STUDY IN ADELAIDE
What's in this student city guide?
Quick facts about Adelaide
📍 State
South Australia
📆 Established
1836
🌆 Area
3258 km2
👪 Population
1.38 Million
🌥 Climate
Mediterranean
👋 Welcome to Adelaide
South Australia’s vibrant capital city, Adelaide, offers plenty for international students. It is one of the cheapest city to live in and ranked as one of the most liveable city in the world.
Here is a student guide about study in Adelaide. We hope you enjoy reading it.
Reasons to Study in Adelaide
🎨 Festival city
Adelaide alone hosts over 400 events every year with so many events around the state is the reason it’s also known as the Festival State of Australia
🏛 Academic Excellence
Universities in Adelaide offer an excellence in education with Top 6 universities famous for their research and innovation contribution to the world.
🚌 Transport
You can save up to $700 per year on your transport costs as Adelaide is one of the cities that offer the same transport benefits to students as locals. It also offers free tram and bus service in the city centre.
💰 Affordable city
Living in Adelaide costs much less than any other capital city in Australia. One of the main reasons for students to choose Adelaide for studying.
📒 Learning city
It is also known as learning city as it hosts more than 38,000 international students in its universities, Tafes and private institutions. It is also a safe, welcoming and vibrant city.
🌤 Weather
Adelaide offers Mediterranean weather with four distinct seasons. It is warm and sunny city with low rainfall which gives plenty of opportunity to travel around and do outdoor activities.
💡 Did you know?
Adelaide is also known as an Opal Capital of Australia due to the variety of opals it offers.
Universities and Vocational Education in Adelaide
🏛 Universities in Adelaide
Here is a list of Adelaide based universities in Australia:
📒 Universities with Satellite campus
Australian Catholic University and Central Queensland University have their campus in Adelaide offering various undergraduate and postgraduate programs.
✍ TAFE and other education providers
TafeSA (South Australia) is the only Tafe in Adelaide but for the students looking to choose vocational education as a preferred option, there are plenty of other vocational education providers to choose from as well.
Monthly Cost of Living in Adelaide
🏠 Rent
$700
🍔 Food
$400
🚌 Transport
$130
🔌 Utilities
$120
🎉 Others
$100
💵 Total
$1450
⚠ Disclaimer
The prices are expressed in Australian Dollars for each month. The figures are for single student in a shared living setting. The figures are gathered from various sources, talking with students, our team experiences and provide general guidelines. The cost of living in Adelaide can vary based on your lifestyle, type of accommodation, personal choice and many other factors.
Transport in Adelaide
📌 How to get to city from Adelaide airport?
Adelaide Airport is situated only 6 kms west of the city centre. It is South Australia’s main and Australia’s fifth busiest airport.
Adelaide Metro offer a JetBus service direct to the city centre. You will need to buy a Metrocard to travel on this service. It takes around 25 to 30 mins to reach city in this bus service. You can find the bus stop near the airport exit.
You can also hail a taxi or ride sharing service like Uber or shuttle bus service from the airport terminal. Alternatively, you can hire a car as well.
🚌 Public Transport
Adelaide’s efficient and affordable public transport makes travelling around the city and suburbs easier. Adelaide is serviced by extensive train, tram and bus network that operates throughout the city and surrounding suburbs.
You will need to get the Metrocard in order to make the most out of public transport in Adelaide. Make sure to touch on and off when entering and exiting any mode of public transport. It cost $3.50 to buy Metrocard and $5 minimum top up is required to use.
🚖 Other Transport & Concessions
As an overseas student, you are entitled to get a concession fare on public transport in Adelaide. You can travel free in the city centre by using buses and trams.
With the city’s focus on ‘Going Green’ and plenty of bike pathways to use, cycling is a very popular way of travelling in the city and inner city suburbs. If you don’t have a bike then you can rent one for free from Adelaide Free Bikes also.
💡 Did you know?
Adelaide is also known as the City of Churches due to many churches around the city area.
Key Events During The Year in Adelaide
🚴 January
Santos Tour Down Under
The international pro cycling world tour kicks off with the cycling race in and around Adelaide.
🎪 Feburary
Adelaide Fringe Festival
The world’s second largest annual arts event festival is held in South Australia every year from February to March and features works of thousands of national and international artists.
🎫 March
Womadelaide
The annual Adelaide festival brings the international talent in performance arts to the city. Womadelaide is one of the several festivals happening in this month in Adelaide, and this open air festival also brings best of the music, arts and dance to the city.
🚘 December
Adelaide Motorsport Festival
This event is the mecca for every motorsport enthusiast, as the best of past sports cars and the latest beasts in business are on display in the Adelaide CBD as well as Adelaide Parklands Circuit.
🎶 August
SALA Festival
South Australia Living Arts (SALA) festival celebrates the visual arts every year across the state.
Free Things to do in Adelaide
🚴 Bike around for free
Courtesy of Bike SA, you can hire a bike for free and peddle along the Bike Art trail to witness the giant, city-commissioned sculptures along 11 points, all within bike’s reach. Or you can traverse the Jack Bobridge trail (named after the pro-cyclist), a beautiful 27 km route between Gawler and Tanunda
🌮 Free food and wine tastings
Adelaide is renowned for its winery scene, so it’s no surprise that you might find a free sip here or there. Take the wine discovery journey at National Wine Centre of Australia for tastings at the end of interactive tour or visit cellar door wineries in Barossa Valley to sample from the source itself.
🏏 The Bradman Collection
If you’re a cricket enthusiast, you can pore over the memorabilia collection of Aussie cricket legend Sir Don Bradman at Adelaide Oval, with an assortment of trophies, cricket balls and bats, and clothing gear personally worn by the Don, complete with a multimedia clippings from his famous matches.
🎭 Free art and culture
Explore the unique offerings of South Australian Museum which include ancient Egyptian relics, the only surviving Aboriginal canoes, and an 18m long whale skeleton. Or visit the Art Gallery of South Australia, one of the most visited galleries in Australia per annum, for a wide variety of paintings, sculptures, art and more.
🏊 Glenelg Beach
Enjoy the beautiful stretches of coastline along Glenelg, one of Australia’s most popular beach destinations. Not too far away from the CBD and accessible via public transport, the beach is lined up with cafes, funky shops, and boutiques.
🏁 Other places to explore
Apart from the list above, there are many other places to explore and visit in Adelaide. Here are some of them:
Gold Coast
Melbourne
Perth
Adelaide
Sydney
Darwin
Brisbane
Canberra
Hobart
Newcastle
Geelong
Wollongong
Sunshine Coast
Cairns