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Application and Eligibility information for centrally-awarded scholarships

Applying for a centrally-awarded scholarship

The main university-wide selection round closes on 31 October each year and successful applicants are notified by mid-December.

Application kits may be obtained from faculties and academic units from mid-July each year. They are not available on-line. By this stage, intending applicants should be already discussing their proposed research project with academic members of the school in which they wish to undertake their research. Ideally, before they submit their scholarship application, applicants will have identified a potential supervisor for their project and have developed a draft research proposal.
Normally students who complete a scholarship application for a Monash University Postgraduate Research Scholarship (e.g. APA, MGS, EIPRS, MIPRS) are not required to submit a separate application for doctoral or masters by research candidature.

Please see www.mrgs.monash.edu.au/scholarships/selection for an overview of the scholarship selection process.

The selection process is explained in detail in the Postgraduate Research Scholarship Selection Principles & Procedures manual

Eligibility for a centrally-awarded scholarship

Minimum academic qualifications

To be eligible for a centrally awarded MGS, APA, EIPRS or MIPRS scholarship, only students holding first class honours (H1) qualifications can be considered. Students holding the following qualifications are automatically classed as first class honours applicants:

  • Australian/New Zealand bachelors degree with first class honours (H1)
  • Australian/New Zealand research masters preliminary degree formally graded at H1 level
  • Australian/New Zealand research masters degree formally graded at H1 level
  • MBBS/FRACP (Fellowship of Royal Australasian College of Physicians)

However, Monash has well established procedures for assessing other qualifications, through its first class honours equivalence process (H1E). If the Faculty of Science believes an applicant has qualifications and/or research experiences equivalent to an Australian first class honours degree, the student’s qualifications may be assessed for H1 equivalence. The following qualifications, for example, require such assessment:

  • bachelors degree with second or third class honours as highest qualifications
  • research masters preliminary degree without a formal H1 grade
  • research masters degree without a formal H1 grade
  • coursework masters degree
  • graduate diploma
  • most overseas qualifications (although some qualifications from selected overseas institutions have now been accepted by Monash as automatically meeting H1 equivalence).

In deciding whether a student’s qualifications are equivalent to an Australian first class honours degree, a panel of academic staff will consider an applicant’s:

  • Academic record – for example, overall grade or GPA of qualifications; grade of research component and its % of 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, title, 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.

Many applications are favourably assessed through this process. In a recent selection round, for example, the following qualifications were considered to be equivalent to an Australian bachelors degree with first class honours:

  • An ungraded MA from an Australian institution combined with 30 major solo exhibitions; over 50 juried/curated group exhibitions in Australia and overseas; and nine grants from funding bodies (Faculty of Art & Design)
  • An MA from a Canadian university, and an undergraduate degree from a university in Asia; together with a strong thesis examiner report and referee report (Faculty of Business and Economics)
  • Two bachelors degrees and a masters by coursework with a high distinction grade for the research unit; and one refereed conference proceeding (Faculty of Education)
  • An upper second class honours Australian bachelors degree with a first class honours grade for the research project, combined with a first author refereed publication (Faculty of Engineering)
  • A bachelors and masters from Asian universities with very good results in the masters program which had a significant research component, extensive research experience, and a sound publication record (Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences)

Monash University’s minimum English language proficiency requirements

All applicants must satisfy one of Monash University’s minimum English language requirements (see www.mrgs.monash.edu.au/scholarships/selection/proc11.html).
Please note that these are the minimum university requirements. Some faculties may have set additional prerequisites. The university reserves the right to seek additional proof of English proficiency where required.
The English Language requirements outlined above are the University's minimum requirements for admission to a research degree.  Recent changes to visa regulations for international students require applicants from assessment level countries 3 & 4 (see International students) to provide a satisfactory IELTS test score when applying for a student visa.  Refer to the Australian Government requirements section in the Application Guide for details.