Scholarships at Swinburne are about providing opportunity, promoting equity and recognising excellence and achievement. We want you to reach your potential and achieve your life and career goals.
View our handy scholarship guide to assist you in gathering the documents you may require for your application.
Scholarships are available for both commencing and current students. Some scholarships are based on academic merit or community service. Other scholarships exist to support students from Indigenous backgrounds, students suffering financial hardship or who have relocated from regional areas to study.
Are you an international student?
Whether you’re living in Australia or overseas, when you apply for a course, we’ll automatically consider you for a Swinburne international scholarship at the same time.
Search our range of university, government and privately funded scholarships offered for commencing and current students.
Provide all the necessary information required with supporting documentation. The more information you provide, the better we can assess your application.
Allow yourself enough time to put a complete application together, generally at least one hour.
Gain feedback. Ask a family member or friend to read your application.
Refer to the Selection/Eligibility Criteria in the Scholarship listing for information on what to include in your personal statement.
Writing a personal statement is an opportunity to:
- tell us who you are
- tell us what you have done and how the impact it has had on you
- tell us what you hope to achieve throughout your tertiary education and beyond.
Think about how your life experiences add value to your application. Be specific about your own journey; avoid statements that could have been written by anyone about anyone.
You may also be required to demonstrate your passion in your field of study. What made you interested in the field of study you have selected? What inspired you to want to know more?
Engage the selection panel members by demonstrating your knowledge and aptitude for your chosen field of study. What are your ambitions? What do you aim to achieve in the future?
Some key topics you may be asked to cover in your personal statement include:
Evidence of financial hardship may include but is not limited to holders of:
- Health Care Card
- Youth Allowance
- Newstart Allowance
- Austudy
- Abstudy
- Disability Support Pension; and/or
- Carer’s Payment.
If you are not a recipient of a government benefit, you may submit your last 2 months of salary slips, or your (or your parents) most recent income tax assessment notice. We cannot accept bank statements as evidence of financial hardship.
If you feel comfortable, share your story in your personal statement to tell us the hardships that you may have experienced. Focus on your goals and how you plan to reach them, despite the challenges.
Evidence of education disadvantage may include:
- disability or medical condition
- delay or interruption to career or studies because of family responsibilities or illness
- relocation from a rural or regional area to undertake tertiary study
- English as a second language
- financial difficulty or low income.
What experiences have motivated, inspired, and shaped you?
- Be specific when demonstrating your commitment to the community. For example, say “my internship with the Sierra Club’s Bald Eagle Project” rather than “my internship with a renowned environmental organisation’s project to save endangered species.”
- You may support your application by providing certificates and/or letters of participation.
Think about the tangible benefits of having additional funding to help with your studies.
- Would you still need a part-time job?
- Consider spending more time on your studies or the opportunities for extracurricular activities/community involvement/networking that will build essential skills such as leadership, teamwork and/or communication.
- Reflect on the added value of scholarship benefits that include a mentoring program or an internship. How would they affect your life or your career in the long term?
References must be less than 12 months old. You may like to forward the scholarship advertisement to your referee, so they are able to target their response.
Generally, a scholarship application will ask you to provide an academic reference and a character reference. References from people related to you cannot be considered.
Academic reference:
- Seek an academic reference from a person competent to comment on your capacity to undertake or continue tertiary studies. For example, this could be from a subject or course coordinator or school principal.
- If you are returning from a break in your studies and do not have a recent academic reference, you may explain this in your personal statement. If you have another type of reference that you wish to submit in lieu of an academic reference, explain this in your personal statement.
Character reference:
- Your character reference should be a person competent to comment on your suitability for the scholarship, for example, an employer or a community leader.
