Managing your Candidature

Managing your enrolment

Any changes to your enrolment should first be discussed with your supervisory team. Please note that backdated variation requests will not be approved. All requests must be future-dated and consider the approval and processing time-frames. For this reason, we recommend variations be submitted at least two weeks prior to their proposed commencement date, otherwise they will be effective from the date processed by the Graduate Research Office team

Study Load

Whether you are enrolled in a PhD or Masters by Research, your academic unit and the delegate of the Graduate Research Committee need to be satisfied that prospective and current students have sufficient time available to devote to their research, as well as complete any course requirements, and participate in relevant academic activities and meet with their supervisory team.

The expected duration of an Australian Doctoral qualification is usually 3-4 years (full-time). At Monash we set your candidature duration at 3 years and 6 months from the start of your enrolment. The duration of the academic year for graduate research students is 48 weeks with 4 weeks of annual leave (pro-rata for part-time students).

There may be restrictions on students enrolling part-time due to course requirements as published in the University Handbook. These may include restrictions due to campus or location requirements. Similarly, students who are scholarship recipients are subject to the University’s Research Training Scholarship Policy and RTP Scholarship Procedure.

Australian regulatory requirements mean that International students on Australian student visas must enrol on a full-time basis unless there are compassionate or compelling circumstances, defined as personal circumstances that:

• Are involuntary and outside your control, such as medical, family, or wellbeing reasons, and
• Present you with limited or no choice but to take leave from your studies.

International students enrolled through other campuses (such as Monash University Malaysia or Indonesia) should contact their faculty and/or relevant campus office for advice prior to submitting an application for part-time enrolment.

Annual re-enrolment

All currently enrolled Graduate Research students are required to re-enrol annually at the University via the Web Enrolment System (WES). To assist you with meeting this requirement, we will send information and instructions about online re-enrolment in early October. All communication around re-enrolment will be sent to your Monash University student email account. For further information about re-enrolment please visit our Re-enrolment website.

External (off-campus) enrolment

In some instances, a student may be able to enrol in our graduate research courses via external, or off campus, mode. Not all courses permit external enrolment, so you should check the University course handbook and with your Faculty in the first instance.

When considering external enrolment, a student must discuss and develop a study plan with their main supervisor, outlining how all course requirements will be met, including, but not limited to:

• A schedule outlining how they will maintain regular contact with their supervisors and undertake any required academic unit seminars/activities, milestones and mandatory practica or industry or research internships (where applicable); and
• Mandatory coursework units.
• How the student will have access to the research facilities and resources required to successfully undertake the student’s research project, including supervisory arrangements, for the full duration of their external enrolment; and
• Where the student’s research involves a third party – for example, the student is involved in a collaborative research project involving another party either in Australia or overseas - that the student will be provided with the training and supervision necessary for their project to be conducted in a manner that is safe and without risks to the health of the student (including training in relevant emergency and safety procedures).

An application for external enrolment where available should be made via the application for attendance variation form. Note that backdated variation requests will not be approved.

The decision to approve an application for external enrolment resides with the Graduate Research Committee (GRC) or its delegate and may be subject to any conditions that the Graduate Research Committee (or its delegate) thinks fit.

Restrictions on applying for external enrolment

In addition to your course being enabled for external enrolment, there may be instances where it is not generally available due to a regulatory requirement.

External enrolment in a graduate research degree is generally not available when the intended off-campus research location is within daily commuting distance of the campus of enrolment.

External enrolment in a graduate research degree is not available to international students studying in Australia on an Australian student visa. In the event that an international student in Australia on an Australian student visa is approved to enrol via external enrolment mode, their:

• Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE) will be cancelled by Monash University.
• Student visa may be cancelled by the Department of Home Affairs and they must not remain in Australia from the date their external enrolment comes into effect.

External enrolment in a graduate research degree is not available to students enrolled in a graduate research degree (higher degree by research) at Monash University campuses and teaching locations outside Australia.

Students should refer to the University Handbook for information on whether their enrolled course permits external enrolment.

Students who are in receipt of a scholarship that falls within the scope of the RTP Scholarship Procedure will only be approved to enrol via external mode under limited circumstances. Refer to the RTP Scholarship Procedure for details.

Attendance conversion

Depending on your course and research project, you may have options that allow you to to convert from full time to part time, or to convert to external enrolment. If you are considering these types of changes to your enrolment, you should discuss this first with your Faculty to ensure your preferred option is available.

Please be aware there may be implications to your scholarship (if you have one) if you wish to convert to part time enrolment (for example, under ATO requirements, part−time stipends are taxable, and part time enrolment while maintaining your scholarship is only available under limited circumstances). If you need taxation advice, please contact the Australian Taxation Office directly; for information on the circumstances under which you may be permitted to hold a part-time scholarship, see the RTP Scholarships Procedure.

If you have any further questions relating to your scholarship please speak to our Scholarships team (mgro-scholarships@monash.edu).

Applying for study away

Currently travel is being approved for essential research as part of the graduate research course.  For details on eligibility criteria and how to apply, please see the Managing your travel page the Study Away section of the Graduate Research Forms page.

