Who is eligible?
All Applicants should be prepared to undertake study in English, live in Australia or Fiji (with a culture which may be very different to the Awardees expectations) and under stringent academic conditions. Maturity and resilience are qualities sought in Applicants. Applicants should research their in-study country conditions and suitability to their particular needs before applying, as pre-existing conditions may be aggravated by the stress of undertaking the Scholarship. Applicants must meet the eligibility criteria listed in the Australia Awards Scholarships Policy Handbook and the Australia Awards Pacific Scholarships Policy Handbook. Check the Resources tab for the most current policy handbooks.
Before considering applying for a scholarship, please check that you meet all the eligibility requirements listed in the Australia Awards Policy Handbooks, listed below:
- be a minimum of 18 years of age on 1 February of the year of commencing the scholarship;
- be a citizen of a participating country (as listed on the Australia Awards website) and be residing in and applying for the scholarship from their country of citizenship;
- not be a citizen of Australia, hold permanent residency in Australia or be applying for a visa to live in Australia permanently;
- not be married to, engaged to, or a de facto of a person who holds, or is eligible to hold, Australian or New Zealand citizenship or permanent residency, at any time during the application, selection and mobilisation phases (note: residents of Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau with New Zealand citizenship are eligible but must apply for a Student visa [subclass 500]);
- not have previously received a long-term Australia Award unless they have resided outside of Australia for twice the length of the total time that they were in Australia (for example, a previous awardee who has been on an Australia Awards Scholarship in Australia for four years will not be eligible to apply for another Australia Awards Scholarship until they have resided outside Australia for eight years);
- not hold convictions of criminal activities (including in their home country) including those relating to Child Protection and PSEAH;
- have satisfied any specific criteria established by the Program Area or the government of the applicant’s country of citizenship (e.g. having worked a certain number of years in an appropriate sector);
- be able to satisfy the admission requirements of the institution at which the award is to be undertaken (this may mean that Program Areas will need to withdraw an award offer if the recipient cannot satisfy the institution’s admission requirements. This may not be known until Program Areas request a placement at selected institutions);
Vanuatu Country specific academic conditions
In addition to the eligibility requirements, candidates from Vanuatu must also meet the following conditions:
Bachelor level
Senior Secondary (Anglophone): Form 7 grades of A+, A or B for the top four subjects, including English, or (if still to complete Form 7) Form 6 grades of 1 or 2 for the top four subjects, including English.
Senior secondary (Francophone): Grades of 12+ (out of 20) for all subjects in most recent year of study.
Masters level
Minimum GPA of 3.0 across university transcript or equivalent (e.g.12 out of 20, Francophone). A lower GPA may be considered in exceptional circumstances.
Certificate VI and above at TVET level
All institution course pre-requisites including strong English language skills