Internships and work-integrated learning in Australian degrees: what counts and how it fits your visa

Many Australian degrees include some kind of work experience: a clinical placement, an industry project, an internship unit. Families usually ask two practical questions. Will my course include this? And will those hours use up the student visa's work limit?

The answer depends less on what the experience is called and more on how it is built into your course. This guide explains the terms, the visa rule that decides whether the hours count, and what to ask a university before you accept an offer.

What "work-integrated learning" means

Australia's higher education regulator, TEQSA, describes work-integrated learning (WIL) as any arrangement where students learn in a work context as part of their course requirements [S3]. It can include:

• professional placements in a workplace, also called internships, clinical placements, fieldwork or practicums, which can be local, interstate or international;
• online or virtual WIL with real clients or industry input;
• industry-partnered projects in the classroom, such as hackathons or start-up incubators;
• simulated work environments with industry input or assessment [S3].

Study Australia notes that many Australian courses include WIL [S4]. TEQSA also expects the university to stay responsible for the quality of the experience and for students' safety and welfare, even when students are invited to find their own placement [S3].

Placement, internship, WIL: the words matter

Universities use these words in slightly different ways, so read each course page carefully. RMIT University's explanation is a useful example [S7]:

• A placement is formally part of the degree, supervised by a workplace mentor and university staff, and assessed for academic credit. In many professional degrees it is compulsory.
• An internship is short-term work experience focused on learning. It may or may not be assessed for credit, and it can happen during semester, in the breaks, or after coursework.
• When the experience is built into your course and assessed, the university treats it as WIL.

RMIT lists teaching, nursing, allied health, social work, psychology, engineering and architecture as degrees where placements are commonly mandatory, because the professional bodies that accredit them require supervised practice [S7]. Study Australia says internships, practicums or work placements may be available as part of a course and can run from six weeks to six months [S5].

How work experience fits the 48-hour limit

The basic rule for student visa holders is set by visa condition 8105 [S1]:

• you cannot work in Australia before your course starts;
• you cannot work more than 48 hours a fortnight while your course is in session;
• there is no limit while your course is not in session, for example during scheduled course breaks.

A fortnight is any 14-day period starting on a Monday. A course is "in session" for the duration of the semesters, including exams, and also when you take another course during a term break that counts toward your main course [S1]. Students in a master's by research or a doctorate can work more than 48 hours a fortnight once that course has started [S1] [S2].

When placement hours do not count

Home Affairs is explicit that work experience counts toward the 48 hours whether it is paid or unpaid [S1]. The exception is narrow. Work experience does not count if it is a mandatory part of your course and was specified as a course requirement in the course's registration on CRICOS, the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students [S1].

Home Affairs gives two examples [S1]:

1. A pharmacy student doing a mandatory four-week block of on-the-job training, documented in the registered course structure, has unlimited work rights for that placement.
2. A cookery student who does 75 hours a fortnight of work experience during the school holidays has not breached the condition, because the course was not in session.

Any placement that is not a mandatory course requirement, or any hours beyond the period the course registration requires, count toward your 48 hours [S1].

Paid or unpaid?

This is a workplace law question, separate from the visa. Under the Fair Work Act, a student placement can lawfully be unpaid if it is a required part of the course or of a subject, whether that subject is compulsory or an elective, and the course is offered by an authorised institution such as a university [S6]. An unpaid "internship" that is not required by your course, for example one you take after finishing your degree, is not a vocational placement and may in fact be employment that must be paid [S6]. TEQSA expects university WIL arrangements to be consistent with Fair Work guidance [S3].

Notice how the two rules interact. An elective placement subject can be lawfully unpaid under Fair Work [S6] and still count toward your visa work limit if it is not a mandatory, CRICOS-registered requirement [S1].

Questions to ask before you accept an offer

1. Does the course include a placement, internship unit or industry project? Is it compulsory or elective, when does it happen, and how long is it?
2. Is the work component part of the course's CRICOS registration? The CRICOS course search includes a "Work Component" option [S8], but ask the university to confirm in writing for your course.
3. Who finds the placement: the university or you? Even if you search yourself, the university remains accountable for the experience [S3].
4. Could the placement be interstate or overseas? TEQSA's definition allows both [S3].
5. What must you complete before the placement starts, and what does the careers service offer?

If you are still choosing a course, you can shortlist options in our program finder at placement.academics.solutions, then check each course's placement details on the university's own course page.

If you are a Kuwaiti scholarship student

Kuwait's recognition rules require diploma and first-degree study to be full time, with full residence in the country of study [S9]. If a course offers a placement outside Australia during semester, ask the Kuwait Cultural Office in writing before you agree to it.

The Ministry of Higher Education's scholarship regulation (Decision 197 of 2025) covers optional practical training after graduation in Article 20. In our reading of the scanned Arabic text, it requires a cumulative GPA of at least 3.00 (or equivalent) and is limited to one year [S10]. We have not found a published MoHE rule on internships during the degree itself, so ask KCO before you commit to one.

If your course has no placement

You can still build experience. Study Australia suggests contacting your university's careers service, approaching organisations in your industry directly, and checking specialist internship providers [S5]. RMIT adds company websites, LinkedIn and industry networking events [S7].

Plan the hours carefully. Unless the work is a mandatory, registered part of your course, it counts toward your 48 hours a fortnight during semester, alongside any part-time job [S1]. The long breaks between semesters, when your course is not in session, are often the easiest time for a full-time internship.