{"id":"F2021L01774","name":"Commonwealth Scholarships Guidelines Amendment (Research) 2021","slug":"commonwealth-scholarships-guidelines-amendment-research-2021","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":441110,"registerId":"F2021L01774-fast-fetch-1775956507153","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-12","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Commonwealth Scholarships Guidelines Amendment (Research) 2021","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\nmeta-generator: Aspose.Words for .NET 22.10.0\n---\n\n?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" standalone=\"no\"?>\n\n \n\n![Commonwealth Coat of Arms of Australia](image.001.jpeg)\n\n \n\nCommonwealth Scholarships Guidelines Amendment (Research) 2021\n\nI, Stuart Robert, Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills Small and Family Business, make the following instrument.\n\nDated 10 December 2021\n\nStuart Robert\n\nMinister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business\n\n\n\n\nContents\n\n1  Name\n\n2  Commencement\n\n3  Authority\n\n4  Schedules\n\n5  Application\n\nSchedule 1—Amendments\n\nCommonwealth Scholarships Guidelines (Research) 2017\n\n \n\n\n\n\n1  Name\n\n  This instrument is the Commonwealth Scholarships Guidelines Amendment (Research) 2021.\n\n2  Commencement\n\n (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.\n\n \n\n- Commencement information\n- Column 1 Column 2 Column 3\n- Provisions Commencement Date/Details\n- The whole of this instrument The day after this instrument is registered.\n\n\nNote: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made.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.\n\n (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.\n\n3  Authority\n\n  This instrument is made under section 238-10 of the Higher Education Support Act 2003.\n\n4  Schedules\n\n  Each instrument that is specified in a Schedule to this instrument is amended as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned.\n\n5  Application\n\n  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.\n\n \n\nSchedule 1—Amendments\n\nCommonwealth Scholarships Guidelines (Research) 2017\n\n1  Paragraph i.v.ii\n\nInsert (alphabetically into the existing list):\n\neligible research internship means a research internship which fulfils the requirements set out at paragraph 1.4.13.\n\n \n\nresearch 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.\n\n2  Paragraph 1.4.5 (definition of WSC)\n\nRepeal the definition, substitute:\n\n| ![](image.002.png) | = | For Grant Years prior to the 2024 Grant Year, weighted HDR student completions specified in paragraph 1.4.10, or for 2024 and future Grant Years, weighted HDR student completions specified in paragraph 1.4.12. |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n\n\n3  Paragraph 1.4.10\n\nRepeal the paragraph, substitute:\n\n1.4.10 Weightings applying to HDR student completions for Grant Years prior to the 2024 Grant Year\n\n(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.\n\n \n\n(2)                    For all Grant Years prior to the 2024 Grant Year, HDR student completions reported in the HESDC are to be weighted according to:\n\na)      each student’s Indigenous or non-Indigenous status;\n\nb)      the level of the HDR; and\n\nc)      the cost type of the HDR.\n\n \n\n(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:\n\n \n\n|  | non-Indigenous student | Indigenous student |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| High-cost Research Doctorate | 4.70 | 9.40 |\n| High-cost Research Masters | 2.35 | 4.70 |\n| Low-cost Research Doctorate | 2.00 | 4.00 |\n| Low-cost Research Masters | 1.00 | 2.00 |\n\n\n \n\n(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.\n\n4  After Paragraph 1.4.10\n\nInsert:\n\n1.4.12 Weightings applying to HDR student completions for 2024 and future Grant Years\n\n(1)                    This provision deals with how amounts of grants to an eligible scholarship provider are to be determined for 2024 and future Grant Years.\n\n \n\n(2)                    For 2024 and future Grant Years, HDR student completions reported in the HESDC are to be weighted according to:\n\na)      each student’s Indigenous or non-Indigenous status;\n\nb)      whether the student completed an eligible research internship;\n\nc)      the level of the HDR; and\n\nd)      the cost type of the HDR.\n\n \n\n(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.\n\n \n\n(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:\n\n- HDR level Cost type Completed an eligible research internship Non-Indigenous student Indigenous student\n- Research Doctorate High No 4.70 9.40\n- Yes 6.70 11.40\n- Low No 2.00 4.00\n- Yes 4.00 6.00\n- Research Masters High N/A 2.35 4.70\n- Low N/A 1.00 2.00\n\n\n \n\n(5)                    The weighting for completion of an eligible research internship is to only be applied:\n\na)      to Research Doctorate student completions on or after 1 January 2022;\n\nb)      to a student once per Research Doctorate completion; and\n\nc)      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.\n\n \n\n(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.\n\n1.4.13  Requirements of an eligible research internship\n\n(1) For the purposes of paragraph 1.4.10, an eligible research internship must:\n\na)      be undertaken by a Research Doctorate student;\n\nb)      be a minimum of three calendar months in duration;\n\nc)      include 60 full-time equivalent days of engagement in R&D activities undertaken by the student; and\n\nd)      be related to the student’s Research Doctorate area of research.\n\n \n\n(2) The HEP, student and research end-user must agree, in written form, to the:\n\na)      R&D activities to be undertaken by the student with the research end-user; and\n\nb)      duration of the internship.\n\n \n\n(3) For the purposes of subparagraph (2), the agreement must be made:\n\na)      if the student is undertaking a full-time student load—within 18 months from the commencement date of the student’s Research Doctorate; and\n\nb)      if the student is undertaking a part-time student load—within 36 months from the commencement date of the student’s Research Doctorate.