Student life is a mixture of lectures, tutorials and seminars, plus individual work in laboratories and libraries. There is a range of extracurricular activities to engage in during the academic year, which runs from late February or early March to November. Increasingly, the institutions also accept enrolments in midyear. Universities provide courses and conduct research in a wide range of professional and academic disciplines. They award associate diplomas, diplomas, bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees, and postgraduate diplomas.
Some institutions provide specialist training in health sciences or teacher education.
Universities recognise the awards of each other. So, for example, a person awarded a bachelors degree by one institution could be accepted for entry to a masters degree program by another. There is a diversity in the structure of course programs. In the more technical fields, such as engineering, medicine and science, there are more hours of lectures, tutorials and practical classes than in the humanities and social sciences, where students are expected to spend more time in individual reading and research. International students need fluency in the English language if they are to succeed at an Australian campus.