We’re excited to share that UNSW Sydney is ranked #20 globally and #2 in Australia in the 2026 QS World University Rankings, maintaining our place among the top 20 universities in the world for the third consecutive year. This recognition reflects our continued impact on the world stage across research and discovery, employability and graduate outcomes, learning experience, global engagement and sustainability.
As a global top 20 university, we take pride in attracting the best and brightest students from across the world. Today, we are sharing our 2026 International Admissions process and schedule with you, including a new admissions process for high demand programs, that will allow the University to provide more certainty to agent partners and applicants.
2026 Offer round schedule - General rounds
UNSW will issue offers for most programs weekly to international applicants. Offers for postgraduate and undergraduate cohorts will be released on alternate weeks. Application deadlines remain four weeks ahead of scheduled offer releases, however where there is capacity to do so, Admissions may release offers in earlier rounds. A full calendar of this schedule, including application deadlines, can be found on our 2026 International Admissions page.
Offer expiry processes for full and conditional offers remain in place.
NEW: 2026 Grouped offer rounds - High demand programs
To maintain applicant equity and improve access for high quality students, UNSW will be implementing a new grouped offer round process for our most in-demand programs. In 2026, this will apply to applicants for the Bachelor of Exercise Science/Master of Physiotherapy and Exercise Physiology, Bachelor of Commerce, Master of Laws, Master of Information Technology and associated programs. Grouped offer rounds will rank all applicants within a specific application period and offers will be issued to top performing students based on academic merit within each round. There will be three grouped rounds per intake, with the number of offers released in each round reflective of program capacity.
To be eligible for consideration in a grouped offer round, applicants must meet the minimum entry requirements for the program as listed on our Degree Finder. Note that these requirements are a guide only and do not guarantee an offer will be made. Upon assessment within each offer round, applicants will fall into one of three categories:
1
The top percentile of applicants within each grouped offer round will receive an offer of study.
2
The next best percentile within each grouped offer round will be deferred for consideration in the next available round for that intake, if there is one available.
3
Applicants deemed to score outside of the top and next best percentiles may receive an offer for any alternative program preference that they have included in their UNSW application (if eligible) or notification of an unsuccessful application, allowing clarity in their decision-making process.
At this stage we cannot provide estimated grouped offer round admissions cut-offs as these will be based on the quality of applicants within each offer round. However, the lowest academic rank to receive an offer for each term will be published on the relevant degree page once all grouped rounds for Term 1, 2026 have been completed.
It is important to note that UNSW reserves the right to make ad-hoc offers to exceptional applicants outside of the grouped offer rounds. We will also continue to make offers via UAC for relevant students, with entry ranks reflecting grouped offer round cut-offs.
Join us at our 2026 International Admissions Webinar
This exciting new process is a change to the way we have traditionally assessed UNSW applicants. We are hosting a webinar on Thursday, 10 July with further details on the 2026 admissions process and grouped offer rounds to coincide with our first grouped round offer release for Term 1, 2026. We encourage you to attend and to pre-submit any questions in your registration below.