\n\n \n\n(4) For the purposes of (1)(c) of this paragraph, a full-time equivalent day is:\n\na)      the number of hours in a standard working day for the industry associated with the research end‑user; or\n\nb)      if there is no standard working day—7.6 hours.\n\n \n\n(5) For the purposes of determining the commencement date and completion date of an eligible research internship, a Research Doctorate student:\n\na)      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\n\nb)      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.\n\n \n\n(6) An eligible research internship may be undertaken:\n\na)      on-site with a research end-user, on-campus and online; and\n\nb)      part-time or full-time.\n\n \n\n5  Subparagraph 1.6.45(11)\n\nOmit “research internships”, substitute “research internships”.\n\n \n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":5,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The instrument expands the funding criteria used to calculate scholarship grants by adding an \"eligible research internship\" criterion and associated documentary and timing requirements (paragraphs 1.4.12–1.4.13). It changes the scope of weighted HDR completions (paragraphs 1.4.10 and 1.4.12), introduces new compliance duties for higher education providers to verify internships, and phases application by Grant Year while limiting application to grants under Part 2‑4 of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (clause 5)."},"complexity_factors":["New eligibility and definitional rules for internships that must be verified in writing (paragraph 1.4.13(1)–(3); Schedule 1, item 1).","Change to grant-weighting formulas with a bifurcation for pre‑2024 and 2024+ Grant Years (paragraphs 1.4.10 and new 1.4.12), requiring systems updates to calculations and reporting.","Transitional and temporal conditions: the internship weighting applies only to Research Doctorate completions on or after 1 January 2022 but is applied for Grant Years 2024 and later (paragraph 1.4.12(5)(a),(c)).","Verification and administrative burden on HEPs to secure a written agreement between HEP, student and research end‑user and to record duration and R&D activities within specified timeframes (paragraph 1.4.13(2)–(3)).","Quantitative measurement requirement of 60 full‑time equivalent days and a rule for what counts as a full‑time day (industry standard or 7.6 hours), creating potential measurement disputes (paragraph 1.4.13(1)(c) and (4)).","Reporting dependency: weighted completions are derived from HDR completions reported in the HESDC, so HEP reporting processes must align with the new criteria (paragraphs 1.4.10(2), 1.4.12(2)).","Some administrative discretion/ambiguity in determining the 'standard working day for the industry associated with the research end‑user' which may require guidance (paragraph 1.4.13(4)(a)).","Narrow applicability: amendments only apply to grants payable under Part 2‑4 of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 from commencement, concentrating effects on scholarship funding (clause 5)."],"plain_english_summary":"This instrument amends the Commonwealth Scholarships Guidelines (Research) 2017 to add a formal definition of \"eligible research internship\" and to change how Higher Degree by Research (HDR) completions are weighted for Commonwealth scholarship grant payments. From 2024, universities (eligible scholarship providers) receive higher grant weightings for Research Doctorate completions where the student met specific internship requirements, shifting scholarship funding calculations and creating incentives for providers, students and research end‑users to arrange and document such internships."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The amendment stays within the original scope of the Commonwealth Scholarships Guidelines (Research) 2017, which governs how research scholarship funding is calculated and distributed. While it adds a significant new policy mechanism (internship weightings), this is an evolution of the existing funding formula rather than an expansion into new policy areas. The amendment does not create new types of scholarships or extend coverage to new student cohorts beyond the existing HDR framework."},"complexity_factors":["Multiple effective dates creating transitional complexity (pre-2024 vs 2024+ Grant Years, with internships counting from 2022)","Nested conditional logic in funding calculations (4 variables: Indigenous status, internship completion, degree level, cost type)","Detailed definitional requirements for \"eligible research internship\" spanning 6 subparagraphs with multiple conditions (duration, days, timing, written agreement, FTE calculations)","Cross-references to external documents (HESDC reporting, Part 1.7 for high-cost/low-cost field classifications)","Mathematical weighting tables with 8 distinct categories in the new system","Clarifying amendment in item 5 that changes nothing (\"research internships\" to \"research internships\") — suggests drafting oversight"],"plain_english_summary":"The legislation adds a funding bonus for universities when PhD students complete eligible industry R&D internships, changing the HDR funding formula to give extra weighting (with Indigenous double‑weighting retained). The new weightings take effect in 2024, while internships completed from 2022 can qualify.\n\nIt affects universities, HDR students and industry hosts by financially incentivising placements to boost university–industry collaboration, graduate employability and applied research impact."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/commonwealth-scholarships-guidelines-amendment-research-2021","history":"/api/acts/commonwealth-scholarships-guidelines-amendment-research-2021/history","analysis":"/api/acts/commonwealth-scholarships-guidelines-amendment-research-2021/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/commonwealth-scholarships-guidelines-amendment-research-2021/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/commonwealth-scholarships-guidelines-amendment-research-2021/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/commonwealth-scholarships-guidelines-amendment-research-2021/documents"}}