Postgraduate Scholarships 2008 Conditions Booklet
(APA, MRS, MIRS, FMS, HRS, Prestigious and Other Major Scholarships)
3. Eligibility for scholarship consideration
This section outlines the eligibility requirements to be considered for a scholarship to undertake a graduate research degree. The requirements to be considered for a Fay Marles Scholarship (FMS) and Human Rights Scholarship (HRS) to undertake a postgraduate coursework program are specified in Section 15.4.
3.1 Academic requirements
To be considered for a scholarship to undertake a graduate research degree course, applicants need to meet the same academic criteria as those that apply to entry to UoM's Doctor of Philosophy course (ie. PhD). These requirements apply even if the applicant is seeking a scholarship to undertake a masters by research.
In summary, applicants need to have completed, at a high level of achievement, a tertiary course that is at least equivalent to an Australian four-year honours degree.
Tertiary courses that normally meet this minimum requirement are those that include:
- a 4-year sequence of academic study in a discipline that is relevant to the intended graduate research degree, and
- completion of a significant research component in the final year.
Examples include:
- 3-year bachelors course followed by a 1-year
- honours [e.g. BA(Hons), BCom(Hons)]
- postgraduate diploma
- masters preliminary qualification or
- masters course
- 4-year bachelor with honours course [e.g. BE(Hons), LLB(Hons)].
The full entry requirements for the PhD are provided on the School of Graduate Research (SGR's) website.Academic merit is the primary selection criterion for graduate research degree scholarships. To be considered for an APA or IPRS, First Class Honours results are required. To be considered for a MRS/MIRS or MIFRS, Second Class Honours, Division I (i.e. H2A) results are the usual minimum. Demonstrated research potential is also taken into account.
3.2 Citizenship requirements
Subject to meeting all eligibility criteria, Australian and New Zealand citizens and Australian permanent residents may be considered for the APA, MRS, FMS, HRS and the prestigious and other major scholarships. To be considered for all scholarships except the MRS, these citizenship/residency requirements must be met by the 31 October closing date.
All other applicants are regarded as international applicants. Subject to meeting the other eligibility criteria, international applicants may be considered for the fee remission scholarships (i.e. IPRS and MIFRS), MIRS and the HRS.
top of page3.3 Closing dates
To be considered for an APA, IPRS, FMS, HRS or the prestigious and other major scholarships, the application and all of the required documents must be submitted to the University by the relevant closing date. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their application and the required documents by the closing date, as late applications will only be considered for any unallocated MRSs, MIRSs, and MIFRSs that remain at the time the application is assessed.
The closing dates are specified on the MSO website (www.unimelb.edu.au/scholarships).
3.4 Course/enrolment requirements
(a) Applicants must intend to undertake a graduate research degree at the University of Melbourne. In graduate research degree courses, the research component accounts for at least 66% of the course requirements.
The table below shows arrangements for some specific courses.
| Course | Scholarship Eligibility |
|---|---|
|
MPsych/PhD/SJD |
APA and MRS/MIRS in second and subsequent year of the course |
| DEd | MRS/MIRS only |
| DMA | As this is a coursework program, students may be considered for the FMS but not the RHD scholarships (APA, MRS, MIRS, MIFRS etc.) |
(b) International students will only be considered for a scholarship if they have received an unconditional course offer for entry into a graduate research degree. Note that receipt of an unconditional course offer includes meeting the University's English language requirements.
(c) A scholarship will not be offered if the applicant has already completed a qualification at the same or higher level as the course for which a scholarship is sought. Students who have completed a research masters cannot receive a scholarship to complete another research masters, and students who have completed a research doctorate cannot receive a scholarship to complete another research doctorate.
If the student currently holds a masters by coursework they can be considered for a scholarship for masters by research studies.
(d) A scholarship that provides a living allowance (i.e. a stipend such as an APA, MRS or MIRS) will not be offered to students currently enrolled in the course for which they seek scholarship support unless there is a minimum of twelve months (full-time equivalent) candidature remaining for the completion of the course.
