Australian education has so much to offer to international students. Here are some reasons why you should consider studying in Oz:

• Employment Prospects: Following the Global Financial Crisis, the Australian economy has rebounded to become one of the most buoyant in the developed world, with high growth, low unemployment and low inflation. Australia is an English-speaking country and students graduate from Australian courses ready for a career in the international economy. Many students opt to stay in Australia and the Australian Government has recently revamped its General Skilled Migration Program proposing a high-value, demand-driven model that will meet the needs of the Australian labour market. The government’s new policy still provides an attractive option for suitably motivated students.

• International Recognition: Australia is a signatory of the key international conventions which recognise Australian higher education qualifications and periods of study in Australia worldwide. Australian qualifications are highly regarded by employers globally and Australian-educated graduates can be found at the highest levels of all professions worldwide.

• Affordable Costs: Australian education institutions offer competitive tuition fees that compare favourably with other destinations. International students can work up to 20 hours a week, on- or off-campus, when their course is in session, and full time during scheduled breaks.  Most students in Australia cope quite adequately with maintaining themselves, at the same time as studying successfully. 

• Quality: All courses offered to international students meet stringent government requirements. Additionally, overseas students enjoy the most rigorous consumer protection in the world. This means fees are protected by law and students receive the tuition they paid for, even in the event of the closure of the college in which they originally enrolled.

• Reputation: Eight of Australia’s forty universities are in the Times Higher Education Top 100 Universities in world rankings. Seventeen Australian universities are in the Top 500 global universities in the prestigious Shanghai Jiao Tong rankings. Eleven Australians have been awarded the Nobel Prize for their achievements in Medicine, Science, and Literature �" most recently with the 2009 joint award of the Nobel Prize for Medicine to Elizabeth Blackburn. With Australian alumni being leaders in government, industry, society worldwide, Australia is demonstrably a highly-educated knowledge-based society.

• Pathways and Mobility: Australian institutions are linked under one national system, the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF), offering seamless pathways from English language courses to university and beyond.

• Lifestyle: Australia offers the highest standards of living at relatively affordable costs. Three Australian cities feature in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Top 10 Most Liveable Cities in the World, based on health-care, stability, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. It remains a great place to visit, to study and to live.

• Safety: Australian cities remain amongst the safest in the world, with low crime rates, stable government and high levels of social cohesion. You may have heard news about attacks on international students in Australian cities. As in all large cities in the world, crime does occur in Australian cities and it does unfortunately sometimes affect international students. But rest assured that Australia is safe, it has reliable law enforcement and many programs designed to keep international students secure.

• A Warm Welcome: Australia is one of the major destination countries for international students globally, and Australian educational institutions are geared to the needs of international students. You will feel at home in Australia, one of the most multicultural societies in the world, with nearly one out of every four Australians born overseas. Australia makes international students feel welcomed and included.

Over the past year or so, Australian education has come under scrutiny due to the shady activities of a few privately-owned colleges that tried to exploit some students’ desires to migrate to Australia. These colleges offered coursed designed to achieve a migration, rather than an education, outcome. Unfortunately these colleges �" which were not at all connected with the high-quality Australian university system �" tarnished the reputation of many reputable private colleges in Australia.

The Australian Government moved swiftly to deal with the situation and these colleges are now out of business. Australia has also changed its migration policies and, while it still seeks international students to work in Australia to fill skill shortages, migration places are now linked closely to economic needs.

You can have confidence in the quality of Australian education, which has delivered prestigious qualifications and fulfilling careers to well over a million international students.

Article by IDP Education, the leading student placement provider, which since 1986 has assisted over 300,000 students to study in Australia through its offices in over 30 countries