Our online delivery of the CDU International College pathway programmes is fully endorsed by Charles Darwin University, and gives you the same academic and English skills as our in-class learning experience, enabling you to progress on to the university without having to delay your study plans.
Charles Darwin University CRICOS Provider Code 00300K (NT/VIC) 03286A (NSW), RTO Provider Code 0373
Already have your offer, but can’t travel? Don’t worry! You can continue to study your programme to the exact same timeframe, transitioning to Charles Darwin University as planned, (pending issue of your Certificate of Enrolment, COE). You do not need a Student Visa before commencing online study at home. However, when the border re-opens, you will need to have your Student Visa to travel to Australia and continue study on campus.
You are in good hands. UP Education in partnership with Charles Darwin University, is a leading provider of pathway programmes, and our highly experienced, qualified teachers have already been delivering online classes successfully for our February intake students.
Dr Mark Holt
Head of College
A warm welcome is guaranteed for all our international students joining us at Charles Darwin International College.
The college and staff are dedicated to ensuring the best possible study outcomes for our students and a smooth transition into undergraduate or postgraduate level programmes here at the university.
Located at the Waterfront campus, our students enjoy living and learning in a fantastic location, close to all the amenities for study and leisure activities Read more to find out about our Foundation, International Diploma and Pre-masters programmes and we look forward to welcoming you to Darwin.
Your progression to university can continue as planned
Delivered through proven purpose-designed platforms like Blackboard Ultra, Education Perfect and Microsoft 365
Extensive experience in helping international students prepare for university study
You will be fully guided just like you were in a classroom rather than being left to your own devices
Helping to ensure you stay on track.
You will be fully equipped with professional software, learning materials and online library access
Revised timetables and fun initiatives to help you adapt to at-home learning
Here at CDU IC, your wellbeing is of the utmost importance to us.
We provide three levels of care within the International College in addition to the care facilities provided by CDU.
We believe teachers have a responsibility for the well-being of the students in their class. Time is given in the weekly tutorial where you can ask for general advice from your teacher.
One of your teachers will be assigned to you as a Tutor and work with you to discuss your overall progress and discuss option choices and future study.
Our student support officer will contact you at least once a week to personally offer support and care and to discuss your learning experience, including any attendance issues.
A live, 55-minute web conferencing lecture where students interact with the teacher and the other students. The focus of the lectures is to present new material and preparation for assessments. Lectures are supported through video, sound and text material stored on Blackboard Ultra. You will receive eight of these each week (two for each unit).
We use several digital platforms to deliver our programmes online and to ensure that you have the most effective and intuitive learning experience.
Blackboard Ultra is the main state-of-the-art online platform we use and is simple, intuitive and fun.
Within the platform, you can:
Office 365 is provided so that students have extensive experience with the kind of software they will be using in their future careers.
Professional levels of collaboration, creativity and communication are facilitated through:
Our experience, so far, has been that Microsoft Teams has allowed increased interaction and language use by students because of the ability for all students to take part in lessons through screen sharing and voice or text chat.
Education Perfect is an innovative tool that is ideal for out-of-class workshops because our teachers have created step by step weekly presentations, specific to the unit, that give automatic feedback with the ability for students to record written or verbal answers.
So, Education Perfect is an effective tool for helping students practice English skills through the slides, quizzes and assessments prepared.
Staff are already comfortable with this technology because Blackboard Ultra and Education Perfect were being used to support our face to face classes.
Here is a sample timetable including the different modes of delivery:
| Period | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| 1 | Unit 1 Lecture | Unit 2 Lecture | Online workshop for Unit 2 | Online workshop for Unit 4 | |
| 2 | Unit 1 Lecture | Unit 1 Tutorial | |||
| 3 | Unit 2 Lecture | Unit 3 Lecture | |||
| 4 | Unit 3 Lecture | Unit 2 Tutorial | |||
| 5 | Unit 4 Lecture | Online workshop for Unit 3 | Unit 4 Tutorial | Unit 3 Tutorial | |
| 6 | Unit 6 Lecture | Online workshop for Unit 1 | Unit 3 Tutorial | Unit 4 Tutorial | |
| 7 | Unit 2 Tutorial | ||||
| 8 | Unit 1 Tutorial |
Note: This timetable outlines the allocated hours for online web conferencing sessions when students MUST attend – lectures and tutorials are live at set times, whereas you can choose your own time for completing each online workshop.
Students study a total of four units per semester. There are two compulsory units and two elective units in the student’s first semester. Click here for more information.
