Commonwealth Scholarships Guidelines Amendment (Research) 2021

I, Stuart Robert, Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills Small and Family Business, make the following instrument.

Dated 10 December 2021

Stuart Robert

Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business

Contents

1  Name

2  Commencement

3  Authority

4  Schedules

5  Application

Schedule 1—Amendments

Commonwealth Scholarships Guidelines (Research) 2017

1  Name

  This instrument is the Commonwealth Scholarships Guidelines Amendment (Research) 2021.

2  Commencement

 (1) Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.

Note: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument.

 (2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this instrument.

3  Authority

  This instrument is made under section 238-10 of the Higher Education Support Act 2003.

4  Schedules

  Each instrument that is specified in a Schedule to this instrument is amended as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned.

5  Application

  The amendments made by this instrument only apply in respect of grants payable under Part 2-4 of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 on and from commencement.

Schedule 1—Amendments

Commonwealth Scholarships Guidelines (Research) 2017

1  Paragraph i.v.ii

Insert (alphabetically into the existing list):

eligible research internship means a research internship which fulfils the requirements set out at paragraph 1.4.13.

research internship   means a position with a research end‑user where a student has undertaken R&D related to their HDR. A research internship can be either paid or unpaid, and can form part of the enrolment or be undertaken during an HDR period of suspension.

2  Paragraph 1.4.5 (definition of WSC)

Repeal the definition, substitute:

3  Paragraph 1.4.10

Repeal the paragraph, substitute:

1.4.10 Weightings applying to HDR student completions for Grant Years prior to the 2024 Grant Year

(1)                    This provision deals with how amounts of grants to an eligible scholarship provider are to be determined for Grant Years prior to the 2024 Grant Year.

(2)                    For all Grant Years prior to the 2024 Grant Year, HDR student completions reported in the HESDC are to be weighted according to:

a)      each student’s Indigenous or non-Indigenous status;

b)      the level of the HDR; and

c)      the cost type of the HDR.

(3)                    A HEP’s weighted student completions for a year is equal to the sum of the number of completions for each student type multiplied by the HDR cost type as specified in the following table:

(4)                    High-cost and low-cost completions are determined in accordance with high-cost and low‑cost fields of education identified in Part 1.7.

4  After Paragraph 1.4.10

Insert:

1.4.12 Weightings applying to HDR student completions for 2024 and future Grant Years

(1)                    This provision deals with how amounts of grants to an eligible scholarship provider are to be determined for 2024 and future Grant Years.

(2)                    For 2024 and future Grant Years, HDR student completions reported in the HESDC are to be weighted according to:

a)      each student’s Indigenous or non-Indigenous status;

b)      whether the student completed an eligible research internship;

c)      the level of the HDR; and

d)      the cost type of the HDR.

(3)                    For the purposes of (2)(b) and the table in (4) of this paragraph, a student has completed an eligible research internship where they have met the requirements about duration, days, hours and commencement as set out in paragraph 1.4.13, even where they continue engaging in the eligible research internship after they have already met those requirements.

(4)                    A HEP’s weighted student completions for a year is equal to the sum of the number of completions for each student type multiplied by the HDR cost type, as specified in the following table:

(5)                    The weighting for completion of an eligible research internship is to only be applied:

a)      to Research Doctorate student completions on or after 1 January 2022;

b)      to a student once per Research Doctorate completion; and

c)      where the requirements of an eligible research internship set out in paragraph 1.4.13 have been met prior to a student completing their Research Doctorate.

(6)                    High-cost and low-cost completions are determined in accordance with high-cost and low‑cost fields of education identified in Part 1.7.

1.4.13  Requirements of an eligible research internship

(1) For the purposes of paragraph 1.4.10, an eligible research internship must:

a)      be undertaken by a Research Doctorate student;

b)      be a minimum of three calendar months in duration;

c)      include 60 full-time equivalent days of engagement in R&D activities undertaken by the student; and

d)      be related to the student’s Research Doctorate area of research.

(2) The HEP, student and research end-user must agree, in written form, to the:

a)      R&D activities to be undertaken by the student with the research end-user; and

b)      duration of the internship.

(3) For the purposes of subparagraph (2), the agreement must be made:

a)      if the student is undertaking a full-time student load—within 18 months from the commencement date of the student’s Research Doctorate; and

b)      if the student is undertaking a part-time student load—within 36 months from the commencement date of the student’s Research Doctorate.

(4) For the purposes of (1)(c) of this paragraph, a full-time equivalent day is:

a)      the number of hours in a standard working day for the industry associated with the research end‑user; or

b)      if there is no standard working day—7.6 hours.

(5) For the purposes of determining the commencement date and completion date of an eligible research internship, a Research Doctorate student:

a)      commences an internship on the first day the student engages in R&D activities which count towards the full-time equivalent days of engagement with a research end-user; and

b)      concludes the internship on the last day the student engages in R&D activities which count towards the full-time equivalent days of engagement with the same research end-user.

(6) An eligible research internship may be undertaken:

a)      on-site with a research end-user, on-campus and online; and

b)      part-time or full-time.

5  Subparagraph 1.6.45(11)

Omit “research internships”, substitute “research internships”.