Details

• Australia
• MASIMC-17
• Graduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months

1. Preparation

Try to find an accommodation as early as possible, in the best case in February. I would suggest to stay at a student housing of UWA because that way, you get to know people easily. If you want to have the full college experience, I would suggest those housings next to UWA and not in the city. You need to apply for various housings and also have a quick call and potentially upload yur grades.

2. Accommodation

If you start early and look for student housing, the search itself is pretty easy. UWA has its own website where you can apply for student housing. I got my first choice straight away. I was staying at Trinity, because it was among the cheapest dorms, and they offer many activities for students - it is very hard not to find any friends there. At Trinity, there are also many other exchange students from Europe. The food is okay, but honestly not the best. Obviously, it is not the fanciest student housing in terms of infrastructure, but it is definitely enough (you also have a tennis court, a small gym and yoga classes). It is 15 min walking distance from UWA in a safe neighbourhood. However, it is not in the city center - for that, you need to take the bus for 20 min.

3. Academic life at host university

The campus is pretty big, beautiful and has everything needed: 2 big libraries, a food court, cafés, and a gym. The business school is a bit further away but also rather new. The teaching style is quite interactive. For every course, you have one lecture that you do not need to attend, and a tutorial with required attendance. They are pretty strict on that you also need to collect participation points for every course. The courses are not difficult, but you have many group assignments in the marketing and management courses, which can be quite much effort, especially because the academic and English level among students varies a lot. The grading is quite subjective and old-school in terms of AI, so you still need to put in effort if you want to receive High Distinction. I took a lot of marketing courses and would suggest Global Marketing, if you are into Strategy and Market Entry Methods. Other than that, Organizational Behavior and Buyer Behavior were also interesting with a nice professor. I would not recommend Social Marketing, because the professor was quite strict. Unfortunately, not all courses are available every single semester.

5. Every day life in the host country

Public Transport in Perth is not the best, as there are only busses and they are not very reliable. However, some of them are for free. Uber is quite cheap as well, so for going out or to the beach, I would suggest that. Perth is a very safe city - but in CBD, there are still homeless people, so I would not go around at night alone. For going out and sightseeing, I would suggest Fremantle, which is quite a cute district. You have some events, but they rather take place in the summer - during winter, Perth is not very lively. You have many beautiful beaches as well as Rottnest Island, and some sightseeing options in the area. However, the most amazing nature is further away in the north.

6. Testimonial

My exchange semester in Australia was amazing because from Perth, you can be in Asia just within 3-5 hours (Bali and Malaysia) and the flights are very cheap. The friendships I made in Trinity were ones for life and the beaches in Western Australia are stunning. I would also suggest to visit the East Coast of Australia after your semester, especially Caines, Brisbane, Sydney, Ayers Rock and Melbourne.