Requirements to Study in Australia

An international student who wishes to pursue his/her degree in Australia, Visa Australia for a valid student visa is compulsory. Although applying for an Australian student visa is easy compared to other country visa process; still there are set rules, standards and document requirements in order to study in Australia.

Once the student receives an admission letter from the chosen Australian university, immediately he/she must start the visa process. There are 6 different types of visas Australian student visa, the student needs to select the appropriate one among these:

English Requirement

5.0 Bands and above

IELTS is the only acceptable test for checking the English language proficiency of student by the Australian High Commission.

IELTS is a mandatory requirement for the processing of visa application. Institutions may accept TOEFL score admission purposes however student must have an IELTS score before applying for visa.

Students can also go to Australia for studying an English course called ELICOS in case they are short of .5 or 1 band from the required score.

In each visa category student must have required language capability from India before enrolling in a Australia as per the following guideline of AHC.

• ELICOS (English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students) Visa: If a student is taking English courses that will not result in a degree, then this type of visa needs to be applied. i.e., this is visa allows certification courses in undergraduate education
• VET (Vocational Education and Training) Visa: If a student wants to obtain a vocational degree, then he/she needs to obtain a VET visa. VET visas are means for pursuing courses where the student is awarded with vocational diplomas, vocational advanced diplomas, vocational graduate certificates or vocational graduate diplomas
• Higher Education Visa: If a student wants to earn an Associate degree in any academic field, then the student needs to apply for a Higher education visa. However with this type of visa the student cannot pursue a Master’s research degree
• Postgraduate Research Visa. If a student wishes to pursue a Master’s research degree or a doctoral degree of any type, then the student must apply for this visa
• Non-award Visa. If a student is looking for doing only a few semesters or wants to just take some classes while residing in Australia without pursuing a degree, then he/she needs to apply for a non-award visa
• AusAID and Defense Visa. These visas are for those students who are sponsored by the AusAID or the Australian Department of Defense, allowing student to pursue and complete any type of full time degree (associates through doctorate)

Once a student has selected the visa type then they must undergo the Assessment level processed. This assessment level helps a student to get a student visa as quickly as possible. The Assessment level helps the Australian government to determine the immigration risk for certain groups. There are currently five Assessment levels in the student visa requirements. These Assessment Levels are based on the country of origin, the field of study, the university chosen and what level of education the student will be studying (based on the AQF standards).

Visa Australia a student is also eligible to go through a streamlined student visa process which is totally dependent on the university. If the university that he/she receives the admission letter from participates in the visa process, then the Australian government will treat such students as lower risk immigrants irrespective of the student’s country of origin. If a student is confident that he/she will be eligible for streamlining, then they can skip the Assessment levels processing.

In order to be eligible for a student visa in Australia, a student needs to show proof of funds to support the student in covering his/her basic expenses while staying in the country. A student needs to have a minimum amount of income in order to study in Australia.