Australia is a big country, however, universities and other educational institutions are mainly located in big cities. Students choose cities and areas all over Australia to study.

Australia is divided into six states: New South Wales (NSW), Queensland (QLD), Victoria (VIC), South Australia (SA), Western Australia (WA) and Tasmania (TAS); and two territories: Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and Northern Territory (NT).

The most popular universities to study will be ones located in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, Cairns, Perth, Adelaide, and Canberra.

Sydney

Sydney is the largest Australian city and very popular among international students from all over the world. Sydney is a capital city of New South Wales with population a little under five million people. Sydney is known to be a centre for manufacturing, finance and tourism. There are unique attractions that everyone is familiar with such as Sydney Harbour and Bondi Beach along with worldwide famous Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

Melbourne

Melbourne is a capital of Victoria and the second biggest city in Australia with around 4.5 million people. Melbourne is ranked number one of liveable cities in the world for five years in a row in 2015 by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). It is also known as “cultural” capital of Australia and an annual host of Australia Open tennis tournament. The city has the largest and busiest port in the country. Therefore, the economy is particularly strong in finance, research, IT, logistics and tourism.

Brisbane

The capital of Queensland is Brisbane. The city is the third biggest in Australia. It is the fastest-growing economic area in the country. The most growth occurs in IT, financial services, education industry, petroleum refining and, of course, tourism. Brisbane International airport is the third busiest and serves visitors who came to Brisbane and other areas in Queensland.

Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast

Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast are easily accessible by a short drive from Brisbane. Both of these areas are major tourism destinations and well-known internationally for their beaches and surfing. So the main industries in this areas are tourism along with retail and construction. In addition, the education sector is also well-established there with three big universities and three small campuses of universities outside Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast areas.

(By Jonathan Thomsen Photography)

(By MSTravel)

Cairns

Cairns is a famous Australian city because of its location and easy access to the Great Barrier Reef which is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. It attracts millions of international tourists, and makes tourism and retail are the most economically profitable areas. Moreover, this area is also known to be agricultural and perfect for marine life research. It has tens of schools, TAFE college and a university campus.

(By Donaldytong)

Perth

Perth is a capital city of Western Australia. It is one of the most isolated cities with major population in the world. The main profit the city gets is from tourism and the service industry, however, recently the niche of ship building and maintenance was noticed. Moreover, Perth has easy access to mining and petroleum industries that are located further in the state. The higher education sector is well presented in five universities, and a number of technical and further education (TAFE) colleges.

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of the state of South Australia which is known by its internationally recognised wine industry. It was ranked in the top five of liveable cities in the world in 2015 according to Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Adelaide is government and commercial centre with leading areas of health care and social assistance, manufacturing and retails, research and education. It is a where Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation was founded.

Canberra

Canberra is a capital of Australia with very young population and low unemployment rates. Therefore, the city’s main industries are public administration and safety, and education.