University of Notre Dame Australia vs Curtin University: Which Is Right for You in 2027?
University of Notre Dame Australia vs Curtin University: Which Is Right for You in 2027?
Introduction
If you're in WA and weighing up the University of Notre Dame Australia against Curtin University, you're choosing between two very different unis. Notre Dame is a small Catholic uni in Fremantle's heritage West End, with about 13,000 students across WA and Sydney. Curtin is a big uni with technology roots, and its Bentley campus alone had more than 44,000 students in 2025.
The short version
- Lean Notre Dame if you want a small uni in a walkable port town, a short walk from Fremantle station.
- Lean Curtin if you want the big-campus experience: 100+ clubs, a stadium and on-campus housing.
- Lean Notre Dame if you want more than your ATAR to count: your answers about why you want to study there can add up to 5 points.
- Lean Curtin if you want an early offer without extra paperwork: put a Curtin course first on TISC and your Year 11 results do the work (places are limited).
- Lean Curtin if you want to start medicine straight after Year 12; Notre Dame's is graduate entry.
1. Overview and Reputation
These two sit at opposite ends on size. Notre Dame is small, Catholic and spread across Fremantle, Sydney and Broome, with Fremantle as its WA home. Curtin has nearly 67,000 students, teaches most of its courses on one large campus at Bentley, and has a much higher world ranking. Pick the scale you'll do your best work in.
Notre Dame was set up by an Act of the WA Parliament in 1989 and took its first students in Fremantle in 1992. It's a private Catholic university that describes itself as Australia's first with the Catholic intellectual tradition at its core.
It's small: 13,204 students in 2025, across Fremantle, Sydney and Broome. In WA, Fremantle is the one that matters, teaching everything from education and law to nursing, medicine and physiotherapy. It sits in the 1201 to 1400 band in QS 2027. For you: a small, values-based uni focused on the professions.
Curtin became a university in 1987, growing out of the Western Australian Institute of Technology, and it's a member of the Australian Technology Network (ATN).
It's big: 66,893 students across all campuses in 2025, with 44,141 at Curtin Perth, the 116-hectare main campus in Bentley, about 6 km south-east of the Perth CBD. Law is taught at its CBD campus, and the WA School of Mines at Kalgoorlie. Curtin came 189th in QS 2027 (12th in Australia). For you: a big, busy campus where most of your degree happens in one place.
QS World University Rankings 2027: 1201 to 1400 band (equal 36th in Australia)
Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2027: 801 to 1000 band (37th in Australia)
Student experience: 69.6% of undergraduates rate their overall educational experience positively (national average 76.5%)
Graduate employment: 85.5% of undergraduate graduates looking for full-time work had found it (national average 76.2%)
Graduate median salary: $72,000 for undergraduate graduates in full-time work (national average $74,000)
QS World University Rankings 2027: 189th (12th in Australia)
Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2027: equal 292nd (18th in Australia)
Student experience: 73.9% of undergraduates rate their overall educational experience positively (national average 76.5%)
Graduate employment: 80.9% of undergraduate graduates looking for full-time work had found it (national average 76.2%)
Graduate median salary: $76,900 for undergraduate graduates in full-time work (national average $74,000)
2. Academic Focus and Teaching Style
Both teach on a two-semester calendar; the difference is what's built in. At Notre Dame, every undergraduate takes the Core Curriculum's philosophy and theology. At Curtin, the thread is industry work, from 480 hours of engineering experience to the Sustainability Challenge. If you want philosophy and the big questions in your degree, Notre Dame delivers. If you want lots of industry time, or medicine from Year 12, Curtin does.
Notre Dame runs on two semesters. What makes it different is the Core Curriculum: every undergraduate takes CORE1000 Foundations of Wisdom, an introduction to philosophy and theology, plus one core elective (more philosophy or theology, a professional elective, community service or an international experience).
Whatever your beliefs, go in knowing it's part of every degree. Beyond the core, most of Notre Dame's schools lead to a profession: education, health sciences, law and business, medicine, nursing and midwifery.
Suits you if you want a small uni with a values-based core and a people-focused profession such as teaching, nursing or law.
Curtin also runs on two semesters. Rather than a common core, its thread is work-integrated learning, meaning real industry work built into your degree. Engineering students need 480 hours of industry experience, and the Sustainability Challenge is an industry-partnered unit between semesters.
Curtin also teaches a five-year undergraduate Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery at Curtin Perth, so you can start medicine straight from school.
Suits you if you want medicine from Year 12, like learning through industry projects, or are drawn to engineering, mining or another technical field.
3. Research and Global Impact
University of Notre Dame Australia
Notre Dame's research shows up in Broome, home of the Nulungu Research Institute, and in medicine: its School of Medicine runs seven clinical schools. The Doctor of Medicine is graduate entry, and Notre Dame's 2025 annual report says it received 10 extra Commonwealth supported places for it, the only WA uni to get extra places.
Curtin University
Curtin has research institutes such as the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy and the Curtin Institute for Energy Transition, and the WA School of Mines at Kalgoorlie for mining students. Ask at Open Day how undergraduates join a project.
4. Campus Life and Student Experience
A day in the life at...
University of Notre Dame Australia
Curtin University
University of Notre Dame Australia
Rely on trains? Fremantle is the easier campus by rail: a short walk from Fremantle station, about 30 minutes to Perth, and parking is limited.
