
Finding information on the best universities in Australia can be confusing. At UniAdvisor we get international student reviews and university rankings 2021 to help in your search for the top best universities in Australia. Let UniAdvisor help you find the best universities in Australia for international students.
Choosing where to study as an international student can be difficult with so much advertising and marketing material online, it is hard to figure out what is true and what is not about the biggest investment you will make in your life.
At UniAdvisor we believe the best international study advice comes from other international students and so over the last three years we have asked over 20,000+ international students and alumni to review their universities so we could share their experiences with you – the next generation of international students.
Other rankings sites include Times Higher Education World University Rankings WUR and QS.
And the results are in for 2019 and the following are the TOP10 Universities in Australia according to international student satisfactions with; The University; The Country of Education, Safety, Employment and Return on Investment.

#1 The University of Queensland (UQ)
The University of Queensland (UQ) is a public research university primarily located in Brisbane, capital city of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909 by the state parliament, UQ is Australia’s fifth oldest university, colloquially known as a sandstone university. UQ is considered to be one of Australasia’s leading universities, and is ranked as one of the most reputable university in the world. The University of Queensland is a founding member of online higher education consortium edX, Australia’s research-intensive Group of Eight, Washington University’s McDonnell International Scholars Academy, and the global Universitas 21 network.
The main St Lucia campus occupies much of the riverside inner suburb of St Lucia, southwest of the Brisbane central business district. Other UQ campuses and facilities are located throughout Queensland, the largest of which are the Gatton campus and the Mayne Medical School. UQ’s overseas establishments include UQ North America office in Washington D.C., the Brunei Clinical School and the UQ-Ochsner Clinical School in Louisiana, United States.
UQ is the best university in Australia for international students.
Read reviews from international students about The University of Queensland.
#2 The University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia’s second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Melbourne’s main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb north of the Melbourne central business district, with several other campuses located across Victoria.
Melbourne is a sandstone university and a member of the Group of Eight, Universitas 21, Washington University’s McDonnell International Scholars Academy, and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities. Since 1872 various residential colleges have become affiliated with the university. There are 10 colleges located on the main campus and in nearby suburbs offering academic, sporting and cultural programs alongside accommodation for Melbourne students and faculty.
Melbourne comprises 10 separate academic units and is associated with numerous institutes and research centres, including the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research and the Grattan Institute. Amongst Melbourne’s 15 graduate schools the Melbourne Business School, the Melbourne Law School and the Melbourne Medical School are particularly well regarded.
Read reviews from international students about The University of Melbourne.
#3 Australian National University (ANU)
The Australian National University (ANU) is a national research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and institutes.
Founded in 1946, it is the only university to have been created by the Parliament of Australia. Originally a postgraduate research university, ANU commenced undergraduate teaching in 1960 when it integrated the Canberra University College, which had been established in 1929 as a campus of the University of Melbourne. ANU enrolls 10,052 undergraduate and 10,840 postgraduate students and employs 3,753 staff. The university’s endowment stood at A$1.13 billion in 2012.
ANU is regarded as one of the world’s leading research universities. It is ranked 1st in Australia and the whole of Oceania, 24th in the world by the 2019 QS World University Rankings, and 49th in the world (second in Australia) by the 2019 Times Higher Education. ANU was named the world’s 7th (first in Australia) most international university in a 2017 study by Times Higher Education. In the 2017 Times Higher Education Global Employability University Ranking, an annual ranking of university graduates’ employability, ANU was ranked 21st in the world (first in Australia). ANU is ranked 100th (first in Australia) in the CWTS Leiden ranking. The university is particularly well known for its programmes in the arts and social sciences, and ranks among the best in the world for a number of disciplines including politics and international relations, social policy, and geography.
ANU is one of the best best universities in Australia for international students.
Read reviews from international students on The Australian National University.
#4 The University of New South Wales (UNSW)
The University of New South Wales (UNSW; branded as UNSW Sydney) is an Australian public research university located in the Sydney suburb of Kensington. Out of all Australian universities, UNSW has the highest median ATAR and attracts the highest number of top 500 students. Established in 1949, it is ranked 4th in Australia, 45th in the world, and 2nd in New South Wales according to the 2018 QS World University Rankings.
The university comprises nine faculties, through which it offers bachelor, master and doctoral degrees. The main campus is located on a 38-hectare (94-acre) site in the Sydney suburb of Kensington, 7 km (about 4.3 miles) from the Sydney central business district. The creative arts faculty, UNSW Art & Design, is located in Paddington, UNSW Canberra is located at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra and sub-campuses are located in the Sydney CBD, the suburbs of Randwick and Coogee. Research stations are located throughout the state of New South Wales.
