2010 Benefits and Conditions for the Graduate Research Scholarships (APA, APA[I], IPRS, MRS, MIRS, MIFRS, FMS, HRS, Prestigious and Other Major Scholarships)
9. Transfers
Occasionally scholarship recipients wish to transfer their enrolment to a different course or department either within the UoM or from another university. As the transfer of scholarships between courses is not automatic, students should not relinquish their enrolment or scholarship until they know if they will receive scholarship support for their new course.
For graduate research students, the UoM does not normally approve transfers to the University for students who have less than one-third of their candidature remaining.
Scholarship and candidature tenure used in the previous course is deducted from the scholarship and candidature tenure for the new course.
APAs commenced from 2002 cannot be transferred to another university. Students may, however, apply for an APA at the university to which they would like to transfer.
The UoM will normally consider awarding an APA to students who were awarded an APA at another institution and wish to transfer to the University if:
- the student's scholarship score, using the UoM scholarship scoring guidelines, is above the UoM’s cut-off for APAs for that year,
- there are good reasons for the student wishing to transfer to the UoM, and
- the University has sufficient funds to support the award of an APA.
Students who commenced an APA from 2002 onwards at another institution and would like to transfer to the UoM should:
- complete a UoM scholarship application form and provide the documents that are usually required for scholarship consideration. It should be clearly noted on the application form that the student would like to commence an APA at the University of Melbourne and that they currently hold an APA at another institution,
- provide with their scholarship application a written statement explaining the reason for the requested transfer to the University of Melbourne and the date they would like to transfer to the University, and
- provide an official letter from the scholarships office at their home institution which provides details about the start date of their APA and any paid or unpaid leave that has been taken from the APA.
The application will be assessed for scholarship. If the assigned scholarship score is above the UoM’s cut-off for APAs that year, and the UoM has sufficient DIISR funds, an APA will be offered.
The majority of scholarships described in these Benefits and Conditions are not able to be transferred to or from another university. There are only three exceptions to this rule:
a) IPRSs: can be transferred from one institution to another but special conditions apply. The International Graduate Research Scholarships Officer (MSO) should be contacted for further details.
b) APAs commenced prior to 2002: can be transferred between universities. The transfer requires the approval of the institution that awarded the APA (the home institution) and the institution to which the student would like to transfer the APA. Approval is usually only given if unforeseeable circumstances makes it untenable for the student to complete their studies at the home institution (eg. supervisor leaves the institution and a suitable replacement is not available). To request an APA transfer to the UoM, the student should forward to the Melbourne Scholarships Office (MSO):
- a letter from the scholarships office at their home institution that endorses the transfer
- an official letter from the scholarships office at their home institution which provides details about the start date of their APA and any paid or unpaid leave that has been taken from the APA
- a letter of support from the supervisor or department at the UoM to which the transfer is requested, and
- a covering letter that states the reasons for wishing to transfer and the preferred date of effect for the transfer.
c) APA(I)s: can be transferred between institutions, industry partners, supervisors, or students although this requires ARC approval. Transfer requests will only be considered in exceptional circumstances where there are compelling reasons and where a proposed transfer has the support of all involved parties.
As shown below, some scholarships may be transferred between departments/courses at the UoM.
| Scholarship | Is transfer between UoM department/courses possible? |
|---|---|
| APA & IPRS | Yes. Students need to complete the Application for Change of Department form which can be downloaded from the Melbourne School of Graduate Research (MSGR) website. |
| MRS, MIRS & MIFRS | Sometimes possible. To transfer these between University of Melbourne departments or faculties/ graduate schools please contact the MSO who will contact the relevant department or faculty / graduate school on your behalf. |
| FHS, HRS & presitigous and other major scholarships | This is normally possible. Note, however, that some of the prestigious and other major scholarships are for study in a specific area (eg. the Ernst and Grace Mathaei scholarship is for research in the field of optics.)
To transfer between University of Melbourne departments and/ or faculties/ graduate schools please contact the MSO to establish if you can continue to hold your scholarship in the new department or faculty / graduate school.
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