Details

• Australia
• BaWiSo-23
• Undergraduate
• SoSe 2026
• Time spent at the partner university: 7 months
• Contact: Login to see contact information

1. Preparation

Preparation for UNSW started well before departure. Reaching out to former WU exchange students early on is highly recommended - they provided valuable, first-hand tips on accommodation and everyday life in Sydney that were hard to find online. Also check well in advance which vaccinations are required for Australia, as some need to be scheduled with a lead time. Visa: The Australian student visa (subclass 500) is not entirely trivial but manageable. Filling out the online application took about an hour; the visa itself was then approved within roughly 30 seconds. Be aware that it comes with a noticeable fee. Start the visa process - together with all other admin required by UNSW - as soon as your exchange spot is officially confirmed, since several steps build on one another. Course registration: UNSW handles incoming exchange applications through its own portal, Endeavour, which is functional but not particularly user-friendly. For every course you apply for, you need to prove you meet the prerequisites by uploading your WU transcript of records and the relevant course descriptions. All of my course applications were approved without any issues, so completeness of documentation is the main thing to get right. Travel: I would recommend booking only the outbound flight to Sydney in advance and deciding on the return leg later. For the way back, consider a stopover of a few weeks in Bali or a similar destination - a great way to explore the region and ease back into everyday life after the semester.

2. Accommodation

Accommodation search experience: I secured my room in Randwick before departure through a personal contact, so I didn't need the hostel-and-open-house route myself. If you don't have a direct contact, Flatmates Finder is by far the most useful platform for shared housing and is consistently recommended by exchange students. Accommodation type: Private shared house with 5 flatmates in Randwick, AUD 500/week per room. Location, safety, and proximity: Randwick is about a 10-minute walk from campus, so proximity to UNSW was excellent. Sydney felt very safe overall, with no particular areas standing out as a concern. The suburb is also well connected beyond campus: roughly 25 minutes on the light rail into the CBD, and the beach is about 10 minutes by bike or 15 minutes by bus. Tips I wish I'd known beforehand: - Go for a shared flat rather than private student accommodation (e.g. Space, Jacaranda Hall) - these tend to be expensive, crowded, and not particularly nice. - On-campus accommodation is cheap but usually not realistic for a single semester, since most spots require a full-year commitment. - If you don't secure a place in advance, arriving early and spending your first week in a hostel while attending open houses in person is a very common and effective approach - many students find something within the first few days. - Suburb choice depends on your priorities: Kingsford, Randwick, and Coogee are best if you want to be close to UNSW; Surry Hills, Paddington, and Darlinghurst are the stronger pick if you care more about inner-city lifestyle (in hindsight, I'd lean toward Surry Hills or Randwick over a purely campus-adjacent choice for that reason); Western Sydney is the budget option - about a 1-hour commute, but rent at roughly half to a third of Eastern Suburbs prices.

3. Academic life at host university

Campus & academic culture: The UNSW campus is genuinely nice, if not quite as new/modern as the WU Vienna campus. Academic quality varies a lot by course, tutor, and professor rather than being uniformly high or low - I had some genuinely excellent courses and some fairly basic ones, so it's worth researching individual courses rather than trusting the university's reputation alone. Group work can be a mixed bag: several classes have a large share of international students, and I found contribution levels and English proficiency within groups varied noticeably, which materially affects how enjoyable a group project is. Something to be mentally prepared for. Grading vs. WU: Don't assume "easy content" means "easy top grade." Full marks are rarely awarded, and matching a WU "Sehr gut" typically requires an Honours-level distinction. Don't drop easy points - participation/contribution marks and small assignments add up and are where marks are most commonly lost unnecessarily. Course selection strategy: Prioritize 3xxx-level (senior) courses - lower-level courses tend to be noticeably easier but you'll also learn less. Check past exchange reports before enrolling since course quality differs a lot within the same department. Also align your course schedule with any travel plans early, since some courses have mandatory attendance. Course recommendations (personally taken): - Venture Capital and Private Equity - really good, highly recommended. Challenging but manageable, realistic workload around 5-6 hours/week. - Game Theory and Business Strategy - strong pick, especially if you've never taken a game theory course before. Theoretical but with a well-run tutorial. Content is moderately challenging, but a good grade is very achievable: 50% comes from hand-in solutions you can take your time on and iterate, and the final quiz is manageable. - Pricing Analytics - taken to fulfil a marketing requirement. Solid and not very demanding: covers price optimization, pricing strategies, and implementation in Excel. - Asian Pacific Capital Markets - would not recommend. Stays at a very basic level and barely covers capital markets - expect SWOT/PESTEL-style content instead. Also worth knowing (recommended by other exchange students, not personally taken): Personal Finance and Personal Career Development are both said to be easy electives. The Great Barrier Reef course, which includes a two-week excursion to the reef, is also highly praised - it's only offered in term two.

5. Every day life in the host country

Public transport: Payment works simply via contactless credit/debit card. The network isn't quite on the level of Vienna's - it's about a 25-minute ride from campus into the city, and Sydney relies mainly on buses and light rail rather than an underground/metro system. Weekly fares are capped, but public transport is still fairly expensive since there's no discounted student card. I ended up getting a Lime subscription instead - it's faster and, for most routes across the city, actually cheaper than public transport. Safety: Sydney felt very safe overall, including at night. My female friends never ran into any issues anywhere in the city either. Leisure & activities: Life here is very fitness- and outdoors-oriented - think surfing, running, cycling, the beach, a casual beer at the pub, and coffee culture. Watching rugby (and similar sports) live is also great fun if you get the chance. Daily rhythm: Life happens early, roughly 5am to 9pm - after that, the city is pretty much dead. Even on nights out, things wrap up by around 1am, so don't expect Vienna-style nightlife. Events: Sydney regularly hosts free public events - keep an eye on the city's Instagram and similar channels to catch them. Weekend trips: National parks are within easy reach for weekend hikes and day trips.

6. Testimonial

My exchange was defined by a shift from career-focused perfectionism toward genuine curiosity and openness - a stand-out Venture Capital & Private Equity course, the Founders Society, and several VC interviews turned a vague interest in the startup world into real momentum. I also became noticeably fitter and far more open to people who don't define themselves purely through achievement, especially outside the typical business-school circle. Between semesters I properly explored the region: a 3-week East Coast road trip, three weeks in Western Australia, plus Vietnam and Fiji - some of the freest, most unstructured time I've had in years. I'm heading home with a much more balanced sense of what a good life actually looks like.