(1) These Procedures stipulate how HDR fee offsets, fee waivers, and stipends should be distributed and allocated fairly, transparently, and in accordance with the Commonwealth Scholarships Guidelines (Research) 2017. (2) These Procedures apply to all UOW staff members, HDR scholarship applicants, and HDR scholarship recipients at UOW. (3) These Procedures do not apply to HDR candidates enrolled in offshore campuses if governed by the procedures of the corresponding campus. (4) Candidates may receive one of two tuition fee scholarships to pay their tuition fees: (5) Candidates may receive these tuition fee scholarships only during their candidature. (6) The RTP Fee Offset pays the tuition fees of: (7) To be eligible to receive an RTP Fee Offset, candidates must: (8) Domestic candidates who have exceeded the maximum study duration may be eligible to receive a DPTA that pays the tuition fees of one session. (9) To receive a DPTA, candidates must submit an application to the GRS before the advertised deadline that stipulates. (10) If a candidate has not received a DPTA previously, the Associate Dean - Higher Degree Research (AD-HDR) shall endorse and Dean of Graduate Research shall approve the application if: (11) If a candidate has received a DPTA previously, the Associate Dean - Higher Degree Research shall endorse and the Dean of Graduate Research may approve this application if (12) International HDR candidates may be awarded an IPTA that pays their tuition fees until the maximum study duration is reached: 4.0 EFTSL of study for PhD degrees. 5.0 EFTSL of study for PhD (Integrated) degrees, and 2.0 EFTSL of study for research Masters degrees, called a full-course IPTA. (13) All international HDR candidates who are awarded a stipend scholarship shall receive a full-course IPTA unless: (14) If candidates receive a stipend that does not exceed or equal the base RTP stipend, the Dean of Graduate Research may award a full-course IPTA if the stipend is beneficial to the strategic priorities of UOW. (15) Other international HDR candidates may also receive a full-course IPTA. To ascertain which candidates can receive a full-course IPTA: (16) International candidates who have exceeded their maximum study duration may receive an IPTA that pays the tuition fees of one session, called a single-session IPTA. To receive this single-session IPTA, candidates must submit an application to the Graduate Research School before the advertised deadline that stipulates: (17) If a candidate has not received a single-session IPTA previously, the AD-HDR shall endorse and the Dean of Graduate Research shall approve the application if (18) If a candidate has received a single-session IPTA previously, the AD-HDR may endorse and the Dean of Graduate Research may approve this application if (19) If international HDR candidates are unable to pay fees, they may be eligible to receive a single-session IPTA even if their progress was not impeded by special circumstances. To receive this IPTA: (20) The Director, Graduate Research School is granted the discretion to: (21) RTP stipends are funded by the Commonwealth Research Training Program and thus must comply with the Commonwealth Scholarships Guidelines (Research) 2017. (22) UPA stipends are funded from other UOW sources of funds. (23) If awarded, RTP and UPA stipend scholarships must equal or exceed the base RTP stipend rate, as specified by the Department of Education. First Nations candidates, if awarded these stipends, shall receive 1.5 times this rate. (24) To be eligible to receive an RTP or UPA stipend scholarship, candidates must: (25) To receive an RTP or UPA stipend before the Research Proposal Review is completed, candidates shall usually be enrolled full time. The Dean of Graduate Research may approve exceptions if: (26) After candidates who receive RTP or UPA stipends have completed the Research Proposal Review, the Dean of Graduate Research may approve their requests to enrol part time if: (27) If the candidates awarded stipends enrol part-time, the rate they earn each session will be halved. (28) RTP and UPA stipends are not taxable, unless candidates are enrolled part time. (29) To allocate the RTP and UPA stipend scholarships: (30) Scholarships may be advertised, and thus applicants may be ranked, more than once a year. (31) After the applications are ranked, the GRS will notify applicants of the outcome. (32) After an application to receive an RTP or UPA stipend is approved, candidates shall receive correspondence that outlines: (33) After an application to receive an RTP stipend is rejected, candidates receive correspondence that: (34) Regardless of whether the application to receive an RTP or UPA stipend is approved, the correspondence should refer to how candidates can submit complaints, grievances, and appeals, in accordance with the HDR policy. (35) RTP and UPA stipends can be deferred only if: (36) The Dean of Graduate Research may approve a longer deferral, but only in exceptional circumstances. (37) The University should pay RTP and UPA stipends: (38) The University will suspend these stipend payments if: (39) Recipients of RTP stipends in particular must: (40) Other individuals who publish materials that are derived from this research project must also acknowledge the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. (41) The