Students of Sydney University, Australia (Archive photo: AFP/VNA)

The announcement was publicized on Friday after gaining approval from the Australian federal government for the plan submitted in June.

In the first phase of the pilot program, 500 international students will be allowed to arrive in New South Wales on service flights at their own expense and will undergo a 14-day quarantine at purpose-built student accommodation facilities in Sydney.

The first students will be from Singapore, Hong Kong (China), Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, and the US.

They must comply with the requirement to have been fully inoculated with two doses of COVID-19 vaccine which is approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). The vaccines approved for use are Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Moderna.

Eight universities and several educational training centers in New South Wales will participate in the pilot program, including Macquarie University, University of Sydney, and University of Wollongong.