TAFE NSW Admission Requirements

This guide is for Nepali students applying to TAFE NSW in New South Wales. It covers the acceptance rate, the grades and English scores you need, the documents to prepare in Nepal and each step from application to student visa. For campuses, fees and scholarships, see our TAFE NSW profile, and for courses and intakes, our TAFE NSW courses guide. The wider picture is in our guide to studying in Australia from Nepal.

What is TAFE NSW’s acceptance rate?

TAFE NSW doesn’t publish an acceptance rate. Percentages quoted on other websites are outside estimates, not official numbers.

What decides an offer is meeting your course’s academic and English requirements. TAFE NSW also assesses you against the Genuine Student requirement before it issues an offer. A college offer doesn’t mean a visa, so read the visa note at the end of the steps below.

What grades do you need from Nepal?

TAFE NSW asks for an NEB GPA of 2.21 for vocational courses or 2.61 for higher education courses, or a CTEVT PCL or diploma with 65% or 70%.

The rule is in TAFE NSW’s academic requirements by country. Courses that only ask for Year 10 need Secondary Education Examination results with a GPA of 2.21. Your course can still add its own conditions, so read its page. Examples from TAFE NSW’s course pages:

• Diploma of Hospitality Management: Year 12 or equivalent. You must be 18 for units that involve serving alcohol.
• Certificate III in Commercial Cookery: Year 10 or equivalent.
• Bachelor of Information Technology (Cyber and Network Security): Year 12 with a pass in Mathematics, a questionnaire, a statement of purpose and an online interview.
• Diploma of Business (BSB50120): a Certificate IV in Business or in Marketing and Communication first.
• Diploma of Nursing: Year 12 or equivalent, plus a numeracy skills assessment.

To see where your +2 grades stand, convert your NEB GPA to a percentage with our NEB GPA calculator. If your marks are lower or you have a gap, read about the GPA required to study in Australia and the study gap accepted in Australia.

What English scores does TAFE NSW accept?

Most certificates and diplomas ask for IELTS Academic 6.0 with no band under 5.5, bachelor’s degrees ask for 6.5, and the Diploma of Nursing asks for 7.0.

TAFE NSW also accepts tests such as CELPIP, LanguageCert, MET and OET, all set out on its English requirements page. It doesn’t accept tests taken at home, and it only takes the TOEFL iBT Australia version. The Nursing row applies to recent tests, so check the page if your test is older. The student visa has its own minimum: IELTS 6.0, PTE Academic 47 or TOEFL iBT 67.

If your score falls short, TAFE NSW’s English courses run at Ultimo, Newcastle, Wollongong and Kingscliff. Its General English Program leads to the 6.0 level and English for Academic Purposes leads to 6.5. To compare scores, see our guide to the minimum IELTS and PTE for Australia.

Which documents do you need from Nepal?

You send certified copies of your passport, your academic transcripts or certificates and your English test result, with TAFE NSW’s application form online or by email.

• Certified copies of your academic transcripts or certificates, such as your NEB marksheet. Our guide explains how to get transcripts in Nepal from NEB, TU and other boards.
• A portfolio, essay or questionnaire if your course asks for one. Design, fashion and some IT courses do, as listed under additional entry requirements.
• Your IELTS, PTE or TOEFL score report, still valid on your course start date.
• A certified copy of a valid passport. If you don’t have one yet, see getting a Nepali passport for study abroad.

Documents not in English need a certified English translation. Certification can come from the office that issued the document, a government official, a public notary or a justice of the peace. Nepali certificates and bank documents often carry Bikram Sambat dates; our Nepali date converter helps you match them to the A.D. dates on your forms.

How do you apply to TAFE NSW, step by step?

You apply online, by email or through an education agent, then pay after your offer, get your CoE and apply for the visa.

1. Choose your course on TAFE NSW’s course finder and read its entry requirements.
2. Apply. TAFE NSW’s steps to apply say you must use its education agent if you need to show financial capacity evidence or want a university pathway. Check the Home Affairs checklist tool first. Otherwise apply online or by email; the registration fee is AUD 100.
3. Get your offer. TAFE NSW checks the course requirements and the Genuine Student requirement. You may get a conditional offer first, then an unconditional offer with a fee invoice. Our Genuine Student guide explains what you need to show.
4. Accept and pay. Sign the acceptance form and pay the invoice, usually one semester’s fees. To send tuition from a Nepali bank you need a No Objection Certificate (NOC); see how to apply for an NOC in Nepal.
5. Get your CoE and OSHC. TAFE NSW issues your Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE), and you need OSHC health cover for your whole stay. TAFE NSW can arrange cover through Medibank, or you can choose another provider.
6. Apply for your student visa (subclass 500) with your CoE, OSHC, funds and English result. The fee starts from AUD 2,500. See the Home Affairs student visa page, our SOP guide for an Australia student visa and the financial documents guide.

VET student visa applications from Nepal face tough assessment, and recent Home Affairs data shows very few VET visas granted to applicants from Nepal. Read our Australia visa success rate from Nepal page before you pay. A +2 graduate choosing a diploma must explain why it fits their study and career plan under Genuine Student.

Our how to apply for an Australia student visa page gives the full timeline, and our branches in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Chitwan, Itahari and Pokhara can check your file.