Semester at University of Western Australia

Each course is worth 6 UWA credit points, which is the equivalent of 3 - 4 US credits. Credits earned vary according to the policies of your home institution. Our enrollment policy and possible visa implications require you to maintain full-time enrollment status, as determined by your home institution, during your program.

Your transcript will reflect UWA credit points for each of your courses. Please be in touch with your U.S. university regarding credit transfer.

You'll enroll in 3 - 4 courses for the semester, each worth 6 UWA credit points. See Additional Course Information for unique opportunities.

Your eligibility to enroll in courses will be determined by UWA faculty based on previous coursework reflected on your college transcript(s). For courses that have prerequisites, they will look for closely matching courses you've previously taken.

The University of Western Australia’s course finder offers a full list of courses and course descriptions.

View courses

How to search for courses:

• Availability is equal to the term you will be studying abroad

  • Semester 1 = February – June

  • Semester 2 = July – November

• Unit Level: select 1, 2, or 3

• Location: select “Crawley (Perth)”

• When looking at courses, ensure that the course codes are in the 1000-3999 range

In Australia, undergraduate degrees are 3 years instead of 4, so the first-level courses dive right into material specific to that discipline, without too much intro-level context. The undergraduate course levels at UWA are 1000, 2000, and 3000. Use the following to guide your course selection:

• 1000-level courses as sophomore level

• 2000-level courses as junior level

• 3000-level courses as senior level

Content in the 2000- and 3000-level courses will be very advanced, and you must be confident that you have the required background knowledge before taking them. The 4000-level courses are restricted to honors students, and 5000-9000 is postgraduate (with a few exceptions for courses that are cross-listed as both undergraduate and postgraduate).

Your eligibility to enroll in courses will be determined by UWA faculty based on previous coursework reflected on your college transcript(s). For courses that have prerequisites, they will look for closely matching courses you’ve previously taken.

Program eligibility: If your GPA is between 2.0 - 2.5, we encourage you to apply as exceptions are made on a case-by-case basis.

Unique course opportunities:

• Physical Fitness and Health (SSEH1103): This course discusses the importance of physical activity for personal health and wellbeing in modern societies. Students are also introduced to various exercise modalities and training methods used to develop physical fitness in a safe and effective manner.

• Disasters! (GEOG1104): This course focuses on physical disasters and looks at what triggers these events from an environmental science viewpoint, and the social vulnerabilities and failures that, together, result in slowly unfolding disasters or rapid-onset catastrophic events.

• Global Oceans Challenges (OCEN1001): Students in this course analyze critical global oceans challenges, such as pollution, conservation, food, energy, and coastal protection, to gain an understanding of these challenges and think about potential solutions.

• Aboriginal Encounters: Strangers in our Backyard (INDG1150): In this course, students examine the often-contested historical realities of Aboriginal experience in postcolonial Australia, and how collective historical experiences transmit and transform over time. Significant eras in shaping an Australian national identity are deconstructed to highlight the cultural, social and political impact on, and from, the Aboriginal nation.