Important notice for international students

In 2024, the Australian Government proposed changes to the legislation which governs the delivery of higher education services to international students in Australia. The proposed changes may (among other things) result in limits on the number of international students that can be enrolled and/or commenced at particular higher education institutions and/or in particular programs of study each year. 

At this stage, UNSW College does not know whether these changes will be made (and if so, when).  

The Department of Education has informed UNSW Sydney of an indicative limit on the number of new international student commencements that may apply to UNSW Sydney for 2025.  However, that number is not final and may be impacted by various factors (including any limit that may apply to UNSW College).

Based on our current understanding of the proposed changes to the legislation, if any limit on the number of international students that can be enrolled has already been exceeded at the time the limit is imposed, UNSW College will not be able to enrol further international students.  Further, based on guidance from the Department of Education, if any limit on the number of new international student commencements has already been exceeded before a new international student commences their program of study at UNSW College, UNSW College will not be able to allow that student to commence.

In these circumstances, UNSW College is compelled to reserve the right to:

• withdraw an offer made to an international student; 
• not enrol an international student; and/or

• not allow an international student to commence their studies at UNSW College,  

in circumstances where UNSW College would exceed any limit on the number of enrolments of international students and/or new international student commencements imposed by the Australian Government on UNSW College.

UNSW College continues to welcome international students to our campuses as a valued part of our community.

UNSW College does not know if, or when, this legislation will be approved. The Australian Government has announced that they aim to apply the enrolment limits from 1 January 2025. 

UNSW College continues to accept applications. However, due to the proposed changes to legislation, new applications have been paused for specific programs and intakes. 

Please refer to the table above for the most up-to-date information as of 9^th December 2024.

UNSW College continues to accept applications, issue offers and process acceptances to welcome students to our campus in 2025. Standard application and acceptance deadlines apply, unless advised otherwise. Some deadlines have been revised to allow for potential visa processing delays, please check our deadlines tool regularly for the latest advice on when applications and acceptances close for each program intake.

If an offer is issued, we recommend that you act early by meeting any condition on your offer and accept your place of study with us as soon as you can. 

If you have already accepted your packaged offer and you have received a COE for both your UNSW College program and your corresponding degree offer at UNSW, then your place at UNSW is reserved. You will still need to meet all the requirements as part of your UNSW Provisional or UNSW Conditional offers before you can proceed to UNSW for that specified intake.  

UNSW College will continue to work with UNSW Sydney to assist all our students with their future study options at UNSW Sydney. 

If you have commenced studies at UNSW College in a program packaged with a UNSW degree, a place will be reserved for you (provided that you meet academic, English and any other admission requirements) for the degree and intake that was included in your package at the time that you accepted your offer. 

We do not know the impact of any proposed changes on study for 2026. Our guidance remains that students should apply early where possible, meet any conditions, and accept their offer as soon as they can. 

Should Foundation Studies students be unable to achieve the required GPA for their UNSW degree preference, they may be provided with the option of repeating their Foundation Studies program either wholly or in part (depending on their GPA and the program that the are enrolled in). Should they achieve the required GPA, students may also have the option of entering a Diploma, but due to the anticipated passing of legislation, offers are currently paused for a number of Diploma intakes.

If a student requires an English package and would like to defer, they will need to request a deferred offer from UNSW. Once they have the deferred offer, it should be provided to UNSW College Admissions, who can issue an updated offer for their English course. Please note, deferral requests are not guaranteed to be approved.

We encourage you to check this page periodically for further updates, including whether the applications reopen for the specified intakes.

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