@CJ2021 said:
Hello good day! Need advice lang po on my student path in AU, planning to take masters in UTS under professional engineering - civil engineering. Yun po kase na-suggest ng agent ko, meron na akong 4years experience here in PH as draftsman, now I'm considering to take nalang advance diploma since mas mura yung tuition, advisable po ba siya? Btw, I'm 30yrs old right now and planning na isama wife ko as dependent.
It depends on what you are trying to achieve in Australia. Have you had your PH qualifications assessed with EA yet? Which occupation are you planning to nominate?
If you have a bachelor's degree in engineering and you're planning to take advanced diploma, you have to justify on your GTE how the advanced diploma will benefit you in the long term. The advanced diploma is at a lower level than a bachelor degree on the AQF, and the occupation you can typically nominate after completing this adv diploma might only be at engineering technologist, associate, or draftsperson level. If you are nominating a professional engineering occupation (not just draftsperson) for migration, a bachelor's or higher degree is the minimum qualification.
Generally to address the GTE for the student pathway, you need to show why studying in Australia is better than studying in your home country. If the advanced diploma contains specialist subjects not taught in the bachelor degree, that can be a way to justify why you're pursuing that instead of a master's degree. However, doing a master's degree is usually recommended as a "safer and easier" pathway because it's clearly a step up from a bachelor's degree, showing a progression in your studies.
I have no idea about the networks/connections of schools offering advanced diploma, but from my experience, universities with accedited engineering degrees usually have excellent connections with industry (like presence in on-campus job fairs, campus events, clubs/societies), which can give you that "foot through the door." Occasionally, there may also be lecturers at uni who are working full-time at engineering firms, so you can actually gain good contacts and insights about what it's like to work in industry. Getting a job in Australia can be quite difficult if you don't know anyone from industry. It's not about what you know (or what you studied), but it's about who you know.
