STEAM Excellence Scholarship

About this Program

The STEAM Excellence Scholarship has been established to attract high-performing students to study at the University of Newcastle. This merit-based scholarship acknowledges applicants with a strong academic background and provides an ongoing incentive for continued academic achievement. Scholarships will be awarded to applicants who receive an offer to study in an eligible program and who will commence study with the University of Newcastle in Trimester 2, 2024 and beyond.

Eligibility

The successful scholar must:

Be an international full fee-paying student.
Be commencing study in an eligible CRICOS-registered undergraduate or postgraduate coursework degree priority program at the University.
Not be the beneficiary of a separate University scholarship unless prior approval or special dispensation has been obtained from the university.
Be able to meet the financial obligations of a full fee-paying international student specified by the Australian Government. Evidence of this ability must be provided if requested by the university.

The following students are not eligible to receive this scholarship, even if they meet the criteria outlined

Students who have not received an offer for the scholarship.
Students who are studying ELBP, Enabling, Non-Award, Study Exchange or Abroad, Higher Degrees by Research programs and programs delivered at offshore campuses or via online delivery.
Internal transfer students who are studying at an Australian campus and were not previously awarded a scholarship by the university.
Students who are sponsored by an external entity or are recipients of an Australia Awards scholarship, or students transferring from the University’s Singapore campus.

Selection

Scholarships are automatically applied for upon application to the University (where other eligibility criteria are met).

Students will receive notification of the scholarship value in the Letter of Offer.
Should an applicant wish to reject this offer of scholarship, it is the recipient’s responsibility to inform the University.
Scholarship offers will be made based on academic merit. All determinations of academic merit are aligned to the University’s published entry and eligibility processes and made at the discretion of the University.
The University reserves the right not to award the scholarship.
The University reserves the right to withdraw or amend the offer of scholarship if the applicant is subsequently deemed to be ineligible, the applicant is in breach of the terms of the scholarship offer or the scholarship is no longer offered.

Conditions of award

The scholarship is payable for the number of units required to complete the eligible program as specified in the University’s program handbook. This excludes units awarded as credit or ‘Recognition of Prior Learning’, and credit granted after commencement of a program.
The scholarship must be taken up for the program (including master programs packaged with a graduate certificate), and in the intake for which it was awarded.
If a recipient defers their offer to a future intake, scholarship eligibility will be reassessed prior to commencement and is not guaranteed.
If a recipient applies for an internal transfer to an alternative program, scholarship eligibility will be reassessed and is not guaranteed.
If a recipient has identified that an incorrect scholarship has been offered, or a scholarship has not been offered where eligibility criteria has been met, they must notify International Admissions before Census of their first term of study. No reassessments or revisions to the scholarship will be made after this date.
The scholarship provides a tuition fee waiver and does not cover the costs of visas, Overseas Student Health Cover, travel, accommodation, living expenses, amenities fees, books, study materials or any other expenses associated with studying at the University.
The recipient must pay the appropriate tuition fees within the stipulated payment deadlines and must remain in good financial standing with the University.
The recipient must remain compliant with the conditions of their visa, including but not limited to the requirement to maintain a full-time study load if holding a student visa, unless approval is obtained for a reduced study load (visit the University’s webpage for additional details).
The recipient must maintain international student status during their enrolment at the University. The scholarship will be terminated if the recipient ceases to be an international student as defined under the Migration Regulations 1994.
The recipient must maintain a consistent level of academic achievement for the program of study. If a recipient does not achieve a Grade Point Average (GPA) of at least 4.0 throughout their enrolment, eligibility for the scholarship will be reassessed and the scholarship may be cancelled. Reinstatement will be at the discretion of the University.
The recipient may be required to participate in marketing activities for and on behalf of the University, which may be published on the University’s website or used for other promotional purposes. The recipient must be willing to be featured in such promotional collateral produced by the University and be involved in promotional activity arranged by the University. Recipients acknowledge and accept these terms and conditions, and consent for their image and / or testimonial to be used for promotional purposes.

Termination

A scholarship shall terminate before its due date of conclusion if the recipient:

Fails to fulfil any of the conditions of the scholarship, or
Relinquishes the scholarship, or
Ceases to be an international student at the University, whichever first occurs.

Benefits

For Selected Students:

The scholarship is based on a fixed value for each year of study in the eligible program (Appendix A) under a standard full-time study load (80 units) apportioned over each course taken. Table 1 outlines the maximum scholarship value available to the recipient dependent on region. Appendix B identifies the countries included in each region for this scholarship. It is applied on a pro-rata basis, taking into consideration approved reduced study load, credit exemptions, recognition of prior learning awards, progression or partial-year programs such as graduate certificates.

Annual Scholarship Value for Asia Pacific = AU$12,000, Africa and Middle East AU= $8,000 and for rest of world = AU$4,000
Unit Value (based on 10 units) for Asia Pacific = AU$15,000, Africa and Middle East AU= $1,000 and for rest of world = AU$500

This will be administered for each term of study in the eligible program(s) as a tuition fee reduction against the number of units required to successfully complete the program of study as specified in the University’s program handbook. For programs requiring over 80 units full-time study load for each year of study, the applicable unit value noted will be paid for each additional 10 units.

Where offers to a Master program are packaged with either a Graduate Certificate or Graduate Diploma, the scholarship is payable for both programs undertaken.

Should a recipient need to retake units or take additional units to complete the program that exceeds the units of study indicated in the letter of offer (the scholarship benefit has been exhausted), the scholarship benefit will no longer be applied to the remaining units of study required to complete the program.

The scholarship benefit will be applied as tuition fee waivers directly into the recipient’s University student account. This will reduce the tuition fee liability by the scholarship benefit amount for each term of the program of study, provided the conditions of the scholarship are maintained. The benefit amount will be calculated on the number of units the recipient is enrolled in at Census date for each term.

Recipients will be billed normal tuition fee rates based on enrolment load leading into census date of each eligible term for which the benefit applies. The tuition fee waiver may not be reflected on the tuition fee account until census date has passed. After census date, a fee waiver will be applied to the recipient’s student account. Any overpayment by the recipient will remain in the tuition fee account to allocate to the next term’s fees. A recipient who has completed their full program of study can apply for a refund of unallocated fees.

If a recipient withdraws from the program of study, the scholarship value (which was applied as a fee waiver to the student account) will be retained by the University and is not refundable to the recipient.

Suspension of Scholarship Benefit

A recipient may apply in writing for a suspension of the scholarship benefit due to illness, injury, or other extenuating circumstances. All applications must be supported by appropriate documentary evidence for the request to be assessed. Periods of suspension approved by the University shall not reduce the tenure of the scholarship.