Information for Current Scholarship Holders
General Conditions of Award (Macquarie University)
Macquarie University publishes an annual set of general conditions of award. The conditions in principle mirror those of the Australian Postgraduate Award and apply to all the centrally funded scholarships, such as MQRES/RAACE/iMURS/MUPGRA. They include the University policies such as scholarship allowances and standard working hours.
Satisfactory Progress for Scholarship Holders
Under the conditions of award all Scholarship holders must maintain satisfactory progress to be eligible to continue receiving their award. Please note that this does not imply you will have no problems with research delays during your award tenure. Your annual report reviews your progress and your Faculty may also schedule other reviews of your progress across the year, depending on their own policies. The Faculty determine unsatisfactory progress and notify the Higher Degree Research Office. Should your progress be found unsatisfactory you would be advised that your award will be terminated and the date from which this will apply.
Change in Status
You are expected to notify the Higher Degree Research Office immediately if you have changed status in any way that changes your award eligibility. This is also monitored in your annual report, for example the outside working hours limit of 728 hours per scholarship year. Please note that breaches of award conditions mean that your award can be immediately terminated. Part time award holders should particularly note that if their reason for part time enrolment changes they must report the change in circumstances to the Higher Degree Research Office.
Change Of Supervisors
Scholarship holders are not able to transfer to supervisors outside the area in which the scholarship was awarded unless approved under exceptional circumstances. When applying for a change of supervisor, you would need to include a brief case with the application outlining your exceptional circumstances.
See the following for general advice on Changing Supervisors (PDF).
Off-Site Research Study
Scholarship holders travelling outside of their usual area of residence for 4 weeks or more to conduct research (for example, to visit a library/archive, conduct fieldwork or vist a lab) need to complete an Offsite Research (OSR) form. The plans should be approved 4-6 weeks prior to departure. Applications may be a maximum 12 months in total, or 18 months for anthropology students. Scholarship holders continue to be paid whilst on overseas research unless they are a visiting cotutelle student. Visiting Cotutelle students are only funded for the periods of time they are enrolled for study at Macquarie University.
For insurance purposes, if you are working off-site for longer than a few days please notify your supervisor and Faculty HDR Manager of your plans (where you are going, what you are doing and for how long).
See the following for general advice on Off-site Research (PDF).
Sick, Maternity and Recreation Leave
Most scholarships offer sick, maternity and recreation leave under their conditions of award e.g. APA/MQRES/RAACE/iMURS/MUPGRA. If you are uncertain if your award has entitlements, please contact the Scholarships Officer for advice, hdrschol@vc.mq.edu.au.
General advice of claiming benefits if eligible:
Sick leave should be notified to your Faculty HDR administrator and the Higher Degree Research Office, progressions@vc.mq.edu.au, as soon as practically possible. Sick leave over 10 working days should be supported by an appropriate medical certificate to make a claim. If you have an ongoing medical condition or limited ability to work then this should be advised by your Doctor in the certificate. Sick leave may also be used for care of family who are ill.
Maternity leave is available for 12 weeks, if you have been on your award for over 12 months. If giving birth, 4 weeks before the due date you need to supply a Doctors certificate stating the anticipated date of delivery. The commencement date will be adjusted following advice from the doctor of the actual date of birth. For adoption, documents confirming the adoption date should be submitted. The appropriate documentation should be accompanied by a letter requesting maternity leave endorsed by your Associate Dean of Research. Partners of people giving birth/adopting should provide the same documents to receive 1 weeks parenting leave.
Recreation leave is 20 days per year, with a maximum 20 days able to be accrued, and must be taken during the award tenure. Leave is assumed to be taken in December-January each year. If you wish to take it at another time, please email your supervisor you intended plans and have then respond with their agreement to the Faculty HDR Manager and the Higher Degree Research Office, progressions@vc.mq.edu.au.
Suspension of Award
Scholarship holders can apply for a suspension of their award for a minimum of two - 6 months at a time, to a maximum 12 months. Generally this will not be given during your first year of candidature unless approved under exceptional circumstances. If you remain enrolled during your award suspension, this will generally count as advanced standing on your award tenure and is deducted from your award tenure when you resume studies. If you do not resume on the expected date and have not applied for further extension your award can be terminated.
See the following for general advice on Suspension of Award and Leave of Absence (RTF).
Thesis Allowances
Scholarship holder's thesis production costs (for example, binding, typographical costs, printing) may be reimbursed where tax invoices are supplied within 12 months of the thesis submission and within two years of the scholarship expiring.
From 1 January 2009, the approved HDR Thesis Allowance is $300 for a Masters degree and $600 for a PhD degree.
Extension of Scholarship
Under the conditions of award for Government PhD scholarships (APA/APAI/E-IPRS), students can apply for a 6-month extension to their award on the basis of research related delays. For example, problems recruiting subjects, unanticipated problems with experiments, damaged equipment, prolonged problems accessing archival materials. These delays should be noted on your annual report (page 3) with your supervisor commenting on your case in their section of the form. HDRO will process extensions from your annual report submission once the Annual Report collection closes in late November and you can expect written confirmation of the outcome by mid to late December.
APAI holders will also need to seek support, in writing, from their Industry partner for the additional 6 months funding and return with the Annual Report. This consent is included in our advice to the ARC that we wish to seek a variation to funding. The Faculty of registration need to agree to underwrite the extension should the variation of funding fail to be approved.
If your scholarship expires prior to the return of a completed Annual Report ( end of November each year) and you not have made a case for extension in your prior Annual report, then you can submit your case in writing to your Faculty HDR Manager, including a completion timeline and a letter of support from your supervisor. They will review your request and forward it to the HDRO for HDRC consideration.
Holders of other PhD scholarships than those listed above or the centrally funded University scholarships (RAACE, MUPGRA, iMURS, MQRES) should check their individual conditions of award to see if any extension is able to be requested. If you need further advice on your conditions of award please contact the Scholarships Officer, hdrschol@vc.mq.edu.au .
If your scholarship tenure has been fully expired, then the only completion funding available is normally Faculty funding. You will need to contact the HDR Manager in your Faculty for advice on the local completion funding policy. Where funding is available, it would usually require a similar request process with a letter to the Associate Dean of Research explaining your situation of need, what is currently completed, your timeline for the remaining completion, and some explanation of why there were delays.