University may also award domestic and international HDR candidates a joint stipend to which both an industry partner and UOW contribute, called a matching scholarship. (42) The Procedures that relate to RTP and UPA stipends also apply to joint stipends except: (43) Joint stipends should be dispersed across academics rather than confined to a few academics with very strong industry collaborations. Academics who have forged strong industry collaborations should instead be encouraged to seek other funds to pay stipends. (44) Domestic and international HDR candidates may receive stipends from other sources, including: (45) Unlike RTP, UPA, and joint stipends: (46) If the funding terms and conditions of external stipends are mute on a specific matter, the Procedures that relate to RTP and UPA stipends shall apply. (47) The duration of RTP, UPA, and joint stipends is a maximum of 3.5 years for Doctoral candidates and 2 years for Masters candidates. (48) Further extensions to RTP, UPA, and joint stipends are not permitted unless: (49) This maximum duration of RTP, UPA, and joint stipends will be reduced by any periods of study undertaken: (50) If candidates suspend their studies because of sick leave or parental leave, they will continue to receive their stipend. In these Procedures, sick leave also encompasses instances in which candidates need to care for sick relatives or suspend their studies because of domestic violence. (51) If a candidate upgrades from a Master of Philosophy to a Doctoral degree, the period of stipend support will be increased to a total of 3.5 EFTSL. If a candidate transfers from a Doctoral degree to a Master of Philosophy, the period of stipend support will be decreased to a maximum of 2 EFTSL. (52) Changes to the title or nature of the research project, the supervisory team, the academic unit to which the candidate belongs, or the Field of Education shall not affect the period of stipend support. However: (53) If a candidate is discontinued, withdraw from the degree, or complete the degree, the stipend ceases by the next fortnightly payment cycle. (54) Candidates may apply to suspend their stipends for one or two sessions by seeking a leave of absence. (55) The Dean of Graduate Research may approve suspensions between three and four sessions but only in circumstances that are exceptional and could not have been prevented or foreseen by the candidate. (56) Periods of suspension will not count towards the period of tuition fee or stipend support. (57) Although HDR candidates are encouraged to arrange 20 days annual leave each year, this leave does not extend the duration of their stipends. (58) Although HDR candidates can receive 10 days sick leave a year accrued across the duration of their stipend this leave does not extend the duration of their scholarship. (59) If candidates exhaust their sick leave and then experience additional periods of illness that last longer than 10 days, their stipend can be extended up to 60 days if granted a 3.5-year scholarship or up to 35 days if granted a 2-year scholarship, but only if they supply a medical certificate. (60) Whilst receiving their stipend, HDR candidates who have completed 12 months of study are entitled to 60 days of parental leave that can extend their stipend and be distributed over time, provided: (61) HDR candidates who have not yet completed 12 months of study may access unpaid parental leave, equivalent to a suspension of study. This suspension does not preclude further suspensions. (62) The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Sustainable Futures), in consultation with relevant staff, determines the proportion of RTP that is allocated across faculties. These faculties can then utilise the allocation to discharge the ancillary expenses that enrolled HDR candidates incur to complete the course. These ancillary expenses may include the costs of: (63) The faculty should convene a panel of relevant staff to design a defensible, equitable, and systematic method to allocate these funds across candidates. (64) HDR candidates may undertake approved research internships or other similar enrichment activities, for up to six months duration, as part of their studies. The maximum duration of their candidature will be extended by the duration of this internship. (65) If candidates receive their RTP, UPA, or joint stipend during this industry experience, the duration of their scholarship can be extended by up to 6 months but only if: (66) If the industry partner or other body pays an equivalent to the stipend during the internship, candidates must suspend their stipend scholarship at this time.HDR Research Training Program Funding and Scholarship Procedure
Section 1 - Introduction/Background
Section 2 - Scope/Purpose
Section 3 - RTP Fee Offset
Top of PageSection 4 - Domestic Postgraduate Tuition Award, or DPTA, Offset
Top of PageSection 5 - International Postgraduate Tuition Award or IPTA: Full-course
Top of PageSection 6 - International Postgraduate Tuition Award or IPTA: Other Provisions
Top of PageSection 7 - RTP and UPA Stipend Scholarships
Section 8 - Joint Stipend Scholarships
Section 9 - External Stipends
Section 10 - Period of Stipend Support
Section 11 - Leave Entitlements
Section 12 - RTP Allowances
Section 13 - Industry Research Activities
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