Details

• Australia
• MASIMC-17
• Graduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 3 months

1. Preparation

For the application process at WU it was very straight forward, as we only had to write a motivational letter. Make sure to be specific why you want to attend this university. Preparation for the exchange semester is already really straight forward. Just make sure to book your flights in advance as they can be quite expensive later on (Check Turkish Airlines as they have student discounts and scoot which is a budget airline)

2. Accommodation

As many people do in Sydney, I did not have a long-term accomodation when arriving but started to look for something long-term while I was there. Finding a good accomodation in Sydney is however really tricky because the housing market is super limited. In the end I lived in a studio appartment which was very decent, in the city center (20min from university) and very safe. Some tipps: Check flatmates and facebook groups. Be aware that there are a lot of scams. For that reason many people start looking only when they arrive.

3. Academic life at host university

The campus is quite huge and a bit outside of the city but overall quite nice. There are multiple opportunities to do sports and/or join student communities (ARC). Teaching style comapred to WU: You usually have lectures and tutorials. You can skip lectures but need to attend tutorials. I did not have any group work in my classes. The classes are very "international" in the sense that I did not have any Australian students in my classes but only Chinese students and in some cases exchange students Getting good grades is comparably also way more difficult at UNSW compared to WU

5. Every day life in the host country

Sydney is a super nice city to live in. It is a very active city, so you can do a lot of things from going to the beaches, to joining sports clubs, going to festivals, going for scenic hikes nearby, etc. Public transport is good but quite expensive (~50 AUD a week) In general I would say the city is super safe

6. Testimonial

I really had the best time in Sydney and I can recommend everybody to spend a semester in this beautiful city. You meet lots of great people during the orientation week with whom you then can explore the broard variety of things the city has to offer (beaches, scenic walks, nearby hikes, bar culture, clubs, sport opportunities, etc.). While the university is on average a bit more time consuming than WU you will still have the time of your life.