International Opportunities
Gain credit towards your degree while studying abroad
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Explore the world, create lifelong memories, and graduate with a global perspective through international short-term programs, semester and year-long exchanges and professional placements with the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
When you study at Sydney, you’ll have opportunities to travel and experience the world.
Our placement and exchange opportunities set you up for a global career as you develop skills and broaden your world perspective.
Our international engagement program includes partnerships with more than 250 universities in more than 40 countries including France, India, Japan, Spain, Sweden, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
We encourage students to undertake an international experience as part of their studies and offer a range of scholarships and funding to support this.
For a step-by-step guide to kick-start your global experience, please visit our current students’ page.
Participating in the semester exchange program is the perfect accompaniment to your degree. Our comprehensive study abroad and exchange program allows you to make study plans based on your personal and academic passions. Explore the global mobility database and see our featured semester programs below.
Join a vibrant student community that brings New Zealand and the Pacific together.
As the oldest university in New Zealand, the University of Otago continues leading world-class teaching and providing an enriching student lifestyle. While studying your favourite arts and social sciences unit at Otago, you will have the opportunity to experience snow sports, hiking and outdoor activities unique to the South region of New Zealand.
This unique local exchange program allows you to enrol in a 6-credit point unit taught by New York University (NYU) and have NYU academic experience here at the University of Sydney. You will concurrently enrol in the University of Sydney units to make up your study load.
Not only will you gain international experience in Sydney and obtain a transcript from NYU, but you will also receive support from the NYU Sydney team to access a broad range of social activities to create social bonds with the NYU students.
Short-term programs are open to undergraduate students and some postgraduate students. The program duration is typically between two and six weeks, scheduled during the summer or winter break. Short-term global experiences can be exchange, non-exchange, faculty-led study tours or in-country field work.
This global immersion program uses object-based learning of material culture - objects, monuments and the city’s built- environment including UNESCO World Heritage sites - to explore a series of 'Mumbai Moments' to help you understand Mumbai's place in the world, as well as the world's place in Mumbai. The program includes lectures and field and museum visits to broaden your understanding of history and its complex reality.
Hear from our students:
This immersion program is suitable for undergraduate students interested in engaging with the media landscape and experiencing India.
By blending academic seminars, field visits, cultural experiences, and interactive sessions with media professionals, you will gain a well-rounded perspective of India’s media landscape and a deep understanding of how various media forms operate and influence Indian society.
The program not only provides critical insights into Indian media but also fosters cross-cultural competencies and practical skills essential for aspiring media professionals.
This unit provides in-field archaeological experience. The course consists of a combination of classroom tuition, hands-on activities, and/or practical skills development.
Activities can include visits to museums and archeological sites, surveys and excavations and material culture analysis. The activities and nature of the experience will be based in departmental research areas.
Email Dr Beaumont to learn more: lesley.beaumont@sydney.edu.au.
Step out of the classrooms and into the major world cities of Paris and Berlin to explore the history of architecture, public spaces, galleries, collections and artworks housed in the city. Art and the City offers a vital opportunity for you to learn with and from artworks, buildings, spaces and monuments in situ.
Hear from our students:
Gain an online international experience from the comfort of your home and receive credit for your studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
In this unique virtual exchange program, you will complete a Berkeley unit remotely and synchronously, which may involve online lectures, group meetings and workshops, assignments, discussions, research, readings, presentations and/or online exams. For the Education unit specifically, students must complete specified hours of placement through online field sites in California or locally in Australia.
Gain insights into the internationally renowned Swedish education system. In this short-term exchange, our undergraduate Education students are invited to experience the teaching and learning within the Swedish School System at Umea University.
The course consists of one week of theory and information about the Swedish school system, three weeks of practical school-based experience combined with local school visits, and a final week of theory, seminars and submission of a final report.
