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Study in Brisbane

Brisbane is a metropolitan city, located in the south of Queensland. It’s the capital and most populous city in the state of Queensland and is the third most populous city in Australia. An extremely creative and diverse place to live and study, Brisbane has a buzzing music and arts scene, combined with incredible restaurants and cafes, alongside beautiful rivers and man-made beaches.

The city of Brisbane is home to a number of universities, including the University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology and Griffith University, to name a few. This means the populous city is also home to thousands of students, creating the perfect university city vibe. It has affordable housing, a thriving nightlife and amazing culture, making it a perfect city for all sorts of students.

Brisbane is also a hugely international city, with an airport that is a gateway to locations all over the world. The city is greatly attractive to domestic and international tourists, with more than one million visitors annually. It is an extremely versatile city and can be suitable for all kinds of budgets.

Brisbane is home to two main universities: The University of Queensland and the Queensland University of Technology. However, it also contains 10 campuses from six Australian universities, including Griffith University, Australian Catholic University, and CQUniversity.

The University of Queensland is ranked 47th in the QS World University Rankings®, which demonstrates its strength academically. It had more than 52,000 students enrolled in 2017, including 15,400 students from 141 nations.

The University of Queensland has 3 main campuses: St Lucia, Gatton and Herston. The St Lucia campus is the main campus and is situated to the south of Brisbane city. It’s surrounded on all sides by the Brisbane River and is huge, with three lakes, an aquatic center, tennis courts, eight athletics ovals, and facilities for elite rowing.

At the heart of the St Lucia Campus is the Great Court, a popular venue for ceremonies, exhibitions and functions. It’s a historic venue, with both students and guests able to walk through the grounds and see the carvings that date back to 1939. There is a huge array of things to do at the St Lucia campus, with a theater complex and a huge range of clubs and societies, including swimming, rowing and athletics. There are 15 branches of library, so you won’t be short on space for study periods.

The Queensland University of Technology is also a world-class institution, ranked 247th in the world in the QS World University Rankings® 2018. The university offers high quality learning, research and teaching and it’s one of Australia’s fastest growing research universities, with a student body of around 50,000.

The university is known as ‘a university for the real world’, because it maintains close links with industry professionals, and applies real-world focus on all its teachings and applied research. QUT has six different schools: QUT business school, creative industries, education, health, law, and science and engineering. This demonstrates the vast range of subjects available for study at QUT.

Griffith University is ranked in the top three percent of universities worldwide. It prides itself on being diverse, environmentally conscious and socially aware. Teaching and research here spans five campuses in South East Queensland and multiple disciplines. It’s probably most famous for its remarkable sporting background, with both students and alumni representing Australia in sports event all over the world.

Brisbane is a metropolitan city, situated to the south of Queensland. It is known as ‘Bris-Vegas’, due to its thriving nightlife and entertainment. There are also many cultural events that frequently occur in the city, so whatever your interests, there will be something in Brisbane to suit you.

The city is divided into suburbs and each suburb has a different vibe. The CBD in Brisbane is a buzzing metropolitan area and is full of cafes and restaurants to suit those who want to experience the true hustle and bustle of a busy city. However, this isn't all that’s available, as it’s also home to the heritage-listed Customs House. There is also the Treasury Building, which hosts everything from comedy and drama to cabaret, as well as St. John’s Anglican Cathedral, the Botanical Gardens and the Brisbane City hall.

The Brisbane South Bank is a beautiful area, with a man-made beach, and offers a much more relaxed vibe. It offers the perfect escape for those who want to experience an out-of-city vibe, without ever really leaving the city. The South Bank is also host to a number of artistic festivals and exhibitions, as well as the Queensland Cultural Centre on South Bank, which is home to the Gallery of Modern Art. This is the largest gallery of its kind in Australia, with more than 10,000 Australian and international artworks housed inside. Recent exhibitions have included ones on Valentino and Warhol.

There are, of course, a number of other suburbs, each with their own unique feel. Fortitude Valley is known simply as ‘The Valley’ by locals and is a thriving nightlife area. From cocktails to fabulous bars, from craft beers to a huge array of nightclubs, the Valley really has your nightlife sorted. In New Farm, you’ll find the former industrial space called the Brisbane Powerhouse. It’s been transformed into an incredible venue for theater, comedy, arts, markets and restaurants.

There are other museums located in Brisbane, such as the Queensland Museum where you can see an array of exhibitions, including a dinosaur skeleton. For those interested in science, there is the Queensland Sciencentre, which is located on level one of the Queensland Museum, while dramatic types should make a visit to the Queensland Performing Arts Center to watch some amazing productions in ballet, opera, concert or musical.

From mid-September through to early October, the city is home to the Brisbane Festival. The opening night has a huge party in Queensland’s own Spiegel tent and the festival features ballet, circus performances, huge multi-media productions, singing and even magic.

It’s clear Brisbane has a huge amount to offer in terms of culture, and should definitely not be overlooked when it comes to visiting Australia.

Brisbane is situated to the very south of Queensland, the “Sunshine State” of Australia. Brisbane has sub-tropical summers, with temperatures in the range of 26-30°C/79-86°F. The summer days are often humid, however, so it can feel a lot hotter. Brisbane has very mild winters, with June to August being the most winterly, and temperatures averaging 23°C/73°F. Brisbane is Australia’s sunniest city, with an average of 300 days of sunshine a year.

There are a huge number of doctors’ surgeries in Brisbane, along with a large number of health information centers. For those in need of hospitals, there are plenty to choose from, including the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, The Wesley Hospital, and Brisbane Private Hospital, to name a few. There are pharmacies on nearly every street corner.

Brisbane is an affordable city but you’ll still need to plan and budget accordingly. A weekly budget for a student living in Brisbane would be around $400, which includes rent, food, transport, bills, entertainment, and stationary.

Brisbane is a safe city, but as most cities do, it has some levels of crime, which should be noted. Railway stations have had issues with gangs, particularly in stations such as South Brisbane, Cannon Hill, Central, and Beenleigh. Murder and attempted murder rates have remained fairly low throughout the years. Other serious crimes like assault have remained steady, at around 2,100 per year between 2012-2017. Drug offences are fairly high, and also increasing: there were 7479 offences in 2012, and 10,728 in 2017.

Study in Brisbane

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