International Foundation Studies Programme
Diploma of Business Studies
Diploma of Information Technology
Master’s Qualifying Programme (Accelerated)
Master’s Preparation Programme or Master’s Qualifying Programme (Standard length)
We understand the challenges of study and we’re here to help. Following these simple guidelines and tips will help you manage your learning experience and lead to the best outcome.
The course will start on 1 March 2021.
You can use either Apple or Windows for your online studies. We have tested both and are confident that there will be minimal problems regardless of the equipment or systems that you are operating at home. Microsoft Office has video and sound capabilities, so if you don’t have a webcam, sound (microphone) will work fine.
In order to get ready for you online study, please check which version of Windows you have. You can use this link to do so.
Students study a total of four units per semester. There are two compulsory units and two elective units in the student’s first semester, please find a breakdown below:
International Foundation Studies Programme
Diploma of Business Studies
Diploma of Information Technology
Masters Qualifying Programme (Accelerated)
Masters Preparation Programme or Masters Qualifying Programme (Standard length)
Charles Darwin International Pathway College Staff have been preparing for online delivery for the past few months and are skilled and experienced in this mode of educational delivery.
11am–7pm Australia Central Standard Time (ACST).
Students should still expect 8 hours study per day. This will consist of a combination of streamed classes and independent study. You can find a sample timetable here.
If you would like to find out how the day will be structured in your timezone, please have a look at our Time zone flyers.
There should be no issue with the platforms, but alternative arrangements can be made for students who require files and assignment submission through email. In order to ensure that you are as prepared as possible, orientation we will arrange 2 individual Student Support calls with you to check that you are ready. The first call will be to check your contact details and equipment. The second call will be to ensure that you have the details that you need to enrol.
If there are any issues, please contact international@cdu.edu.au
We strongly recommend securing your visa prior to starting your course, however we understand that in some countries this is not yet possible. It is also not possible if you are aged Under 18 at the begging of your course. In these exceptional cases, as long as you have received your Confirmation of Enrolment, you can enrol into the program and commences online learning.
Note that the government have made it clear that returning students will be prioritised once borders do start to re-open, this means that you must start your course online if you can, as otherwise you will not be considered a ‘returner’, and it may take longer for you to be able to travel to Australia.
As soon as we are confident that the borders will re-open, we will work towards welcoming students to Australia. Our goal is that there will be enough time for students to obtain visas for the following semester’s intake. However, we will commit to providing online learning for as long as required while students wait for visas to be processed.
Note that the government have made it clear that returning students will be prioritised once borders do start to re-open, this means that you must start your course online if you can, as otherwise you will not be considered a ‘returner’, and it may take longer for you to be able to travel to Australia.
All students will be able to commence their learning online. If you experience difficulties with accessing the online course material, you can apply to defer you to a future intake, assuming that classes will resume face to face in Australia. Please note that changing to a future intake may mean that your whole study plan is pushed back, you must advise by the census date if you wish to withdraw and defer to a future intake. To do so, you must notify the Student Support Administrator and the Admissions team: international@cdu.edu.au
If you decide to defer your place the next study period AFTER commencement, you will incur the fees for the semester of study that you have started.
We have no reason to think that you will fall behind, as you will be studying at the same pace as your classmates in Australia. However, we will run additional tutorial classes, provide extra exam preparation and revision and we will have welfare staff available who will be dedicated to ensuring a smooth transition for you once you arrive in Australia.
We are considering acceptance of alternatives here as well, please contact our Admissions team for further information. Admissions team email: international@cdu.edu.au
Orientation will be held on Friday 25 February 2021. Before orientation we will arrange 2 individual Student Support calls with you to check that you are ready. The first call will be to check your contact details and equipment. The second call will be to ensure that you have the details that you need to enrol, and after this we will provide you with the orientation details so that you can join.
Our central LMS (Learning management system) is Blackboard Ultra.
For over 10 years, UP Education has been using Education Perfect to help our students practise their English.
Microsoft Teams is used for interactive lectures and tutorials and Education Perfect is used for workshops and formative testing (software for Microsoft Office is included in your tuition fee).
Yes, please pay the tuition fee and Overseas Student Health Cover only in order to commence your online study with us. Semester fee example here:
Semester Fee: $12,750
Annual Fee: $25,500
Total Tuition Fee: $25,500
Generally, your units are determined based on your intended degree progression at the university.
We strongly recommend that you apply for your visa before you commence your course. Visa biometrics facilities are now open in almost all countries, so you should be able to apply for your visa now. In addition, as borders re-open, we want to ensure that you are ready to travel to Australia, and having your visa will help with this.
