1) UNDERSTAND THE ENTRY REQUIREMENTS IN AUSTRALIA:
- Vocational education courses generally require you to have the international equivalent of Australian Year 10, 11 or 12 and higher education courses commonly only recognise certain overseas high school qualifications and require you to have achieved a score that is equivalent to the Australian Tertiary Admission Ranking (ATAR) set for the course.
- The ATAR is the ranking that Australian students get when they graduate high school after completing their final-year assessments. It is the most common way that Australian students are selected for university courses.
- Your requirement of an equivalent of ATAR varies depending on the course, the institution and the institution campus. Some courses also require applicants to have completed prerequisite studies, such as science or maths.
2) CHECK THAT YOUR OVERSEAS QUALIFICATION IS ACCEPTED:
- Overseas qualifications for example, the Chinese National University Entrance Exam in China, recognised by each institution vary, so you will need to check on the institution website to find out whether your country’s high school qualification is recognised.
- Most institution websites usually list the figures of overseas high school qualifications (and minimum scores) they accept from each country in the international student entry requirements section.
- In case your country is not listed, you may need to contact the international admissions office for further details. It may mean that your high school qualification is not recognised and you will need to complete further studies to meet the entry requirements, such as completing university study or a diploma in your home country or completing a foundation program in Australia.
- Entry requirements can differ a lot, depending on the country you are from. Students from certain countries will only need a high school qualification for admission, whereas others will need to have completed the first year of a bachelor degree.
3) CHECK THE ATAR REQUIRED
- If your qualification is accepted, you will have to find out the ATAR you need to gain for entry into your desired course in a course handbook or by searching for the course on the university website.
4) CONVERT YOUR SCORE
- Recognised overseas high school qualifications can be converted into an ATAR and the institution’s admission centre will calculate your ATAR for you when you apply for a course to determine whether you are eligible for entry.
- You can also find ATAR conversion tables on the websites on certain institutions to help you convert your overseas qualification score into an ATAR.
5) CONSIDER AN INTERNATIONAL QUALIFICATION
- The best way to ensure that your high school qualification will be recognised internationally is to study an international qualification such as the International Baccalaureate (IB).
- The IB Diploma Programme is recognised in around 140 countries for university entry, including every major tertiary institution in Australia.
- Scores can be easily translated into Australian ATAR rankings although the conversion rate changes every year.
- Other international qualifications include GCE A Levels, the European Baccalaureate and the Advanced International Certificate of Education.