (the Pathoff method, section 10-2), degree outcome band "A post-study route you can rely on": The temporary graduate visa gives two years of unrestricted work after a bachelor’s or coursework master’s, and three after a research degree, with no employer needed. Mid-band rather than high because eligibility is capped at age 35 for most applicants — a condition the graduate cannot do anything about.

The age ceiling fell from 50 to 35 on 1 July 2024, with an exception to 49 for research master’s and doctoral graduates, and the English requirement rose in March 2026. Guidance written before 2024 describes a different visa.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Rule
Changed recently — older guidance elsewhere is out of date
Last checked
2026-09
SafetyHigh

Global Peace Index 2026: rank 20 of 163, score 1.602. Converted by the Pathoff GPI formula (GPI in lib/scoring.ts)

Twentieth globally and fifth in the Asia-Pacific region

Confidence
made by us from the source

What it is like here

Australian degrees are recognised everywhere, the teaching is in English, and graduates get two years of open work rights with no employer. The condition that decides it for many people is age: since July 2024 the graduate visa is closed to applicants over thirty-five unless their degree was a research master’s or a doctorate. Tuition is also among the highest on this site and rising above inflation.

How the process works

1

Check your age against the ceiling before committing

At 36 the post-study route disappears for most degrees, and that changes the whole calculation.

Timing not confirmed
2

Student visa with health cover attached

Overseas student health cover is a condition of the visa for its whole duration.

⏱ 1–4 months
3

Apply for the graduate visa in Australia

It must be applied for from inside the country after the qualification is awarded.

⏱ 2–6 months

Where students go

Melbourne
The largest student city, and a little cheaper than Sydney
Sydney
Most employers, highest rents on the continent
Adelaide / Brisbane
Cheaper, and regional study can help later on points

Open any ingredient above to see where its figure came from, how far we trust it and when we last checked. Nothing here is a substitute for the official source. Last reviewed 2026-09-04.

Photograph of Australia by Benh LIEU SONG (Flickr), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.