Noor(22)

After my bachelor's in computer science at Utrecht University I hesitated: master's in the Netherlands or abroad? Australia won. The University of Melbourne offers a Master of Information Technology that's globally recognized, and the student visa (Subclass 500) gives you the right to work 48 hours per fortnight during semester and full-time during breaks.

The costs aren't small: AUD 48,000 per year tuition for international students, plus living costs of at least AUD 24,500 per year (that's the Immigration requirement for your visa application). I financed it partly with savings, partly with a loan from my parents. Dutch student finance doesn't work in Australia — DUO only pays within the EU.

Student life in Melbourne is fantastic. The university is in Parkville, a green suburb with Victorian houses and cafés. I live in a share house with three other international students — a Korean, a Brazilian and an Indian — in Carlton. My share of the rent: AUD 280 per week. It's multicultural, stimulating and far from the Dutch bubble.

Part-time work I found via Seek and Indeed — two Australian job boards. I work as a junior developer at a startup in Richmond, twenty hours per week. It pays AUD 40 per hour, giving me AUD 800 per week — enough to cover my living costs. The work experience is at least as valuable as the income: Australian employers value students who work and study.

After my master's I got the Subclass 485 Post-Study Work visa — that gives you two to four years of work rights in Australia after completing an Australian qualification. With a master's in IT you get three years. That's enough time to gain work experience and find an employer who'll sponsor you for a 482 or 189 visa.

My advice to Dutch students: seriously consider Australia. Yes, it's more expensive than studying in the Netherlands. But you get an internationally recognized degree, work experience in an English-speaking country, an enormous network and a pathway to permanent migration. The investment pays off — my starting salary as a junior developer is AUD 80,000, three times what I'd earn in Utrecht.