A careers adviser will guide you through the process and help you with the different courses on offer so you can make the right choice for your future. Degree options include undergraduate degrees, and postgraduate degrees by coursework and research.
Not everyone comes to university to study for a full degree. You might choose to enrol in a pathway that will help you prepare for a degree, or you may simply want to study a single unit or short course.
The information below will summarise what is generally available to you across Australian higher education, however, you will need more detailed information about your areas of interest.
It is a good idea to decide on more than one area or discipline at the start of your exploration of what you might study. This will depend on what job you want to perform once you finish your studies.
Select the headings to learn more.
You will become an Undergraduate student when you enrol in your course leading to the university degree.
When you graduate, you will receive a bachelor's degree or an associate degree. While an associate degree is usually completed in two years (full-time), a bachelor's degree could take between three and five years (full-time).
It will take longer to complete your degree if you choose to study part-time. That said, a more flexible schedule often suits veterans who are combining study with existing work, raising a family or other non-university commitments.
Student Services can be found on a central campus location or online, and there will be someone to help you decide the best pathway for you. This can be the careers advisor or student services personnel who will help you decide the units you will need to enrol in and whether you want to be full-time or part-time.
An undergraduate degree may involve:
Core units (compulsory units for all students of a course)
Majors (a series of eight units related to a particular specialist area)
Minors (a series of four related units)
Elective units (units outside of the scheduled program that a student can choose for themselves)
Prerequisites (units that need to be successfully completed before a student can enrol in the next unit in the sequence).
Once you have decided on your course of study and whether you are going to be full-time or part-time, then your Careers Advisor or a Student Advisor will explain the fees and guide you through the enrolment process that is usually found online.
This is detailed in the How do I Enrol of the How can I Make a Decision page.
This list is not exhaustive but might be a good start:
Computer/laptop
Memory stick or cloud backup
Notebooks or folder with pages and plastic inserts for handouts (perhaps one per unit)
Pens, highlighting markers, etc
Uniforms or lab coats (depending on your course)
Specific equipment for specific courses (e.g. safely googles for lab work, etc) - this will be communicated to you by the university after you enrol.
When you first enrol, you’ll be given a reading list of books you need. You do not need to buy all the books on the reading list!
They are all available in the library, and some copies are reserved for the lecturer to be available to the students in a unit.
Some units will have basic text that may be better to buy but ask about this before investing in an expensive book.
You may be able to find used books in a university Student Portal online but ask your Lecturer or Tutor if you need the current edition.
Emails
When you enrol, you will be sent information about accessing the university's network, and this information will include the student email that you have been allocated.
All official university communications will be sent to you through your student email.
You can also redirect that email to one you check every day so that you aren’t missing anything important. They can show you how to do this when you start.
It’s important that you check this regularly so that you do not miss important administration announcements and updates or communications from your Lecturers.
