Chapter 9: Fees, scholarships and grants

9.3 Application procedures and H1 equivalence

9.3.1 Application procedures

Each award generally offers a maximum tenure of three years (full-time) for doctoral candidates and two years (full-time) for master’s candidates. Scholarships are normally awarded to full-time candidates only, but persons who for socially compelling reasons, such as a medical condition or primary care responsibilities for pre-school aged children, are unable to pursue full-time graduate study are eligible to apply for part-time APA and MGS awards. 

Normally, international students on student visas must enrol on a full-time basis but exceptions can be approved on limited grounds.

Applications for scholarships must be made by 31 May for the mid-year round and by 31 October for the end-of-year round. Offers of awards are made in July and December, respectively. Closing dates for the other scholarships listed vary.

Candidates must enrol before a scholarship stipend can commence. Further information on conditions of award for scholarships is available from the Monash University Institute of Graduate Research website.

Note: Graduate scholarships are intended to support candidates engaged in full-time research and study. As with all candidates, an award-holder is only permitted to undertake a strictly limited amount of paid employment, being no more than 15 hours of work on average in any one week. Up to a maximum of six hours only on average of this employment may be undertaken during normal working hours (9 am to 5 pm Mondays to Fridays). However, this may be extended to a maximum of eight hours if the employment is limited to one weekday.

Application form for research scholarships at Monash University’s Sunway campus can be found here. Details on financial support can be found here.

The candidate’s supervisor(s) must be satisfied that any part-time work undertaken does not interfere with the candidate’s study program and progress. International candidates need to be aware that the employment restrictions outlined above apply, even though a student visa permits them to work up to 20 hours a week.

See Section 3.4 for further information.

9.3.2 Taxation liability of scholarships

Under Australian Taxation Law, full-time awards are presently considered to be non-taxable by the Australian Government. All candidates are advised to seek independent information on the non-taxability/taxability of their scholarship. 

Candidates should note that part-time awards are taxable.

9.3.3 First class honours (H1) equivalence

Applicants for centrally funded scholarships must hold a bachelor’s degree with first class honours. The following qualifications are automatically classed as H1:

  • Australian/New Zealand bachelor’s degree with H1;
  • Australian/New Zealand research master’s preliminary qualification formally graded at H1 level;
  • Australian/New Zealand research master’s degree (with a research component of 66% or greater) formally graded at H1 level;
  • MBBS/FRACP (Fellowship of Royal Australasian College of Physicians);
  • MBBS/FRACS (Fellowship of Royal Australasian College of Surgeons).

Where an applicant does not hold a qualification in one of these categories but the academic unit and faculty believe that the candidate has qualifications and/or research experience equivalent to an H1 degree, the relevant faculty may request that the applicant be assessed for H1 equivalence. 

Some qualifications from selected overseas institutions have now been accepted by Monash University as automatically meeting H1 equivalence. 

Candidates holding the following qualifications require assessment for H1 equivalence:

  • bachelor’s degree with second or third class honours as highest qualification;
  • research master’s preliminary qualification without a formal H1 grade;
  • research master’s degree without a formal H1 grade;
  • master’s by coursework degree;
  • graduate diploma;
  • all overseas qualifications (except New Zealand);
  • other non-standard H1 bachelor’s qualifications.

In determining whether a candidate’s qualifications and/or research experience are equivalent to an Australian first class honours degree, a panel of academic staff (convened before ranking takes place) will consider an applicant’s:

Academic record – for example, overall grade or GPA of qualifications; grade of research component and its % of the overall program; thesis examiner reports (where available); coursework unit results; extent to which units relate to acquisition of research skills, and % of coursework in overall program(s); 

Research output – publications such as books, journal publications, conference proceedings, reports and working papers, including where relevant, standing of the journal, number of pages, number of authors and % contribution of applicant, status of publication accepted, in press or published, etc.; 

Prior research experience – nature and extent of research undertaken during relevant work experience. H1 equivalence panels meet in November (end of year round) and June (mid-year round) each year.

Eligibility criteria for research scholarships at the Sunway campus vary across Schools. For further information, please contact individual School Research Offices.

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