Scholarship Requirements & Conditions

Swinburne offers a range of student scholarships to support you during your study. These range from equity-based scholarships and grants to donor-funded scholarships sponsored by generous benefactors.

Swinburne offers the following types of scholarships:

University funded merit scholarships – Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence Scholarship (VCES)
Commonwealth funded scholarships - Indigenous Commonwealth Scholarships
Government and university funded equity scholarships - Access Scholarships, Swinburne Welcome Scholarships
Donor-funded scholarships – provided by university benefactors and industry partners.

International students

If you are an international student looking for the conditions of your International Excellence Scholarship (Pathway, Undergraduate or Postgraduate), George Swinburne STEM Postgraduate Scholarship or ELICOS+ Scholarship, please refer to your Course offer letter. For further information, please visit the Scholarships for international students page.

Accepting your scholarship

Students who have been successful in obtaining a scholarship will receive a scholarship offer letter via their student email with the details of the scholarship, a link to these scholarship conditions and instructions on how to accept or decline the offer. Accepting a scholarship at Swinburne means you accept and agree to your scholarship requirements and conditions. You cannot defer a scholarship to a later semester or year.

Multiple scholarships

At Swinburne, you can hold up to two scholarships concurrently during your course of study, although some donor funded scholarships allow you to hold an additional scholarship. Each scholarship held must be of a different type, for example:

One university funded merit scholarship and one donor funded scholarship (unless specified otherwise in the terms of the donor funded scholarship)
one Government and university funded scholarship and one donor funded scholarship (unless specified otherwise in the terms of the donor funded scholarship)

If you are unsure whether you are eligible to hold a second or subsequent scholarship, please contact the Scholarships Office at scholarship@swin.edu.au.

Scholarship payments

Scholarships or grants funds are paid directly into your nominated bank account, unless otherwise outlined in the benefits section of your scholarship offer.

Payments are made bi-annually each year, within four working weeks after the Census date of each semester, unless indicated otherwise in your scholarship offer letter.

The scholarship recipient acknowledges that any scholarship payment or tuition fee discount will be applied only from the first payment cycle following the formal acceptance of the scholarship. The scholarship benefits will commence in the subsequent payment cycles and will not be retroactively applied to any prior payments or tuition fees.

Scholarship recipients should seek independent advice from the relevant authorities on the impact that their scholarship may have on eligibility for Centrelink payments, or whether there will be any taxation implications.

Ongoing eligibility checks of study load and academic progress

If you have been offered a scholarship by Swinburne, please ensure you read the conditions and requirements for your Swinburne scholarship.

Failure to meet scholarship conditions, study load, and academic requirements may result in your scholarship being suspended or cancelled.

1. Enrolment check

Within four weeks after the census date for each Semester, we will conduct an enrolment check to ensure you are meeting the study load requirements for continuation of your scholarship. We will notify you via your student email if you have failed to meet study load requirements.

2. Results check

If applicable, within four weeks of the Result Release date for each Semester, we will conduct a result check to ensure you are meeting the academic requirements for the continuation of your scholarship. We will notify you via your student email if you have failed to meet any academic requirements.

Review of decision to suspend or cancel

If your scholarship is suspended or cancelled, you may apply for a special consideration of the decision if there were compassionate or compelling circumstances, i.e. circumstances outside your control that impacted your ability to study. Examples include:

illness/injury
bereavement of a close family member
natural disasters

When you are notified of a scholarship suspension or cancellation, you will also be informed how to submit a request for review of the decision. Any special circumstances requested will require independent supporting documentation.

In addition to maintaining study load and academic requirements, you must not behave in a manner which discredits the University or the Scholarship program. Doing so may result in cancellation of your scholarship. Please refer to the Regulations for Student General Misconduct and Student Academic Misconduct for further information.

Enrolment changes

Before making a change to your enrolment you should check what impact the change may have on your scholarship. Approval is required for scholarship continuation in certain circumstances.

You must notify the Scholarships Office at scholarship@swin.edu.au if you:

Transfer to another course within the University
Reduce or change your study load
Wish to take a Leave of Absence
Cancel/change your travel plans (if receiving a travel scholarships)
Accept a university international exchange

Industry-funded scholarship courses

Students enrolled in industry-funded scholarship courses are not eligible to concurrently receive a merit and/or donor-based scholarship. This condition applies to students who commenced the following courses prior to 2022:

Bachelor of Accounting and Business Information Technology (Professional); or
Bachelor of Business Information Technology (Professional).