Document checklist
To be considered for scholarship, local applicants must submit their application for graduate scholarship and all of the required documents to the Melbourne Scholarships Office (MSO) by 31 October.
Applications received after 31 October will not be considered for the APAs, FMSs, HRSs or the prestigious and other major scholarships: they will only be considered for any MRSs that remain at the time the application is assessed. Incomplete applications (eg. required document/s not provided) will not be considered for scholarship.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to apply for a graduate scholarship online using SCHOLS.
The required documents are listed below. A list of required documents is also emailed to applicants once their graduate scholarship application has been submitted on-line and may also be viewed at your SCHOLS homepage. Applicants who have previously applied for scholarship for 2008 and would like to request for the MSO to retain previously submitted documents should read the 'Use of previously submitted documents' section below.
Use of previously submitted documents
Please note that we are unable to retrieve documents that you may have lodged with other university offices (eg. Melbourne School of Graduate Research, International Admissions, faculty offices, etc.).
If you applied for a graduate scholarship (eg. APA, MRS, FMS, HRS) at the University of Melbourne for 2008 and wish to be considered for the 2009 scholarships, please read and complete the 'Form to Reapply for a Graduate Scholarship' and indicate on the form that you would like the MSO to retrieve documents that you submitted last year.
Required documents
Certification of documents
Formal certification of original documents is mandatory and can be obtained by providing the original and a photocopy to an appropriate authority for endorsement, eg. police officer, Justice of the Peace, solicitor, medical practitioner, school principal or the Melbourne Scholarships Office.
If you would like the MSO to certify your documents, please bring a photocopy of your document, along with the original document, to the MSO.
Proof of citizenship
Australian and New Zealand citizens must provide a certified copy of either:
- an original birth certificate,
- birth extract, or
- passport or citizenship certificate.
Australian permanent residents must provide evidence of their permanent residence status or relevant pages from their passport.
top of pageResearch proposal
Applicants who have not applied using SCHOLS who are seeking a scholarship for a research higher degree (eg. PhD or masters by research) must provide a 100 word research proposal.
Academic transcripts
Applicants must provide certified copies of official academic transcripts for all tertiary studies that you have undertaken or are currently undertaking.
The transcripts must include:
- the numeric marks (eg. 84%) or grades (eg. A) you have obtained. Provision of transcripts that provide actual numeric marks (eg. 85%) or GPAs (eg. 3.4) is strongly recommended.
- a results key (A=80-100%, B=70-79%). This is usually on the back of the transcript and is vital to understanding institutions' grading systems.
Numeric marks (ie. either a percentage or grade point average) are strongly preferred for the subjects you have completed at the 3rd year level and higher. If numeric marks are unavailable, the University will use the lowest mark in the corresponding grade range (eg. if you obtained an 'A' for a subject and A=80-100%, you will be assigned an 80% for that subject).
Applicants currently enrolled at the University of Melbourne do not need to provide a transcript for any studies undertaken at the University. If you have qualifications from another institution, please provide a certified copy of the results you obtained.
If you are currently enrolled in a tertiary course at any institution other than the University of Melbourne, please provide to the MSO by the closing date a transcript that shows your results to date. Please forward updated transcripts to our office as soon as they become available. We will require your final transcript to complete the assessment of your application for scholarship.
If you have received credit toward your degree at the 3rd year level or higher, include with your scholarship application the transcript/s for the studies for which you received credit. For example, if you received 3rd year credit toward a University of Melbourne qualification for subjects completed on exchange at the University of London, please also submit your University of London transcript.
Applicants with masters qualifications should attach:
- examiners reports if they are available; and
- an extract from the relevant university handbook (or website) that clearly states (i) the normal duration of the masters course (eg. 2 years full-time) and (ii) the structure of the course (eg. minimum of 24 points, of which 18 points are a research project).
If transcripts are not in English, an authorised English translation must be provided.
Research experience gained via employment
You will be required to note on your Graduate Scholarships Application form (ie. SCHOLS if you apply online) any research experience you have gained via employment that is relevant to the course for which you are seeking a scholarship. If you have substantial relevant research experience, please submit to the MSO with your other documents (i) a separate sheet to describe your professional experience and (ii) the employer's contact details.
Referee reports
Applicants must provide referee contact information on the application form which is separate to providing a referee report form.
The number of referee reports required depends on where you completed your last tertiary qualification.
- Applicants whose last tertiary qualification was completed overseas must submit two written academic references.
- Applicants whose most recent qualification was obtained at an Australian university other than the University of Melbourne must submit one written academic reference.
- Applicants whose most recent qualification was obtained from, or are currently enrolled at, the University of Melbourne do not need to submit any written academic references.
References must be completed on a referee report form and reach the Melbourne Scholarships Office by 31 October. Please ensure you send the request to your referee/s in sufficient time for them to complete and submit their report by this date.
Additional documents
If you are applying for any of the following scholarships you will need to provide documents in addition to those described above. Please check what is required:
- Fay Marles Scholarship (FMS)
- Human Rights Scholarship (HRS)
- Baillieu Research Scholarship
- Sir John and Lady Higgins Research Scholarship
- Ernst and Grace Matthaei Research Scholarship
Submission & acknowledgment of documents
Wherever possible, please submit all of your documents to the MSO at one time.
For applicants who lodged their application via SCHOLS, the coversheet available from your SCHOLS homepage should be attached to the front of your documents.
Visit your SCHOLS homepage at anytime to check that the MSO has received your documents. We will update the list of required documents on your SCHOLS homepage within 2 weeks of the documents arriving at our office.