• Section 1 - Australian Postgraduate Awards
• Allocation of Australian Postgraduate Awards Without Stipend
• Priority Categories
• Section 2 - Charles Sturt University Postgraduate Research Studentships
• Section 3 - Administrative Procedures

Section 1 - Australian Postgraduate Awards

(1) The Commonwealth Government has revised its postgraduate award programs, replacing HECS Exemption Scholarships, Australian Postgraduate Research and Coursework Awards (APRAs and APCAs) with:

1. Australian Postgraduate Awards (APAs) Without Stipend - i.e., an RTS place; and
2. APAs with Stipend - i.e., an RTS place plus a postgraduate scholarship.

Allocation of Australian Postgraduate Awards Without Stipend

(2) The award of Australian Postgraduate Awards Without Stipend is the responsibility of the Director, Student Administration (Dir, Student Admin) and the responsibility for the administration of these awards lies with the Research Office.

(3) Scholarships are allocated in the priority order specified in clause 10 below.

(4) Where there are insufficient scholarships to award a scholarship to all students in a particular priority group, the allocation to students in that group will be by ballot. The ballot will continue beyond the last available scholarship to create a reserve list for the reallocation of relinquished scholarships.

(5) Notwithstanding clause 4 above a small number of scholarships may be withheld from offer until the Autumn Session HECS census date, for awarding to students in higher priority groups enrolling late. All scholarships will normally be awarded by the Autumn Session HECS census date.

(6) Where scholarship holders withdraw from their program in the Autumn Session, their scholarship will be awarded in the Spring Session to a student on the reserve list unless there are eligible students without scholarships in a higher priority group, in which case the scholarships will be awarded to the highest priority students.

(7) Scholarships will only be awarded to continuing students who are progressing satisfactorily. The Research Committee may rule that a particular student not be considered for a scholarship on the basis of unsatisfactory performance.

(8) The Faculties and the Australian Graduate School of Policing (AGSP) will each be allocated 5 Australian Postgraduate Awards Without Stipend, to award to Doctoral or Master candidates in accordance with the policy of the Faculties or AGSPM; however, these awards will be made after the Postgraduate Scholarships Committee announces its awards.

(9) For candidates awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award Without Stipend effective from Autumn Session 1998 or a later session, the maximum duration of the awards will be 3.5 years (7 sessions) full-time equivalent for Doctoral candidates and two years (4 sessions) full-time equivalent for Master candidates.

Priority Categories

(10) The priority categories for the award of Australian Postgraduate Awards Without Stipend (formerly known as HECS Exemption Scholarships) are as follows:

1. Category 1:
   1. Students who have been awarded Australian Postgraduate Awards With Stipend (APA's).
2. Category 2:
   1. Students who have been awarded Charles Sturt University Postgraduate Research Studentships.
3. Category 3:
   1. Students who have been awarded other externally funded scholarships that do not provide for HECS.
4. Category 4:
   1. Full-time PhD students;
   2. Part-time PhD students.
5. Category 5:
   1. Full-time Research Master students;
   2. Part-time Research Master students.
6. Category 6:
   1. Full-time Professional Doctorate students;
   2. Part-time Professional Doctorate students.

Section 2 - Charles Sturt University Postgraduate Research Studentships

(11) With respect to Charles Sturt University Postgraduate Research Studentships:

1. they will be awarded only to applicants whose proposed research area is within an approved field of research of the University;
2. academic merit and research potential will be the primary criteria for selection;
3. the Research Committee(or nominees) will conduct a preliminary ranking of Studentship candidates based on these criteria;
4. the Research Committee will conduct a final ranking of Studentship candidates and provide its recommendations to the Vice-Chancellor with the intention that:
   1. the majority of studentships will be awarded to those high calibre students whose research relates to a University Centre for Research; and
   2. a limited number of studentships will be awarded to qualified students in other fields of research approved by Charles Sturt University(AS 91/173; 6.12.91).

Section 3 - Administrative Procedures

(12) The following procedures have been developed in order to avoid the situation where an individual who has been awarded a scholarship has not subsequently been approved as a candidate for admission to a research higher degree at the University. These procedures apply to scholarship applicants who are not already enrolled as higher degree research students.

(13) When despatching scholarship application forms the Research Office will include application forms for admission to candidature.

(14) Applicants for scholarships at the University will be required to complete an application for admission form and to submit this form with the scholarship application.

(15) In those cases where the applicant has indicated that the application for admission is NOT dependent upon a successful scholarship application the application will be despatched immediately to the appropriate Faculty for consideration.

(16) In order to avoid unnecessary processing in the Faculty, if an applicant has made it clear that the application for admission is dependent upon scholarship support, the Research Office will defer sending the application to the appropriate Faculty for consideration until after scholarship decisions are made.

(17) When the ranked list of scholarship applicants has been established by the Postgraduate Scholarships Committee, the Research Office will forward applications for admission from ranked candidates to the appropriate Faculty, with a request that the application be considered expeditiously. The Faculty Office Sub-Dean will be asked to return the HD1 form with a recommendation to the Research Office as soon as possible.

(18) If necessary, the recommendations for admission of candidates who have been ranked for scholarships will be considered out of session by a Sub-Committee of three established by the Research Committee (including as Presiding Officer of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor or nominee).

(19) As soon as the application for admission has been approved executively the Research Office will proceed with the scholarship offer.

(20) Scholarship offers will not be made until the application for admission has been approved.

(21) Staff members wishing to advertise funded scholarships will be informed of these procedures when requesting the Research Office to place a scholarship advertisement.