22Awarding Indigenous Commonwealth Scholarships

22 Awarding Indigenous Commonwealth Scholarships

(1) In awarding an Indigenous Commonwealth Scholarship, a higher education provider must give priority to: (a) Indigenous students from remote areas or regional areas; and (b) Indigenous students who are financially disadvantaged. (2) If a higher education provider awards an Indigenous Commonwealth Scholarship to an Indigenous student who is not described in subsection (1), the provider must: (a) document the reasons for the award of the scholarship on the student’s file; and (b) if requested by an administering officer, provide a copy of the reasons to the officer within 10 business days of the receipt of the request. (3) A higher education provider may award an Indigenous Commonwealth Scholarship as any of the following payments: (a) a payment to the Indigenous student in the form of money or valuable consideration (direct payment); (b) a payment on behalf of the Indigenous student to enable the student to undertake or complete a course of study (indirect payment); (c) a combination of a direct and indirect payment. (4) A higher education provider must not award an Indigenous Commonwealth Scholarship to an Indigenous student unless the student accepts in writing the conditions of the scholarship as determined by the provider.