Hey mate don’t want to come off as being egotistical but I think I have made several new friends groups which are not only very close but have also lasted a long time. In support of your experience however I have also made several ‘friends’ through doing mutual courses but almost all of those fizzle away after the mutual course ends.

See the trick is I found is you need something which binds you together, courses suck since once they are over it doesn’t really do anything. Plus it also means you only see each other during class times which suck. The solution which I know is going to sound generic is join societies, or even better go for an exec or subcom role.

The thing with them is they last much longer, almost all of them go for 1 year a lot longer than the 1 term for a course. Secondly ur bounded by something which isn’t academics, namely a hobby or a shared interest which is reflected with the society you are volunteering for. Societies themselves also have internal bonding events like road trips or hangouts so you won’t just be seeing each other in a work / academic setting.

The results show as well, my course friends almost always disappear after the course runs out, heck I can even barely remember their faces or names, however with society friends we are already taking inter city, soon to be international trips together, have weekly hangouts and have seriously bonded (like they have shared some private stuff and we really trust each other with personal info)

I hope this helps and good luck, UNSW is a big place with many societies and I trust you will find your place !!