UNSW is one of the founding members of the Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive universities, and of Universitas 21, a global network of research universities. It has international exchange and research partnerships with over 200 universities around the world.
Read reviews from international students on University New South Wales (UNSW).
#5 The University of South Australia (UniSA)
The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Australia with approximately 32,000 students.
The university was founded in its current form in 1991 with the merger of the South Australian Institute of Technology (1889) and College of Advanced Education (1856), combining more than 150 years of teaching and research history. The legislation to establish and name the new University of South Australia was introduced by the Hon Mike Rann MP, Minister of Employment and Further Education. Under the University’s Act, its original mission was “to preserve, extend and disseminate knowledge through teaching, research, scholarship and consultancy, and to provide educational programs that will enhance the diverse cultural life of the wider community”.
UniSA is among the world’s top universities, ranked in the World’s Top 50 Under 50 by both the Quacarelli Symonds (QS) World University Ranking (#25) and Times Higher Education (THE) (#26). It has two Adelaide city centre campuses, two Adelaide metropolitan campuses, and two South Australian regional campuses.
Read reviews from international students on University of South Australia (UniSA).
Macquarie University is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney.
MU is one of the best rankings universities in Australia.
Established as a verdant university, Macquarie has five faculties, as well as the Macquarie University Hospital and the Macquarie Graduate School of Management, which are located on the university’s main campus in suburban Sydney.
Read reviews from international students of Macquarie University.
The University of Canberra (UC) is a public university in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is within walking distance of Westfield Belconnen, and 8.7 km distance to Canberra’s Civic Centre. UC offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses covering five faculties: Health, Art and Design, Business, Government and Law, Education and Science and Technology.
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UC partners with two local ACT schools: UC Senior Secondary College Lake Ginninderra and University of Canberra High School Kaleen. The University of Canberra College provides pathways into university for domestic and international students.
Read reviews from international students of University of Canberra.
Victoria University (VU) is an Australian public university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is a dual-sector tertiary institution providing courses in both higher education and Technical and Further Education (TAFE). 2016 marked VU’s centenary as an educational institution and its 25th anniversary as a university.
The University has several campuses in Melbourne Central Business District, Melbourne Western Region, and in Sydney, comprising six academic colleges, six research institutes, seven research centres and VU’s Victoria Polytechnic (providing vocational education and training). It also offers courses at partner institutions throughout Asia.
Read reviews from international students of Victoria University.
#9 Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area: Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The university in its current form was founded in 1989, when the then Queensland Institute of Technology (QIT) was granted university status by the ‘Queensland University of Technology Act’ passed in 1988, and by the subsequent merger of Brisbane College of Advanced Education with QUT in 1990.
In 2015, QUT had enrolled 48,503 students, including 8,218 international students from more than 100 countries, 35,304 undergraduate students, 12,035 postgraduate students and 1,164 non-award students. The university had a total of 4,872 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff members (academic, professional, full-time or fractional full-time and casual) in 2015, and an annual budget of over $900 million. In 2016, the total revenue generated by QUT from its continuing operations was $992.519 million.
QUT was a member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, but withdrew participation on 28 September 2018.
Read reviews from international students on Queensland University of Technology (QUT).
RMIT University (officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, informally RMIT) is an Australian public research university in Melbourne, Victoria.
Founded by Francis Ormond in 1887,[5] RMIT began as a night school offering classes in art, science, and technology, in response to the industrial revolution in Australia. It was a private college for more than a hundred years before merging with the Phillip Institute of Technology to become a public university in 1992. It has an enrolment of around 87,000 higher and vocational education students, making it the largest dual-sector education provider in Australia. With an annual revenue of around A$1.3 billion, it is also one of the wealthiest universities in Australia. It is rated a five star university by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and is ranked 17th in the World for art and design subjects in the QS World University Rankings, making it the top art and design university in Australia.
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Its main campus is situated on the northern edge of the historic Hoddle Grid in the city centre of Melbourne. It also has two satellite campuses in the northern suburbs of Brunswick and Bundoora and a training site, situated on the Williams base of the Royal Australian Air Force, in the western suburb of Point Cook. Beyond Melbourne, it has a research site near the Grampians National Park in the rural city of Hamilton. Outside Australia, it has a presence in Asia and Europe. In Asia, it has two branch campuses in the Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City as well as teaching partnerships in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and Sri Lanka. In Europe, it has a coordinating centre in the Spanish city of Barcelona.
Read reviews from international students of RMIT University.
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