Australia is an increasingly popular study destination with international students from across the globe. For many students, Australia may represent a better study destination than other popular alternatives like the UK and the US. Read on to find out why…

A safe and welcoming place to live

Apart from being a great place to get a first rate education, Australia is also a fantastic place to live. It provides a welcoming and multicultural society with a population that originates from around 200 countries. Australian people have a reputation for being amongst the friendliest in the world. Australia is a very safe and welcoming place to live, with safe, clean cities and a low crime rate.

A great lifestyle

The lifestyle and quality of living in Australia are among the best in the world. Several of Australia’s capital cities regularly rank among the world’s top 10 ‘most liveable’ cities. The Mercer Human Resource Consulting 2008 worldwide quality of living survey recently found that five Australian cities ranked in the top 40 for overall quality of living. Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane ranked 10th, 17th, 21st, 29th and 34th respectively, whereas the US’ top city, Honolulu, was ranked 28th, and the UK’s top city, London, was ranked 38th.
Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane all ranked in the top 50 for personal safety.

Better value for money

Australian education programs represent great value for money. Australian courses are often considerably cheaper than similar programs in the UK and the US, meaning that international students can save many thousands of dollars on tuition fees by choosing to study in Australia.

Not only this, Australian courses are often shorter than alternatives in other countries, particularly in the US. Many US degrees, for instance, take four years to complete whereas most Australian degree courses can be competed in three years. This means students who do their degrees in Australia not only save themselves a year and get qualified earlier, they also save a year of tuition fees!

Low cost of living

In addition to Australia’s comparatively cheap tuition fees, it is also generally cheaper to live in Australia compared with the UK and US. The Mercer Human Resource Consulting 2007 cost of living survey found that only one Australian city, Sydney, appeared on the list of the top 50 most expensive cities to live in, whereas three UK cities (London – second most expensive city in the world, Glasgow, and Birmingham) and two US cities (New York and Los Angeles) appeared on the list.