Delivered during university vacation periods, this program allows our students to fast-track or supplement language studies or to have an immersive In-Country introduction to the Indonesian language. The program consists of intensive Indonesian language tuition incorporating language classes, cultural classes, and field trips. You may take either a single three-week course or two consecutive three-week courses to create a six-week program of study (January-February only).
These programs are suitable for undergraduate students, postgraduate coursework students, and early career professionals, and are suitable for students who have no existing Indonesian language skills.
Contact the Chair of Indonesian Studies.
This program offers enrolment in an approved course at a tertiary institution in Beijing or Wuhan, China, where you can earn credit for your Chinese language studies.
The School of Languages and Cultures offers In-Country Experience units within the Open Learning Environment (OLE) to enable you to experience language and cultural immersion as a beginner with little to no prior knowledge of a language.
The programs are delivered in partnership with universities around the world.
Explore our student experiences: Photos, videos and stories.
Learn more about OLE In-Country Experiences on our Global Mobility Database.
Many of our undergraduate and postgraduate degrees offer the opportunity to undertake a work placement overseas.
Contact the FASS International team to find out more: fass.international@sydney.edu.au
The University of Sydney and Sciences Po in France - two of the world’s leading institutions for the humanities and social sciences have come together to offer students a dual degree program, one of a kind in Australia.
In the Bachelor of Arts (Dual Degree, Sciences Po, France) or the Bachelor of Economics (Dual Degree, Sciences Po, France) you will complete the first two years of study in France and continue your third and fourth years of studies at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney.
Learn more about the Bachelor of Arts (Dual Degree, Sciences Po, France)
Learn more about the Bachelor of Economics (Dual Degree, Sciences Po, France)
A Joint PhD program offers candidates the opportunity to undertake a PhD program at Sydney, in collaboration with a partner university.
Under a Joint PhD, a candidate produces a single thesis, has one examination process and receives one PhD, jointly awarded by the University of Sydney and the partner university. The program is administered on an exchange basis and is a fee waiver (tuition waived by the host institution while overseas). Candidates spend time at both universities (with a minimum of 30% at the University of Sydney).
At present, the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences participates in Joint PhD programs with the following institutes:
The University is pleased to announce 5 fully funded positions under the USYD-Glasgow Joint PhD program, to commence in October 2025. This includes 3 opportunities for Arts and Social Science candidates:
1. ‘Democratic Integrity? A Normative and Empirical Assessment of Australian Anti-Corruption Agencies’, co-supervised by:
2. ‘Beyond the textbook: Responsive Literacies Education in Postcolonial Contexts through Material and Relational Entanglements’, co-supervised by:
3. 'Role of Estate Agents in Rising House Prices in the UK and Australia’, co-supervised by:
The funding will support successful candidates to undertake a Joint PhD program at the University of Glasgow and the University of Sydney. Successful candidates will collaborate with leading researchers, spend time at each campus, and receive a joint degree.
Applications close 31 March 2025
Learn how to apply for Joint PhDs on our postgraduate research page.
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences has articulation pathway arrangements with selected overseas universities, polytechnics and colleges. These formal arrangements can help fast-track your studies by providing you with credit towards your Sydney degree.
If your institution and program are listed below, credit will be awarded as part of your application for admission to the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. A separate application for credit is not required.
Find out more on our International Articulations Pathway page .
I've undertaken a language exchange program at Peking University in Beijing, studied medieval Indian history in Mumbai and will spend six months in Indonesia for my compulsory exchange.
International and Global Studies student
Living in France has enabled me to meet people from a broad range of different cultures and backgrounds. This experience to learn and live in two very different environments is something I will always treasure.
Bachelor of Arts (Dual Degree, Sciences Po, France) student
The exchange program gave me an opportunity to be a part of the classroom which had students from Netherlands, China, Indonesia, Italy, and of course, Australia. Interacting with such a diverse group of peers and working on projects and presentations with them was truly a wonderful experience, one which I had not experienced before. The entire semester was a testament to the global aspect of the field of media and communications.
Undergraduate Exchange Program student
