UWA Safety Net Top-Up Scholarships

In January 2009 UWA Safety Net Top-Up Scholarships valued at $5000pa for 2009 (full-time rate) were awarded to new and current holders of Australian Postgraduate Awards (APAs), University Postgraduate Awards (UPAs), University Postgraduate Awards (International Students) (UPAIS) and UWA Completion Scholarships, who do not hold other top-up scholarships of at least $5000 per annum. The pro-rata Part-Time (taxable) 2009 Top-Up stipend is $2676pa.

This new scheme was introduced by the Scholarships Committee for 2009 in order to raise the basic postgraduate stipend at UWA to at least $25,000 pa. The Federal Government has not increased the real level of the APA for many years, and the current APA stipend of $20,427pa (2009 rate) is below subsistence level. Although the central UWA Scholarships Budget does not provide top-ups for Ad Hoc and externally-funded scholarships, the recommended minimum Ad Hoc and Completion Scholarship stipends have been increased to $25,427pa for 2009.

The award and value of the UWA Top-Up stipend for each year is wholly within the discretion of the Scholarships Committee. The Committee will take various factors into consideration, especially the value of the APA stipend set by DEEWR. It will be reviewed annually and the annual value may be varied up or down in subsequent years from the amount initially quoted in the year of commencement.

The Scholarships Committee has confirmed that as this is a ‘Safety-Net’ scheme, the UWA Top-Up stipend will not continue to be paid at the rate of $5000pa in future years if there is a substantial increase to the APA stipend. In the recent Federal Budget it was announced that the APA stipend will be increased to $22,500pa for 2010, and the Scholarships Committee will reduce the Top-Up for 2010 to $3500pa in the light of the APA increase. The combined annual stipend for APA/UPA and UWA Top-Up holders in 2010 will be $26,000pa (subject to confirmation of the APA stipend by DEEWR). All Top-Up recipients will be advised of the 2010 UWA Top-Up and APA/UPA stipends for 2010 via their UWA student email accounts once DEEWR has officially confirmed the 2010 APA stipend.

Important Policy Change - Relaxation of Restriction on Other Top-Ups for 2009 Awardees

At the meeting of 2nd March 2009, the Scholarships Committee reconsidered the previous decision to restrict Safety Net Top-Ups to APA/UPA holders without other top-ups.  Although the central Scholarships Budget cannot fund the removal of the restriction on other top-ups for ALL new and current APA/UPA/UPAIS holders, the Committee has agreed to relax the restriction on other top-ups for new 2009 students. The new policies are as follows:

• New 2009 students with other Top-Ups of up to a maximum of $10,000pa, including externally-funded and Ad Hoc top-ups, and top-ups awarded by the Scholarships Committee, will be offered the UWA Safety Net Top-Ups.
• Payment will be backdated to 1 January 2009, or to the date of enrolment in 2009.
• Pre-2009 students, who are subsequently awarded other new Top-Ups of up to a maximum of $10,000pa in 2009, will be eligible to keep their centrally-funded UWA Safety Net Top-Ups.
• Pre-2009 students who were already in receipt of other top-ups as at 1 January 2009 will unfortunately NOT be eligible for the central Safety Net Top-Ups. This is due to budget constraints.
• However, Safety Net Top-Ups may be awarded to pre-2009 students for the 6 month extension of their APA/UPA/UPAIS scholarship, if the original top-up funding did not have extension provisions

Further Information

Heather Williams
Manager, Postgraduate Scholarships
Graduate Research and Scholarships Office
(08) 6488 4740
heather.williams@uwa.edu.au