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Student Life in Sydney, Australia

Student Life in Sydney

Student life in Sydney Australia can provide the ultimate student experience! Sydney is the oldest, biggest, and most beautiful of all Australian cities. Blessed with a great climate and some of the best beaches in the world, Sydney offers a seductive intermingling of land and sea.

Studying away from home is your chance to immerse yourself in a new culture, expand your horizons, make new friends and create memories that will last a lifetime.

Read about how to make the most of your time in Sydney.

Why Study in Sydney?

Sydney, Australia was recently voted the 4th most desirable student city in the world (EIU’s Global Livability Index, 2023).

Sydney scored 95 for stability, 100 for healthcare, 94.4 for culture and environment, 100 for education, and 100 for infrastructure, totalling 97.4 overall.

Where will you be studying?

  • The ICMS Northern Beaches Campus is one of the most amazing campuses in the world and perfect for a memorable student experiences.
  • Our City Campus is central and convenient and perfect for those who want to immerse themselves in Sydney’s business district.

Where will you be living?

  • ICMS offers students on-campus as well as off-campus Accommodation Options. Remember to book well in advance to avoid disappointment.
  • If you don’t choose ICMS accommodation and choose to stay with family, a share house (read: Things you need to know before moving into a share house), or even your own apartment.  One thing to remember is that Sydney is a big city and traffic can be an issue, so you should not live too far away from your campus – especially if you have early morning lectures. Helpful accommodation websites include: Flatmates.com.au, Gumtree.com.auUniLodge Student Accommodation and Iglu
  • If you will be under 18 years old when you start your course you must prove they have adequate accommodation and welfare arrangements in place to obtain a student visa. Visit our Under 18s webpage for more information.

Preparing to arrive in sydney

  • ICMS term dates can be a bit different to other countries. Check our important dates page to get an idea of how our academic year runs.
  • Before you arrive please read our Starting at ICMS page where there are lots of questions and answers on things like: accommodation check-in times, O-week, how to get to ICMS from the airport, what to wear, parking, sports etc…

Living costs in Sydney

  • If you have never lived away from home you should be aware that there are lots of things, apart for your tuition fees, that you need to budget for before you move to Sydney. The cost of living in Australia depends on many varying factors such as choice of accommodation, location and individual students’ spending habits. The Department of Home Affairs has financial requirements you must meet in order to receive a student visa and hence to cover the cost of living expenses in Australia. From 1 October 2023, student visa applicants will need to show they have a minimum of AU$24,505 in savings to cover annual living costs.
  • The Cost of Living Calculator offered by Insider Guides is a useful tool to help discover, in more detail, your living costs in Australia, depending on your lifestyle.

Australia is generally regarded as one of the safest countries in the world. However, it is still important that you look after yourself in your new country. You can find out more information about preparing to study in Australia here:

  • Get overseas health cover (OSHC). Either you can arrange this yourself or ICMS can arrange this for you. Your Letter of Offer will have more information about this.
  • Think about getting private health insurance for those things that OSHC does not cover
  • Consider travel insurance for things like missed flights and lost luggage.
  • You may also need Home and Contents insurance for your belongings or vehicle Insurance if you intend to have a car in Australia.

Banking and tax

  • You can set up a bank account before or after you arrive in Australia. You’ll need your eCoE (Electronic Confirmation of Enrolment), passport, letter of offer and ID.
  • If you plan to work, you will also need to apply for a Tax File Number.

Visas

Travel and transport

  • Students can visit the Transport NSW website to plan trips or to find out more about getting an Opal card. Opal is the smartcard ticketing system used to pay for travel on public transport in Sydney

Support for international students

  • When it’s time for you to do your compulsory WIL Professional Placement, ICMS has a team of facilitators who will help you to prepare your resume, practise your interview techniques and help you to secure a placement in an organisation applicable to your field of study.

Safety in Australia (Police)

Education agents

We understand it can be difficult to organise everything, so consider getting an agent to help you with your application. You should only use an approved ICMS Agent Representative (Education Agent).