A comprehensive guide about Destination Australia Scholarship
One of the key question many international students have is What is Destination Australia Scholarship, how does it work and how to apply for this scholarship?
So in this article, we are going to give a complete guide about Destination Australia Scholarship
What is Destination Australia Scholarship?
On 20th of march 2019, Australian government announced this scholarship known as Destination Australia. The aim of this scholarship is to encourage both domestic and international students to study in regional Australia.
Over a 1000 scholarships are offered each year to support the study and living expenses for these students in the regional area.
In 2020 around 1180 scholarships were awarded at 35 different institutes across regional Australia.
This new scholarship program delivers on the Government’s commitment to attract more students – both domestic and international – to study in regional locations.
How much is Destination Australia scholarship?
As discussed earlier, there will be 1000 scholarships available each year for this scholarship. It is planned to split these 1000 spots between both international and domestic students (500 each) equally.
The value of this scholarship is $15000 per year and it will be paid for the minimum number of years that are required to complete a course.
So, let’s say, you are planning to undertake a Bachelor’s degree in the regional area and it will take you 3 years to complete this bachelor’s program. For each of these 3 years, you will get $15,000, which means a total of $45,000 for the duration of the course.
Who is eligible to apply for this scholarship?
There are few eligibility requirements you need to meet when you are planning to apply for this scholarship. Some of them include:
- You must be planning to study a full-time course in regional Australia. So it can’t be for the part-time study.
- It is available only for eligible institutions – Only certain institutions in regional areas can offer the Destination Australia scholarship. You can check the complete list of institutions here.
- It is available only for eligible courses – when it comes to courses you can choose to do either vocational courses or a degree programs.
Some of vocation courses include: Certificate IV, Diploma and Advanced diploma. The degree programs include: Bachelor degree, Master’s degree and PhD. programs
Please note that each institute that you are applying for may only have a specific type of courses eligible for this scholarship. They may not be offering this scholarship for all the courses available in that education provider.
- You must maintain your student visa throughout the duration of the course
- You must be studying in a regional area to be eligible for the scholarship
Also keep in mind that the institute you’re applying for may have their own criteria’s and own eligibility requirements when you’re applying for the scholarship.
What are the benefits of this scholarship?
There are many benefits of this scholarship including:
- Financial support which is up to 15 000 per year
- Lower cost of living in regional areas as compared to the city areas
- Chance to experience the lifestyle of regional Australia
- Additional migration benefits like extra time for the post study work visas etc.
If you want to know more about the benefits of studying in regional Australia, then we suggest you to check this video out or you can read more about regional areas in this article.
How to apply for this scholarship?
Before you get to apply for this scholarship, it is important to understand that institutes and universities in regional areas must apply for this scholarship to the Department of Education each year.
Then, Department of education will allocate these places for the eligible institutions in a regional areas.
Once these institutions are announced, then students can apply directly to these institutes for the Destination Australia scholarship. You can look up for these institutions on the Department of Education’s website.
Please note that these educational institutions might change each year based on their application and eligibility.
As a student, you can directly apply this scholarship to the institute by completing an application forms available on their website.
Now the selection of this scholarship will be based made on your application.
Usually many institutes require you to write a personal statement when you’re applying for this scholarship. It is around 600 words and you may have to include information like:
- Why you are applying for this scholarship?
- Why are you choosing to study in this specific regional area?
- Why are you choosing the specific institute?
- How this scholarship might benefit your career?
Once applied your application will be assessed by the selection committee of the institute and if your application is accepted then there could be further interviews or video interviews before they finally award you this scholarship.
Again, this personal statement requirement may vary from one education provider to other. Education providers can have their own criteria’s and interview requirements.
We highly recommend you to check the website of your education provider’s website for complete eligibility requirements and application process.
How do you get the scholarship money?
If you get awarded this scholarship from your educational provider, the money will be directly deposited into your Australian bank account every year as per the agreed payment schedule.
As per our observations, many education providers actually pay this scholarship money in a half-yearly installments, which is $7,500 every six months.
This payment schedule may vary depending upon your agreement with the education provider.
While, there are only 1,000 spots available for this scholarship, $15,000 is a substantial amount of money as an international student. So, we highly recommend you to look for your options to apply for this scholarship.
You can also check our article on 6 steps for applying for a scholarship in Australia here.
We would love to hear which regional area or institute are you planning to study in 2021 and beyond. Please put your thoughts in the comment below.
