Application and Entry Requirement FAQs

La Trobe University may require students from certain regions to apply through an authorised agent. If you are unsure whether this is required for you, please check with the Recruitment & International Operations team via email: [email protected].  Please kindly specify your country of citizenship and country of residence when you enquire.

If you are unable to find any agents in the drop-down list of your home country, you may try contacting agents in neighbouring countries.  Many of our agents offer virtual consultations and they can communicate with you via emails or videos calls if required.

For direct international student applicants, the preferred way to apply with La Trobe is through our online international application portal. In the online application form, please fill in as much detailed information as possible regarding your prior study and English proficiency.For single unit or cross-institutional applicants, please contact the Recruitment & International Operations team via email: [email protected].

There is no application fee when you apply directly through La Trobe. However, if you are from a region where application is required via an authorised agent, the agent may charge a service fee to assist you with the course and student visa applications.

* If you are a domestic student, you will need to make a direct application. Find out more about how to apply as a domestic student.

If you are experiencing any technical issues during the online application process, please first check if all “incomplete mandatory fields” have been filled out.

Please check every single field, especially the “yes/ no” questions and the drop-down fields in the English proficiency, educational background and qualification (secondary and tertiary qualifications), and passport and visa information sections. The error most likely lies within one of these sections.

If the issue persists, please contact the Studylink IT Support team directly via email: [email protected] (Please include your full name and Application ID in the email subject). You are also highly recommended to include a screenshot of the error message when you enquire.

In general, the following documents (PDF or JPEG) will be required to support your application:

• Copy of passport
• Current visa (if applicable)
• Academic qualifications including completion certificate and academic transcripts (in English)
• Evidence of your English language proficiency
• Any other information specified in the entry requirements for your course (please see course page for a list of supplementary forms as required per course)
• Course syllabus for completed subjects if you are applying for Advanced Standing (credits)

Please note: all supporting documents where a copy is made must be certified.

A certified copy is a copy of a document that has been confirmed by an approved/authorised person as an authentic copy of the original. Our International Admissions team will require you to provide certified academic documents before the offer acceptance can be finalised. If you submit a translated document, you must also provide a certified copy of the original with a certified translation.

Scanned documents must be clear, easy to read and in full colour.

See examples of acceptable and unacceptable documentation.

La Trobe University will accept copies certified by one of the following:

• La Trobe’s authorised representative or agent.
• Australian Overseas Diplomatic Mission
• Public Notary Office
• An Australian university
• The administration of the institution that issued the relevant document - emailed to our admissions department directly

La Trobe University assesses applications on a rolling basis which means you can apply for the next upcoming intake or available future intakes.

Please refer to the application deadlines for international students. Please note the dates provided are the latest dates to submit your application. To allow yourself sufficient time to accept your offer and to apply for a student visa, we encourage you to submit your application as soon as you are ready to do so.

Postgraduate courses in Allied Health normally follow a different application selection process, with applications closing on 30th September for the following year intake.

Detailed course syllabus/ course outlines will be required if you wish to apply for credits based on your previous study. Course syllabus/outlines must include course content, assessment mode, contact hours, prescribed texts, etc.

If you are a direct applicant, please tick “YES” for the “Advanced Standing” section of your online application and provide the course syllabus (preferably in the pdf form).

If you are applying through an agent, your agent will assist you with applying for credits.

The previous study must be completed within the last eight years, in order to meet the current requirements. For some courses, this period is shorter (for example, in professional areas where there are often changes to practice requirements).

You can do a credit search based on institution and previous study. Any credit assessment outside the articulation agreement will be assessed on an individual basis. This can only be determined once your application is assessed by the appropriate academic faculty.

Onshore international Year 12 and international students studying VCE offshore will have to apply through the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC).

Semester 1 application is normally open via VTAC from early August every year. Please keep an eye on the VTAC website for the key dates (once published).

You will first need to check if there is a stand-alone Honours program (1 year full-time) in your field of study. Please refer to our Course Finder. If unsure, please contact the Recruitment & International Operations team via email: [email protected] and we will confirm for you.

For the Honours application to be assessed, it is important that applicants have a written supervision approval from their Course Coordinators.

If you are under 18 at the time of your course commencement, you will need to provide evidence of having an approved legal guardian in Australia. Our International Admissions team will require you to fill out the 157N form.

A suitable relative is defined by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) as, a grandparent, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew, or a step-grandparent, step-brother, step-sister, step-aunt, step-uncle, step-niece or step-nephew. A suitable nominated relative must be over 21 years of age and of good character.

