University of Melbourne

Melbourne teaches in a distinctive way: most students take a broad three-year bachelor's degree first and specialise afterwards in a graduate programme, which is closer to the North American pattern than to the British one. For an international student that means a wider first degree and a later, better-informed choice of profession.

The university sits a short tram ride from the centre of Melbourne, a city that regularly appears near the top of global student-city rankings for public transport, safety and the sheer number of part-time jobs a student population creates.

Melbourne assesses on academic results against the requirements of the individual course, and because most professional qualifications here are graduate entry, the route in for an Indian applicant depends heavily on which stage you are applying at.

• Completed Class 12 from a recognised board for undergraduate entry, with the subject prerequisites the course lists — mathematics at the required level for engineering, commerce and science being the most common sticking point.
• A recognised bachelor's degree for graduate entry, with the standing in the final years weighed most heavily, and a cognate background where the course requires one.
• Evidence of English through IELTS, TOEFL or another test the university accepts, at the level set for your course rather than a single university-wide minimum.
• Full academic transcripts and certificates, and a statement of purpose for most graduate coursework applications.
• Academic references, a research proposal and a supervisor discussion for research degrees.
• Additional selection steps for the graduate professional degrees — admissions tests, interviews or portfolios depending on the school.

Check the requirement on the course page itself for your year of entry, since prerequisites and English levels are set course by course and are revised.

Melbourne charges international students per course, and the fee is built from the subjects you actually enrol in rather than issued as one university-wide number, so the figure that matters to you is the one published against your specific course.

• The faculty and the discipline set the rate. Arts, commerce, science, engineering and the graduate professional degrees sit at clearly different levels, and a general average would mislead most applicants.
• Fees are calculated on the subjects taken in a given year, so a year with a heavier load of laboratory or clinical subjects can cost more than a year of the same degree without them.
• The Melbourne Model shapes the total cost of qualifying. A broad undergraduate degree followed by a graduate professional degree is two separate fee-paying stages, and the full cost of becoming a lawyer, doctor or teacher here has to be budgeted across both.
• Compulsory non-tuition charges are separate — the student services and amenities charge, overseas student health cover for the length of your visa, and course materials on some programmes.
• Indicative annual fees are reviewed each year, so a multi-year degree should not be budgeted at the first-year rate.

Work from the fee published on your own course page for your year of entry, together with the university's own estimate of living costs in Melbourne. Ask us for the current figure and what it does and does not include before you commit to the application.

Funding at Melbourne sits at two levels — central university awards, and further awards run by the individual faculties and graduate schools — and an applicant is often considered by both from the same application.

• Central merit scholarships for international students, assessed on academic record and in most cases considered automatically from the admission application rather than through a separate form.
• Faculty and graduate school awards, with their own criteria tied to a discipline, and easy to overlook because they are published away from the central scholarships pages.
• Research degree funding, normally a combined package of fee support and a living stipend, competitive and allocated in rounds.
• Government-funded programmes administered by Australia for international students, applied for separately and on their own timetable.
• Faculty prizes and bursaries awarded during the degree on results rather than at entry.

Several of the scholarship rounds close earlier than the course closing date, and some are assessed only on applications already complete at that point. Getting the admission application in early is what keeps the funding options open.

The main campus is at Parkville, immediately north of central Melbourne, and it is close enough to the city that student life and city life are not separate things. Getting around is by tram, and the campus sits on several lines.

• The Melbourne Model shapes the social side as well as the academic one. A broad first degree with electives outside your major means your cohort is wider and less fixed than on a narrowly specialised programme.
• Residential colleges along the northern edge of campus are a distinct part of the university, with their own tutoring, dining and sporting life, and they are applied for separately from your course.
• A large clubs and societies scene covering academic disciplines, cultural and national associations, performance, politics and sport, with intramural competition open to anyone.
• Strong Indian and South Asian student associations, which in practice are the fastest way into a social circle in the first few weeks.
• Melbourne itself — laneway cafés, live music, sport as a civic obsession, and a genuinely cold and wet winter that surprises students arriving for a mid-year intake.
• Support services for international students covering orientation, visa and work-rights advice, health and counselling.

Accommodation is the thing to organise first. College places and the university-affiliated residences have their own application timelines, and the private rental market in the inner northern suburbs is competitive.