Studying Aged Care in Melbourne as an International Student

Published: 26 October 2026 | Clinton Institute (RTO 41597, CRICOS Provider: 03540C) | Melbourne campus: Level 9, 313 La Trobe Street

Clinton Institute is a CRICOS-registered training organisation (RTO 41597, CRICOS provider 03540C) on Level 9, 313 La Trobe Street in central Melbourne. Our aged care qualifications for international students include a 120-hour work placement arranged for you with Arcare, Opal Healthcare and Benetas — you do not source your own placement.

There is a version of studying aged care in Melbourne as an international student that is entirely about paperwork, and there is a version that is about the job at the end of it. Both are real, and the honest thing is to cover both — because the paperwork determines whether you can get to the job, and the job is the whole reason you came.

This page covers what you actually study, what the course costs you in time, where your placement happens, how the Melbourne practicalities work, and — clearly separated — the immigration questions, which are not ours to answer. If you are still deciding between care and hospitality, our aged care course overview for Melbourne compares the qualifications, and the fast-track aged care course page explains the compressed schedule.

Your CRICOS-Registered Options

Clinton Institute holds CRICOS provider code 03540C and RTO registration 41597. That means the qualifications below are registered on the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and can be offered to students on Australian student visas.

Each of the aged care courses includes 120 hours of arranged work placement. Full detail on each is on the CHC33021, CHC43015 and CHC52025 course pages, and the SIT30821 Certificate III in Commercial Cookery page covers the hospitality route. Current intakes and fees are published on the intakes and prices page — the next CHC33021 intake is 9 November 2026.

Your Work Placement Is Arranged — This Is the Part That Matters Most

For an international student, the 120-hour placement does something that is hard to replicate elsewhere: it puts an Australian employer on your record before you have applied for a single job.

Placement is arranged by Clinton Institute with Arcare, Opal Healthcare and Benetas, three of Melbourne's largest aged care operators. You submit your availability and location preferences, Clinton matches you to a facility and confirms it with the facility's student coordinator, and you receive a placement confirmation letter with the facility details, start date and shift times. Pre-placement paperwork and orientation come from Clinton.

During the placement you work alongside qualified personal care workers and registered nurses on real care tasks — personal care, mobility assistance, meal and fluid support, medication assistance under nurse supervision, documentation and incident reporting, and infection control practice. A designated student coordinator at the facility briefs you on arrival, and a Clinton trainer or assessor visits the site to review your logbook and assess you on the job.

Full detail on the arrangement sequence and the checks you need is on our aged care work placement process page, with the longer version on the placement blog guide. If you are nervous about the first shift, read the first placement day guide before you start.

Work Rights and Visa Conditions — Read This Carefully

This section is deliberately short, because it is not ours to write.

Clinton Institute does not give immigration advice. We are a training provider, not a migration agent. The rules about who can work, how many hours they can work, what study load they must maintain, whether a course counts toward a visa extension, and what post-study work arrangements apply are set by the Australian Government and published by the Department of Home Affairs as conditions attached to each visa subclass.

Those conditions can change, they differ between visa subclasses, and they are specific to your individual circumstances. So: check your own visa conditions with the Department of Home Affairs directly, or with a MARA-registered migration agent, before you enrol and before you plan your work around the course. If you see a figure quoted anywhere — a number of permitted hours, a period of work after study — treat it as a starting point for a conversation with Home Affairs, not as an entitlement. Confirm it yourself.

What we can tell you without qualification: CHC33021, CHC43015 and CHC52025 are nationally recognised Australian Qualifications Framework qualifications registered on CRICOS, they are delivered by an ASQA-registered RTO, and they include a supervised 120-hour placement in a regulated aged care setting. That is a genuine, portable, employment-relevant qualification. It is the asset. The immigration pathway is a separate question, handled by different people, and we will not pretend otherwise — no training provider can promise you a visa outcome, and any that does is misleading you. If that matters to you, see our student visa changes overview for recent announcements, understood as a summary and not as advice.

Living in Melbourne: The Practical Part

Melbourne is a good city to study in and an expensive one to live in. These are the things students find out the hard way, so we will tell you now.

Accommodation

The main options are shared accommodation (a room in a shared house or apartment), a homestay with a local family, a purpose-built student apartment, or a rental in your own name. Shared accommodation and student apartments are the cheapest per week; a homestay generally includes meals and can be a useful bridge if you are arriving alone and do not know the city yet. Rent and utilities vary substantially by suburb — the difference between an inner suburb and an outer corridor is significant, and transport time is the real cost of living far out. Our live in Melbourne guide covers the setup side, and the student orientation page is where the practical details live.

Transport

Melbourne's public transport is run by Transport for Melbourne — trains, trams and buses — and Melbourne's tram network is the largest in the world. Most students use a Myki card, which caps daily travel within zones, so the practical advice is to get a Myki and use it. The campus is on La Trobe Street in central Melbourne, which is a short walk from major transport interchanges including Flagstaff, Melbourne Central and Southern Cross — and placement days across Melbourne are reachable by tram and train. Plan for roughly 30 to 45 minutes each way to most placement sites. Budget transport in your cost calculation; it is cheaper than a car and you do not need one.

Support and services

International students at Clinton Institute have access to student orientation, ongoing student support services, the online library and the student portal, English language support for workplace communication, and a fast-track schedule with placement running alongside theory rather than bolted on the end. Details are on the student support page. Course policies and forms are published under policy and forms, and the about Clinton Institute page has general information.

If you are moving between providers

If you are already studying in Australia and want to move a course, our transfer guide explains how course transfers work, and our education agent page covers working through a registered agent. Whatever route you take, confirm the visa-side consequences with Home Affairs or a MARA-registered agent, not with a training provider.

How to Apply

1. Choose your qualification and check the intake calendar on the intakes and prices page.
2. Start your checks early — a national police check and, where relevant, a working with children check take time to process, and both are needed before a placement can begin.
3. Apply online via the apply to study page, or email admission@clinton.edu.au. You can also apply through an education agent.
4. Get your visa questions answered properly — by the Department of Home Affairs or a MARA-registered migration agent.
5. Ask us the questions only we can answer — placement timing, course structure, fees, intakes, campus location. The contact page has our phone, email and address: Level 9, 313 La Trobe Street, Melbourne VIC 3000, phone +61 3 8394 2064.

Frequently Asked Questions

General information only. Clinton Institute is an Australian Registered Training Organisation (RTO 41597) and CRICOS provider (03540C) and does not provide immigration, legal or financial advice. Work rights, study load conditions, visa extension criteria and post-study work rights are set by the Australian Government — check your own visa conditions with the Department of Home Affairs or a MARA-registered migration agent. Course duration, intake dates and fees are subject to change; confirm current details with admissions before enrolling. Course codes CHC33021 (CRICOS 115261A), CHC43015 (CRICOS 115262M) and CHC52025 (CRICOS 115263K) are nationally recognised Australian Qualifications Framework qualifications.