A stipend will also not be offered to a student who, as a result of prior candidature and/or prior scholarship, would be entitled to a maximum tenure of less than 12 months.
(e) The following arrangements apply to international students who have commenced the course for which a fee remission scholarship is sought:
- International Postgraduate Research Scholarships (IPRSs)
Students who have commenced the course for which a fee remission scholarship is sought will not be considered for an IPRS. The only exception is if the student commenced their course in the year immediately before the current round of IPRS offers and they were not considered in the last round of IPRS offers.
The main reasons why an application would not have been considered in the last round of IPRS offers are:
- the application was lodged after the scholarship closing date
- the applicant had not received an unconditional course offer at the time the IPRS offers were made, or
- required documents and/or other essential information were not available when the IPRS offers were made.
The MSO will automatically identify and consider all students who meet the criteria noted above (i.e. an application is not required). The MSO will contact the students who are offered an IPRS.
- Melbourne International Fee Remissions Scholarships (MIFRSs)
It is up to each faculty to decide if they will award MIFRSs from their allocation to students who have commenced the course for which a MIFRS is sought. Faculties may, however, only award MIFRSs to students who have at least 12 months full-time candidature remaining to complete their course.
Students apply for the MIFRSs by submitting:
- an online application via SCHOLS, an online aaplication service which can be accessed through the MSO website at: www.unimelb.edu.au/scholarships/, and
- the Form to Reapply for a Postgraduate Scholarship (this form may be downloaded from the above mentioned SCHOLS application service).
The MSO will advise all applicants of their success or otherwise.
(f) Recipients must normally be enrolled as a full-time student when they commence their scholarship. Local students may apply for a part-time award if socially compelling reasons (e.g. a medical condition and/or care responsibilities for a pre-school child or an invalid or disabled partner, child or parent etc.) preclude a full-time enrolment. Section 15.2 provides additional information about part-time scholarships.
Visa requirements usually preclude a part-time enrolment for international students.
(g) Applicants will only be considered for scholarship in one department at any one time. Applicants who are interested in applying for a scholarship in more than one department should discuss research and scholarship options with the departments of interest before lodging their application for scholarship.
3.5 Receipt of other scholarships and salaries
A scholarship that provides a living allowance (e.g. APA, MRS, MIRS, FMS, HRS) will not be awarded if the applicant is receiving another equivalent award, scholarship or salary to undertake the proposed study. An ‘equivalent' stipend/salary is deemed to be greater than 75% of the base APA or MRS/MIRS rate. See section 12 for futher details.
International applicants cannot be considered for a fee remission scholarship (i.e. IPRS or MIFRS) if they already hold, or will receive, a scholarship that covers tuition fees.
3.6 Miscellaneous requirements
(a) An APA cannot be awarded if the applicant has previously held an APA, APA(I) or an Australian Government-funded Postgraduate Research Award for six or more months. Students in this situation could be considered for a MRS. Please see section 5 for further details.
(b) A student who currently holds a MRS cannot apply for an APA or the prestigious and other major scholarships if they have already been considered for these scholarships. The only exception is if the scholarship is sought to support an enrolment in a new course.
(c) Students who have previously held a MRS or MIRS (including Faculty MRSs and MIRSs), FMS or HRS cannot be considered for another MRS, MIRS, FMS or HRS.
(d) Applications will only be considered by the Graduate Research Scholarships Committee (GRSC) if the nominated academic department supports the application for scholarship. Applicants are strongly enouraged to discuss their research intentions with the academic department before they lodge their application for scholarship.
(e) Scholarship recipients who are enrolled in a masters by research and who wish to either convert to a PhD, or to complete the masters and then commence a PhD, should refer to section 5 for information about continuing to hold their scholarship for their PhD studies.
(f) International applicants must comply with any contractual obligations that are owed to an employer or sponsor (eg. AusAID), including obligations relating to the time to be spent in the home country following completion of undergraduate study.