If you don’t have an approved legal guardian in Australia, your alternate options are:

• Apply for a later intake when you are above 18 by the course commencement date
• Or, apply for a packaged course with our partner – La Trobe College Australia (LTCA), which has homestay & guardian arrangements for under 18 students

For further information on these courses please visit the Masters degree by research course or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) pages

Academic entry requirement varies from course to course. Please first find the course that you are interested in via our Course Finder.

Undergraduate courses - Most of the common international secondary qualifications and required scores are listed under the 'Entry requirements' section of our course pages. Please select your respective country and qualification in the drop-down list. Apart from meeting the required entry score based on your secondary qualification, please also take note of the subject pre-requisites.

If your country and qualification are not on the drop-down list, our International Admissions team can still assess your application. To find out your eligibility, please submit a fully documented application so that our Admissions can assess your case properly.

If you don’t meet the academic requirements for the undergraduate course that you wish to study, you may be eligible to undertake a pathway program leading to the degree. Find out more about Foundation and Diploma programs with our pathway program provider La Trobe College Australia (LTCA). All on-campus pathway programs are packaged with a La Trobe University degree, so students will have one offer letter and one student visa for the duration of their studies.

Postgraduate courses - Most of our postgraduate courses require students to complete an Australian Bachelors degree or international equivalent. Some courses have compulsory work experience requirements, while a few limited others can be assessed based on substantial professional work experience.  Therefore, please refer to the specific course page for relevant information.

If you don’t meet the academic requirements for the postgraduate course that you wish to study, Postgraduate Enabling Program (PEP) is offered by our partner La Trobe College Australia (LTCA). It provides a pathway into a range of La Trobe Masters courses in Business and IT, for students who may not have the academic and/or English requirements to gain direct entry.

La Trobe College Australia (LTCA)can be contacted at [email protected] or +61 (0)3 9479 2417.

English language requirement varies from course to course. Please first find the course that you are interested in via our Course Finder.

We have minimum language requirements for undergraduate, postgraduate and graduate research study at La Trobe. However, some La Trobe courses need a higher level of English language proficiency than these minimum scores.

• Minimum English language requirement for undergraduate courses: Overall IELTS (Academic) score of 6.0 with no band less than 6.0 or equivalent score of other approved tests
• Minimum English language requirement for postgraduate courses: Overall IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 with no band less than 6.0 or equivalent score of other approved tests

For more information, please refer to our Language requirements page.

It is important to know that not all of the approved English language tests can be accepted for our courses with higher English requirements (i.e. IELTS 7.0/ 7.0 or higher). If you are unsure whether you will have to take IELTS (Academic) for your course, please check with the Recruitment & International Operations team via email: [email protected]

The genuine temporary entrant (GTE) requirement is an integrity measure to ensure that the student visa programme is used as intended and not as a way for international students to maintain ongoing residency in Australia. All students applying for an Australian student visa must meet the Australian Government’s Genuine Temporary Entrant (GTE) requirements.

Who needs to complete a La Trobe University GTE assessment?
International students applying to study at La Trobe University may also need to complete an additional GTE assessment as part of the La Trobe University application process. If you need to complete this assessment as part of your admission process, our team will include the “GTE and Financial check” condition on your offer letter and provide instructions on the requirements and the forms that must be filled and returned.

You won’t be able to accept your offer to study at La Trobe until the GTE and financial assessment is completed, and we remove the conditions from your offer letter.

My offer letter is conditional on meeting the GTE requirement, what do I need to do?
La Trobe’s assessment is divided into two steps. Please note you might undergo both assessments or only one, depending on your circumstances.

Students are required to upload supporting documentation to back their claims via the admissions portal. You can find more information on the Home Affairs website, under Step 2 Gather your documents.

Step 1 - Financial assessment - In this step, we assess the student’s financial readiness as outlined in the Simplified Student Visa Framework (SSVF).

You are required to provide:

1. a completed GTE Assessment Form – You will receive the link
2. a completed Financial Declaration Form – You will receive the link
3. evidence of your financial capacity

Step 2 - Candidate interview - Once the financial check has been completed, our admissions team may contact you to set up an interview with one of our staff.

What is acceptable evidence of your financial capacity?
If required, you must demonstrate you have access to funds to cover travel expenses, the first 12 months of living and tuition costs for yourself and for your dependents. There are a few options to prove you have enough money for your stay.

Filling an electronic Financial Declaration form is mandatory along with your financial documents.

You can find more information on the required documentation on the Home Affairs website under Step 2 Gather your documents > Evidence you have enough money for your stay.

Who can provide support if I have any questions about the GTE/financial requirements?
If you wish to discuss your circumstances or have any questions about the requirements you can contact us at [email protected] and provide your full name and La Trobe student ID or application number.