Apply for an undergraduate overseas exchange

As a CBE undergraduate, you can apply to study at a partner institution as an exchange student and have credit awarded towards your CBE degree.

While on exchange, you must enrol in a full-time study load (24 units)* and only enrol in courses which will count towards your degree. We strongly recommend you plan on completing all of the compulsory courses at the ANU and use elective, List 1 or List 2 courses for exchange. If you are in a situation in which you cannot find acceptable course(s) for inclusion in your CBE degree, you will not be able to go on exchange even if you have an offer for a place at the partner institution.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for exchange, you will:

  • have successfully completed at least 48 units (one full year of study) at the ANU by the time you go on exchange and;
  • have at least 24 units remaining on your degree to be utilised for exchange*

*Unless you will be in your final semester of your ANU degree (and still have 18 units to complete) or you are registered with ANU Access and Inclusion and have official documentation from there that recommends or confirms a reduced load due to your personal circumstances.

1: Select Partner Institutions

Two semesters before exchange:

2: Fill in the Online Application and Forms

Two semesters before exchange: 

  • Start your online application via the ANU Global Programs System. In your application you will need to update your Global Programs System Profile, complete the Room Available in Degree (RAID) questionnaire for each college you are seeking credit from, and your Exchange Partner Preference questionnaire. 
  • Make sure to complete all sections on the online application, this includes uploading required forms, reading required tasks, writing a statement of purpose and filling in all questionnaires. Incomplete applications will not be considered. 

Should you have any questions regarding how exchange fits into your CBE degree, please email CBE Student Services on info.cbe@anu.edu.au. For more information on the application process, refer to ANU Global Programs Student Exchange Program.

3: Get Credit Approval from CBE

If you are successful in your application, you will be officially nominated to a partner institution.

You must then submit a detailed course outline for each of your exchange courses to CBE Student Services for credit assessment prior to undertaking exchange. It is the student’s responsibility to find detailed course outlines. Without pre-approval from CBE Student Services, credit will not be awarded.

If you are not able to enrol in the approved courses due to circumstances beyond your control after you go on exchange, you must immediately contact CBE Student Services to seek approval for your new course(s).

Course outlines must be in English and include:

  1. detailed course description
  2. detailed list of topics covered
  3. prescribed textbook and other required reading
  4. prerequisites including the outlines or descriptions of those prerequisite courses.
  5. contact hours
  6. assessment tasks and weighting

In your email with the detailed course outlines you need to list courses you want to complete on exchange next to the ANU course you wish to receive credit for. If you are wishing to receive a generic elective, list 1 or list 2, this is all you need to include next to each exchange course.

Example of format:

Course name at Exchange Uni Course Value at Exchange Uni Course Credit at ANU
International Marketing 3 BUSI3024
international Economic Environment 3 List 1 elective
The Business of Sports 3 out of college elective

How credit is articulated: There are three ways for credit to be articulated in your program from courses studied while on exchange.

ANU-wide free electives (i.e. out of college electives)
  • Counts as elective credit in your program.
  • Will appear on your transcript as CBEA1901 or CBEA3901 (Unspecified non college generic elective first year or later year).
  • Students who are in a flexible double degree with only one component within CBE have no out of college electives in their program therefore this is not an option.

CBE List 1 courses
  • Counts as college specific elective credit in your program (CBE List 1).
  • This is for courses where the content is related to CBE however the course is not a compulsory specified course in your degree or in a major or minor you are attempting.
  • Will appear on your transcript as CBEA1900 or CBEA3900 (Unspecified CBE List 1 elective first year or later year).

Specified course credit – can only be given towards compulsory courses
  • Course is approved and counts as a specific ANU course.
  • This can only be used where the specified course is a compulsory course in your degree, a major or a minor. For example, a student completes a course overseas called “Marketing on the Internet”.
  • With convenor approval, and dependent on the course having an equivalent credit load as one course at the ANU, the course may count as the ANU course “MKTG2032 – E-Marketing”.
  • Please note the content must be at least 85% similar to the ANU version of the course to be eligible for specified credit.

4: Check your enrolment while away on exchange

While you are away, you must have an active enrolment for that semester on your ISIS account. You cannot enrol in this yourself as it must be done via an application to CBE.

You need to submit an application for enrolment change form to enrol in the CBE Exchange course (CBEA5920) at the ANU while you are on exchange. If you are a single CBE degree student, you will have to enrol in 24 units for CBEA5920. If you are a double degree student with another College, your total unit load for exchange has to be 24 units for the duration of the semester. In your application please specify how many units (6, 12, 18, or 24 units) you wish to allocate towards the CBE component of your Flexible Double Degree. You will be enrolled in the nominated units under course code CBEA5920.

5: Returning to ANU after your exchange

Upon successful completion of exchange, CBE Student Services will have the agreed credit posted in your CBE degree once an official transcript from your exchange institution is provided by ANU Global Programs. Credit that appears on your record will not include the grade you achieve at the exchange institution.

Please Note: Exchange semester as the last semester before you graduate

If you go on exchange in your final semester of your CBE degree, please keep in mind that you may not be approved to graduate in time for the semester graduation ceremony as the agreed credit cannot be posted until an official transcript from your exchange institution is provided. If the transcript is received after the release of results for the semester, you will not be able to attend the graduation ceremony.