Exchange Eligibility and Requirements
To be eligible for exchange program, students must ensure they meet the following eligibility requirements:
1. Have completed at least 48 units (one full year of study) at ANU by the time you go on exchange *
You will be required to have successfully completed at least 48 units at the ANU at the time of going on exchange. If you have transferred from another institution and have had credit applied to your ANU degree(s), this counts towards your 48 units.
* Some degrees, such as Law, may only allow you to go on exchange after having completed more than 1 year of full-time study. Law students must refer to the College of Law as to what is possible for exchange as Law students have additional requirements (research components) for their degree. Also, some partners may have restrictions that do not permit students to study with them until their third year of undergraduate study, so please keep an eye out for this when searching for partners you will apply to.
2. Have 24 units available and approved in your undergraduate degree to go on exchange
You will need to have at least 24 units available to count towards your undergraduate degree program that can be used for credit-bearing studies, as approved by your academic college(s) that you can utilise for exchange studies.
Exceptions are:
- You will be in your final semester of your ANU degree (and still have 18 units to complete), in the case where you do not have 24 units left in the last semester of your undergraduate degree program you can maintain a 'full time load' by studying the equivalent of 18 units on exchange.
- You are registered with ANU Access and Inclusion and have official documentation from there that recommends or confirms that due to your personal circumstances you would prefer a reduced study load.
3. Have a GPA of 4 out of 7 or above (a pass average)
You need to have a minimum GPA of 4 out of 7 the time of processing of your application and going on exchange. Certain restricted partners require a GPA of 6 or above
All courses studied in your current academic level at university (ie all your undergraduate studies) are considered when calculating your GPA. You will need to maintain your overall grade point average at 4 or better or your application will be withdrawn and exchange cancelled.
The GPA is taken during the semester you apply for exchange. The FINAL GPA is taken after you have taken your ANU exams at the end of that semester and the results released. There are no exceptions and the GPA is only taken at that one time.
Semester 1 exchange | Semester 2 exchange | |
---|---|---|
Applicationto Global Programs | Open March Close May | Open October Close November |
GPA obtained from official results released after exams | July | December |
Allocation of spots are finalised in the month of July and December. Due to partner deadlines for nominations, the allocations are agreed with the partner and they are finalised. The only GPAs used are the GPA derived straight after the exams. Grades that are reassessed cannot be taken into consideration. No further correspondence will be entered into for re-assessments. All allocations are finalised.
4. Meet the requirements of your College/s
Some Colleges may have specific requirements which must be met and this may affect your eligibility. These include such things as the need to have completed 48 units in their degree program or to complete a specific course or number of courses at ANU.
Law students in particular, must ensure they meet the College of Law's requirements as to whether exchange would be approved.
If your exchange application is to an ANU language partner (studying any or all your courses in French, German, Italian or Spanish) you will need to be approved by the appropriate ANU language convenor that you are already sufficient to study in the target language at university level or will be sufficient to study at university level by the time you will depart.
5. Nomination considerations
Nomination to an ANU partner institution may be based upon the following selection criteria:
- Student's official GPA released by ANU after exams
- GPA stipulations by partner
- number of applications received for particular partners
- number of exchange places available at particular partners
- partners restrictions as per website information
- year of studies permitted by the partners
- course discipline consideration / restrictions of the partners
- course combination consideration / restrictions of the partners
- a written statement of purpose (selected, restricted partners)
6. Home country and citizenship criteria
International Students
International students who hold citizenship from their home country are not permitted to undertake studies back in their home country for exchange studies. International students should ensure the country chosen for exchange does not have any restrictions on travel to the country based on citizenship.
Domestic students
Australian PR / citizen students who hold dual citizenship / emigrated / inherited citizenship may be permitted to undertake exchange studies in any country, including the country they hold citizenship for.
7. Degree structure - single and doubles and course selections
Students should consider whether it is possible to go on exchange, based on whether there is room (24 ANU units) in their degree for exchange studies, as decided by the student's academic colleges. Not all degrees will have sufficient room for exchange studies.
When planning exchange, students must look at each of their selected exchange partner's course catalogues. Students must ensure they have researched the partner's course offerings, on the partner's website, to check there are sufficient courses available (in the correct semester) to merit the equivalent of a full semester load at that university.
A full semester load at each partner is shown on the website for each partner and students should be aware that the number of courses and credits vary for each partner.
Please note some partners may only permit students to select courses at one faculty only. Students who may wish to take courses at more than one faculty (for example double degree students) must ensure they do NOT select partners where it is stipulated, the exchange partner will ONLY permit courses to be taken at a single faculty.
Students must ensure that all final course selections made (once the student has been allocated their exchange partner) seek the final course approval from their ANU academic colleges.
Academic College Exchange Information