If your dream is to study Medicine in Australia with little or zero tuition fees? Then, this post is tailored to help guide you through on what is required to Study Medicine in Australia, including MBBS Requirements and admissions process. There are also scholarships and tuition waiver opportunities to help you study for free in Australia.
Of course, there are opportunities available to international students to study Medicine in Australia without having to break a bank: there are processes involved and a few tips you might just need to learn.
What You Should Know about Studying Medicine in Australia
Studying Medicine in Australia can be fun when financial barriers are removed or reduced. Let’s dive into looking at some of the universities offering medical studies in Australia, typical tuition fees, and a number of scholarship opportunities.
1#: Universities in Australia to Study Medicine*
Australian Universities welcomes international students to take Bachelors’s, Masters’s, and Ph.D. courses in Australia. Below is a list of schools in Australia that can make medical studies possible with little or no cost. Tuition free programs are also available in some of these schools (mostly for non-medical courses though)
- MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY
- UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE
- UNIVERSITY OF DIVINITY
- RMIT UNIVERSITY
- UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND
- QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
- UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND
- UNIVERSITY OF SUNSHINE COAST
- UNIVERSITY OF CANBERRA
- UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
- CHARLES DARWIN UNIVERSITY
- SOUTHERN CROSS UNIVERSITY
- UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE
- AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY
- VICTORIA UNIVERSITY
- UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND
- JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY
- GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY
- WESTERN SYDNEY UNIVERSITY
- CHARLES STURT UNIVERSITY
- CHARLES STURT UNIVERSITY
- EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY
*The list above is not comprehensive and the reader need to do his/her personal findings, possibly getting a direct information from the school is usually advised.
1#: TYPICAL TUITION FEES FOR MEDICAL STUDY IN AUSTRLIA
Australian Universities are said to be generous when it comes to giving away tuition fees and living expenses in the form of scholarships to international students.
Typical tuition fees for undergraduate medical programs are around 57,760 to 71,488 Australian Dollars (approximately 40.000 to 49,100Euros/year) and this may increase every year. It is important to note that it has been estimated by some Institute that Medicine course fees could rise by as much as 270 percent, pushing the annual cost to $37,000 and putting the total bill for a medical degree at $180,000. This is why many find it hard to either begin or continue studying medicine.
Because of this, we have decided to put together a list of tuition-free schools or schools with very low tuition in Australia where you can get a medical degree, without having to lose sleep or bag home a long stack of debt after graduation.
2#: SCHOLARSHIPS AND TUITION WAIVERS FOR MEDICAL STUDY IN AUSTRALIA
While scholarships for graduate students may be easy to come by, to get a fully funded scholarship for undergraduate medical studies, students would usually have to pass through their home country funding programs or the Australia Government funding programs as the case may be. The schools listed above may have partial funding opportunities through the year, so prospective students need to check for when such opportunities are available through the schools’ websites.
Example of few scholarship programs meant for medical students are listed as follows:
RMIT University Merit Awards for Science, Engineering and Health in Australia
RMIT University is offering an opportunity for international students to get funding up to about AU$10,000 to aid their study.The scholarships are for commencing international students undertaking selected degree programmes at RMIT’s College of Science, Engineering and Health; and the scholarship will contribute towards your living expenses. Click to View More Details.
Doherty Scholarship at Australian National University (ANU) in Australia
This scholarship is offered by the John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR). The Doherty Scholarship (Clinical) is to attract students of high calibre with clinical qualifications to pursue graduate research involving a clinical research project for a PhD degree at the JCSMR. Click to View More Details.
Monash University DEPM Prostate Cancer Research Scholarship, Australia
The DEPM Prostate Cancer Research Scholarship is intended to encourage students to undertake further studies at Honours level in medicine at the Monash Alfred campus in the area of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, focusing principally on improving health outcomes for men diagnosed with prostate cancer. Click to View More Details
Ric (Frederic) Bouvier Scholarship for International Students
Ric (Frederic) Bouvier is awarded to international students across the globe for a full-time study programme in Australia. This scholarship is awarded to students enrolled or intending to enrol in a Bachelor of Paramedicine (Honours) at a Monash campus in Australia. Click to View More Details
3#: REQUIREMENTS TO STUDY MEDICINE IN AUSTRALIA
Undergraduate Medicine (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery – 6 years)
Students applying for an undergraduate medical degree in Australia will have their applications assessed against these criteria:
- Academic merit (as demonstrated by grades in A-Levels, International Baccalaureate or equivalent. BTEC Diplomas are not accepted by Australian medical schools as being suitable for entry)
- Interview (the format of this will vary depending on the school. Some interviews are formal and have to be attended in person, others are more relaxed discussions held over Skype or phone)
- In order to be eligible to apply, students must have completed their school leaving qualification (or be in the final year of study for that qualification) with strong grades in the required subjects and have achieved a minimum score on an aptitude test.
- Provided academic and aptitude test score requirements are met, applicants are invited to interview for a place on the course.
- There is some variation in subject prerequisite requirements but almost all medical schools will require you to have a strong pass in Chemistry (at A2 or Higher Level in IB). Most will also require Math, and Physics or Biology is also recommended.
- Grade requirements vary between universities between ABB and A*A*A, or between 35 and 43 in the IB. Please note that achieving (or being predicted) the minimum grades required will only make you eligible to apply; it does not guarantee you a place.
What aptitude test do I need?
All but one of the Australian universities that require aptitude test results as part of your application requires the International Student Admissions Test (ISAT). The exception to this is the University of Adelaide, which runs its own aptitude test, the PQA.
ISAT is administered by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). It is a 3-hour computer-based multiple-choice test. There are no set dates for testing and you can choose to sit the test at a date and time that suits you within an 11-month window.
ISAT is designed to test skills including the ability to reason, make logical deductions, and form judgments. It does not examine any particular subject knowledge and is therefore not something that can be revised for. However, having some familiarity with the type of questions asked can certainly be an advantage and you can access practice tests on the ACER website. Note that you can only take ISAT once within a 12-month period.
We hope that you’ve found this useful, best of luck with your study.