In the case of commencement online, we require you to have been issued your Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE) – although this means that you need to prepare further in advance for your online studies, it will reduce the risk of a visa rejection. In order to ensure that you have the best chance of obtaining your visa quickly once you commence, we expect students to submit their visa application within the first week of commencement.
However, even once we have issued the CoE, it is still possible that some students may have their visas refused. Visa refusals will be considered an acceptable reason for a refund of course fees, however students must complete the refund request form and we will process such refunds based on the specific circumstances of each individual case.
All students will be able to commence their learning online. If you experience difficulties with accessing the online course material, you have some different options around deferral, depending on when you decide to do so.
A: If you choose to defer before course commencement, we will transfer your offer, CoE and any fees paid to the next available intake.
B: If you choose to defer after course commencement, you must do so before the census date (which is 4 December). We will transfer your enrolment, CoE and any fees paid to the next available intake.
C: If you choose to defer after commencement and after the census date, you can do so, but you will incur the cost of the tuition fee for the first semester of your course.
Please note that changing to a future intake may mean that your whole study plan is pushed back, you must advise by the census date if you wish to withdraw and defer to a future intake. To do so, you must notify the Student Support Administrator and the Admissions team: international@cdu.edu.au
We understand that this is new and that you may not have studied online before, but we would recommend that you try and see if it is for you so that you can stay on track for now. For now, this option is the best way to progress you to the next stage of study in Feb/March 2021. If this changes in any way, we will of course keep you updated.
The government have made it clear that returning students will be prioritised once borders do start to re-open, this means that you must start your course online if you can, as otherwise you will not be considered a ‘returner’, and it may take longer for you to be able to travel to Australia even once borders have reopened.
The scholarship you receive for November 2020 intake may be able to be carried over if you defer to Semester 1 2021. Please check with the admissions team.
Student grades and attendance are available on
Blackboard and you can discuss this with your
child/student. If academic or attendance issues
arise, you or your parents (where appropriate) will be
contacted directly.
The unit teachers will be your main source of contact
but you are welcome to contact Vivienne Holt (vivenne.holt@cdu.edu.au)
The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) in Australia has been regularly updating their website in relation to COVID-19.
If there is anything that you’d like to discuss, please contact Vivienne Holt (vivenne.holt@cdu.edu.au)
In addition to the IELTS test, we can accept various other tests, please see the information below:
CDU Course | IELTS Academic Module | IELTS Indicator | TOEFL Internet based Test (iBT) | TOEFL Internet Based Test (iBT) Special Home Edition | TOEFL Institutional Testing Programme (ITP) | Linguaskill | Duolingo |
Foundation programmes First Year Diploma in Business First Year Diploma in IT | IELTS 5.5 (no band less than 5.0) | IELTS 5.5 (no band less than 5.0) | Overall score 46 Listening 14 Reading 14 Speaking 14 Writing 21 | Overall score 46 Listening 14 Reading 14 Speaking 14 Writing 21 | Overall 460 in Listening, writing and reading plus vericant speaking interview score of 14 | B1 | Overall score of 85 |
Masters Qualifying Programme (MQP) Standard | IELTS 5.5 (no band less than 5.5) | IELTS 5.5 (no band less than 5.5) | Overall score 46 Listening 14 Reading 14 Speaking 14 Writing 21 | Overall score 46 Listening 14 Reading 14 Speaking 14 Writing 21 | Overall 543 in Listening, Writing and Reading plus vericant interview speaking score of 14 | B2 | Overall score of 90 |
Masters Preparation Programme (MPP) Masters Qualifying Programme (MQP) Accelerated | IELTS 6.0 (no band less than 5.5) | IELTS 6.0 (no band less than 5.5) | Overall score 60 Listening 18 Reading 18 Speaking 18 Writing 21 | Overall score 60 Listening 18 Reading 18 Speaking 18 Writing 21 | Overall 543 in Listening, Writing and Reading plus vericant speaking interview score of 15 | B2 | Overall score of 95 |
All enquiries to: Abbie Swapnil
Before orientation, we will introduce you to your individual support contacts who will include the teachers of your course.
Apply now – talk to your local education pathway counsellor, email our Regional Manager, or apply online here.
345 Queen St
Auckland, New Zealand
Postal address
PO Box 78-359
Grey Lynn, Auckland 1245
Level 3, West wing
Wellington Railway Station
2 Bunny St
Wellington 6011, New Zealand