- On campus: heritage West End buildings, a library, a 24-hour study centre and a moot court opened in 2025.
- Clubs: 15 at Fremantle through the Notre Dame Student Association, from the Law Student Society to the Performing Arts Association.
Our honest take: the campus is part of the town rather than a world of its own, which suits students who like a small, close community.
Curtin University
No train station, but Curtin Central Bus Station is on campus, and curtinlink is a free on-demand minibus around it.
- Clubs: the Curtin Student Guild supports more than 100, with sports clubs through Curtin Stadium.
- The campus: a mix of 1960s and modern buildings across 116 hectares.
Our honest take: Curtin feels like a small town of its own, where you can spend whole days without leaving.
5. Student Support and Wellbeing
On QILT's student survey, 69.6 per cent of Notre Dame undergraduates and 73.9 per cent of Curtin's rated their overall experience positively, both below the national average of 76.5 per cent. The support exists at both, so use it early.
University of Notre Dame Australia
Free, confidential counselling. Access and Inclusion arranges disability support, and Study Support advisers help with writing and maths. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students have Manjaree, a meeting place at Fremantle, and free tutoring.
Curtin University
Free short-term counselling, up to 10 appointments a year. AccessAbility Services sets up adjustments, and UniPASS runs group study sessions for tough units. The Centre for Aboriginal Studies offers ITAS tutoring and counselling with an on-site Aboriginal psychologist.
6. Employability and Industry Connections
Notre Dame edges it on jobs, Curtin on pay. On QILT graduate data via ComparED, 85.5 per cent of Notre Dame's graduates looking for full-time work had found it, and 80.9 per cent of Curtin's (national 76.2 per cent). Median salaries were $72,000 and $76,900. Outcomes vary a lot by course, so ask about yours.
University of Notre Dame Australia
Careers support runs from first year until 18 months after you graduate. Placements are built in: Nursing lists 1,040 clinical hours and Primary Education about 30 weeks in schools. Law has no compulsory placement but offers a Legal Clinic. No job is promised.
Curtin University
Curtin Careers offers a resume clinic, the UniHub job portal and an Industry Mentoring Program. Named opportunities include the John Curtin Law Clinic and CCIWA internships. No internship is promised.
Watch our unbiased, independent reviews for University of Notre Dame Australia and Curtin University
7. Cost, Entry and Lifestyle
Getting in
WA Year 12s apply to both through TISC. Your selection rank is your ATAR plus adjustment factors (bonus points for things like where you live or what you've been through).
Notre Dame also takes direct applications, and everyone answers three Individual Factors questions (why Notre Dame, why this degree, how you contribute to your community).
- Early offer: the Young Achievers Early Offer Program uses Year 11 and mid-year Year 12 reports plus those answers. Earlier rounds were 1 September, 17 September and 1 October; applications close 30 November (no year printed, but it appears to be for 2027 entry).
- Bonus points: up to 10 in total, including the Future You Pathway (10 points plus $1,000 if your school's ICSEA, a measure of educational advantage, is 1000 or lower).
- Scores: no guaranteed ATAR. Indicative ranks (no year given) are 70 for Nursing and 80 for Laws in WA.
- Nursing heads up: the Nursing page says Semester 1 2027 applications have closed, apparently at both campuses; confirm with Notre Dame.
Curtin
- Early offer: automatic if a Curtin course is your first TISC preference, using your predicted ATAR from Year 11. Rounds are 5 October and 2 December 2026.
- Scores: Curtin publishes a guaranteed ATAR for each course. Lowest selection ranks for its latest intake (year not stated) were 67.45 for Nursing and 81.80 for Laws.
What it costs
In a Commonwealth supported place (CSP) the maximum student contribution is the same at both. In 2026 it was $4,738 a year for nursing and education, $9,537 for allied health and engineering, and $17,399 for law and business; HECS-HELP lets you defer it. Notre Dame is private, but most of its domestic places are CSPs.
- Notre Dame: more than 20 scholarships worth up to $20,000; the main round usually closes December to February, so check with the uni for 2027.
- Curtin: the Excellence Scholarship pays $5,000 (ATAR 96 to 97.99) or $15,000 over up to three years (98+) with Curtin as first preference, and closes 20 December 2026.
Where you'll live
- Notre Dame: Port Lodge in Fremantle has 25 beds and was full for Semester 1 2026; no price is listed.
- Curtin: six on-campus options; for prices Curtin sends you to UniLodge, whose Vickery House page lists rooms in shared apartments from $261 a week and whose Twin Dolphin Hall page lists studios from $500 a week (year not stated), with utilities, Wi-Fi and Curtin Stadium gym included.
International students: see Notre Dame and Curtin.
8. Which One’s Right for You?
You might feel at home at the University of Notre Dame Australia if you:
- want a small uni where the campus is part of the town
- like the idea of a Core Curriculum in philosophy and theology
- want your application to show more than your ATAR
- are aiming at teaching, law or physiotherapy (for nursing, check the 2027 intake first)
You might feel at home at Curtin University if you:
- want a big campus with 100+ clubs and on-campus housing
- want to start medicine straight from Year 12
- like industry projects and placements built into your degree
- are a high achiever who could use the Excellence Scholarship (closes 20 December 2026)
Neither is the better uni; they're built for different students. Compare the course page you care about at each, then walk the West End in Fremantle and across Curtin Perth. One will feel like yours.
Here to help you choose the right uni
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