Are you considering Australia for graduate or undergraduate funding?
One of the underrated and rarely mentioned countries to get a scholarship for graduate studies in Australia. While most scholarship enthusiasts focus on Canada and US, Australia was busy giving out fully-funded research scholarships to willing applicants. Why is Australia hardly mentioned? Is it because of the country’s distance or the acclaimed population of snakes? Well, whatever the reason might be, Scholarship Enthusiast is to expatiate on how to get the RMIT scholarships for MRes and Ph.D. In addition, you will also read about how to get other scholarships in other Australian Universities.
What is RMIT?
RMIT is a Highly rated Public University in Melbourne, Australia known for outstanding academic excellence in fields like Art and Design, Engineering, Architecture, Computer Science and Information Systems, Business Management, and Communication studies. The school is also known for its generous scholarships for international students. The focus of this article is however on how you can get scholarships in Australia, keep that in mind as you read on.
FUNDING YOUR STUDIES IN AUSTRALIA
Australian Universities have the government commonwealth supported Research Training Program (RTP) scholarship which offers a full tuition waiver and stipends to prospective students on a merit basis. Other universities also have this scholarship funded by the government, which in the case of RMIT University is the RMIT Research Stipend Scholarship (RRSS). This scholarship is valued at the same amount as the RTP and you can be selected for either of the two.
A University-based scholarship means that there is an opportunity for more beneficiaries, which is an advantage on the part of scholarship enthusiasts. The aforementioned aren’t the only funding offers available in Australia as other Universities also have peculiar scholarships. For example, the University of New South Wales, Sydney has the Scientia Ph.D. scholarships given to research candidates in science. You can check the full information out at https://www.scientia.unsw.edu.au/scientia-phd-scholarships
HOW TO APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIPS IN AUSTRALIA
The admission and scholarship applications are usually in 2 stages:
- Expression of Interest
- Application
Expression of Interest (EOI) is the most crucial part of the scholarship because its evaluation determines the decision that will be made on your application. At this stage, you will be requested to submit all documents including your CV, Transcripts, Research Proposal, or Statement of Research Interests. Here your eligibility for the program and edge over other applicants will be determined. A successful EOI means that you can proceed to the next stage (Application stage) where you would be invited to apply. Here, you will only need to submit documents relating to your Visa Application like your passport biodata page.
HOW TO MAKE A SUCCESSFUL EOI
As earlier written, the most important part of your scholarship application is the EOI and the best step towards that is to email your prospective supervisor. There have been several threads and articles written on how you can email a professor successfully, you can check https://scholarshipenthusiasts.com/cold-emailing-your-way-to-grad-school-in-3-paragraphs/
Once you send a well-written cold email, if the professor takes an interest in your potential, you will be given a go-ahead with the submission of EOI. The intending supervisor can even guide what to do next. The good thing about this stage is that;
- You have secured a supervisor.
- If you don’t make this scholarship round you can make the next.
- If your supervisor has their funding, grants wins, you may also be considered.
There are two ways to get a worthy project topic in this case;
- Having a Unique research idea and discussing it with your supervisor
- Check the school website to know what they are most interested in working on or the projects they are currently involved in. Once you found one, send an email to the faculty member about your interests and suitability. Make sure you get a reply before submitting an EOI.
There are presently some projects at RMIT University, here is a link to the list: https://www.rmit.edu.au/research/research-degrees/find-a-project
Here is also a list of University of Queensland Ph.D. projects:
https://graduate-school.uq.edu.au/available-cat-1-phd-projects
Here is a list of New South Wales Ph.D. Projects: https://research.unsw.edu.au/projects/potential-phd-projects-and-scholarships
Note that these are just a few examples, and there are more on the net when you look for Australian schools.
Conclusively, these are just a few examples of how to get scholarships or grants in Australia. Although we tried to make sure that this process can also be used for other Australian schools there might be slight differences in the applications. All you have to do is follow the instructions, write a reply if you have questions and we would be glad to pick it up. All the best in your applications.