Key Info

  • Average temp during the day: 27.4C
  • Average rainy days per year: 54
  • 5 universities
  • Two city centres: Perth and Fremantle
  • Spectacular and diverse landscapes
  • STEM hub and engineering capital

Overview

Australia’s largest state by area features just one major city, but Perth is consistently ranked among the best student cities in the world. More than 55,000 international students attend university in Western Australia, most of them at one of Perth’s five leading institutions of higher learning, including the University of Western Australia.

The vast majority of Western Australia’s 2.7 million residents live in metropolitan Perth, but even those who live in the remotest parts of the state have plenty of company: Western Australia sits in the same time zone as 60% of the world’s entire population. With communication and transportation being relatively easy to Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, and other major cities, Perth is extraordinarily well-connected to international employers.

Western Australia itself is the capital of Australia’s mining and engineering industries, and leading resource firms including Rio Tinto, BHP, and Fortescue Metals Group have large presences in the state. The opportunity to learn in the field from industry leaders attracts students from around the world to study at Western Australia’s universities.

Such a large territory—Western Australia is the second-largest national subdivision in the world—naturally offers quite a bit to explore. The state’s coastline features thousands of kilometres of beach and renowned diving opportunities. Inland, some of the Outback’s most starkly beautiful stretches make for terrific hiking, while the southwest is home to world class surfing and wine regions.

Perth

Perth is the sunniest capital city in the world with only 54 days of rain per year, and among its most remote. It lies closer to Jakarta than to Sydney, and the nearest city of more than a million people, Adelaide, lies nearly 2,700 km away. Although it is highly connected and the home to a booming tech sector, Perth takes advantage of its location by setting its own relaxed pace and doing things its way. Perth is the most affordable university city in Australia and regularly places among the top ten most livable cities in the world.

An astonishing 12,000 km of beaches grace metropolitan Perth, which go nicely with an average daily temperature of 27.4 degrees Celsius. Although the city has grown rapidly in recent years, it has preserved an excellent system of parkland and other green space. It boasts the most restaurants per capital of any city on earth, along with bars, pubs, theatres, galleries, cinemas, and a constantly evolving calendar of festivals. 

Its distance from other Australian cities gives Perth a more international outlook than you might find in many Australian university towns. Its large university community includes students from more than 100 countries and is especially strong in STEM-related fields—Perth may be the engineering capital of the Asia Pacific region. The University of Western Australia is the country’s top school for Engineering, Earth and Marine Sciences, Environmental Studies, Agriculture, and Sports. 

The combination of academic excellence and international connections means a great deal to international students in Perth, all the more so because students there earn an extra year on their post-graduate work visas. Graduates of universities in Perth receive three-year work visas should they decide to pursue work in Western Australia.