Applying for writing up away

Students in the final stages of their enrolment may be eligible for writing up away for a period of three months (full time equivalent) to facilitate relocation, with a potential extension up to three months (full time equivalent) in exceptional circumstances. Domestic students may apply for writing up away interstate and international students may apply for writing up away to their home only.

Prior to submitting your application, please make sure you have:

• sufficient enrolment remaining to cover the period of writing up away
• completed all milestones and course requirements as outlined in the University Handbook
• completed all research and experiential work
• a first full draft of your thesis
• written confirmation from your main supervisor and head of academic unit (or delegate) that all the above requirements have been met.

Please see the Graduate Research Enrolment Procedure for further information.

Leave Options/ Types

To ensure we remain productive, we all need a break at times. There are a range of different types of leave available to full-time and part-time students some of which will suspend your enrolment and adjust your milestones, expected thesis submission date and course end-date out by the correlating period of leave. For scholarship holders some of these types of leave may be paid, while others will result in a suspension of your scholarship payments.

Types of leave:

• annual leave
  • All full-time students are entitled to take up to 4 weeks of annual leave each year of candidature; part-time students up to 2 weeks as their course enrolment is half-time. Leave doesn’t require formal approval and doesn’t suspend your enrolment or extend your candidature; please discuss timing with your supervisor to ensure that there are no adverse impacts on your course progression.
• leave of absence
  • A student can take leave of absence for up to a cumulative total of 12 months across the duration of your candidature. Leave must be applied for and should be in blocks of no less than 2-weeks and will not be approved in the first or last 6 months of enrolment except where exceptional circumstances are demonstrated. Candidature will be suspended for the approved period of leave and you must advise us of your return so that your enrolment can be reactivated. Use this leave for:
    • personal and professional commitments
    • just to take a break from studying
    • personal leave (sick leave or carer’s leave)
    • defence reserve service leave
    • jury service
    • firefighting and emergency assistance
    • family violence leave.
• parental, partner and adoption leave
  • In addition to annual leave and leave of absence, students can apply for up to 12 months parental, partner and adoption leave.
  • Students can apply for a further 12 months parental, partner and adoption leave for any subsequent child.
  • Leave should commence no earlier than 6 weeks prior to the expected birth of your child and no later than 6 weeks after the birth of your child.

For scholarship holders the condition of your scholarship may include some paid leave entitlements such as annual leave, personal leave (sick or carer's leave) and parental leave. You should consult the conditions of your scholarship. For Monash awarded RTP and MGS scholarships, refer to the Research Training Scholarship Policy and RTP Procedure; see the table of paid leave entitlements here.

Apply for leave

Leave of absence, parental and other leave as outlined require a formal application and approval. In some instances, documentary evidence is required.

Documentary evidence must be provided in English. Examples of documentary evidence include but are not limited to:

• Personal leave (Sick or Carer’s leave) - a valid medical certificate or a certificate issued by a registered health professional. For carer’s leave, where a medical certificate or certificate issued by a registered health professional is not available, a statutory declaration is acceptable. Any submitted certificate should outline the length of time you are likely unable to undertake your studies and any relevant information on your ability to resume your studies, taking into account your attendance and progress requirements and any applicable enrolment conditions.
• Parental, partner or adoption leave - a valid medical certificate stating the expected date of birth of the child or, in the case of adoption, documentary evidence of the date of placement of the child with you.
• Jury duty leave - a statement from the Office of the Juries Commissioner (OJC) specifying the number of days and period when you were a member of the jury. (This information is provided on the payment slip prepared by the OJC).

If you are taking annual leave, you do not need to formally apply for approval to take leave, but you do need to discuss with your supervisor to ensure there are no adverse impacts on your research progression.

Please note that applications for personal leave (sick or carer's leave) must be submitted within 2-weeks of the leave period.

If you are an international student visa holder, it is important to note that your Visa may impose restrictions on your ability to take certain types of leave where it involves your enrolment being suspended. You must check your Visa and issuing office conditions. For International Visa holders based at Australian campuses, any leave requests must meet the compassionate or compelling criteria and be supported by appropriate documentary evidence. Compassionate and compelling reasons may include:

• Course progression restrictions or unit unavailability
• Bereavement of a close family member (such as partner, parent, or grandparent);
• Significant medical;
• Pregnancy/childbirth;
• Family reasons; home country natural disaster; major home country political upheaval;
• Military service obligation;

Contact our candidature team to better understand your options mgro-candidature@monash.edu

If you are a scholarship holder, please contact our Scholarships team (mgro-scholarships@monash.edu) to find out how taking leave may affect your scholarship.

You should ensure that you understand your leave entitlements and any related conditions before applying for leave.

Apply for leave here.

Withdrawing from your research degree

Sometimes things don’t go according to plan and the time may no longer be right for you to commit to your studies. Any student considering withdrawal from their research program should discuss any difficulties they are facing with their supervisor(s), Graduate Research Coordinator or head of the academic unit so that all options are considered. You should also check that there are no academic or financial impacts (such as scholarship overpayment or other sponsor commitments) on your withdrawal. Note that if you are enrolled in coursework units there could be other implications for withdrawing at certain times, please check these thoroughly (some advice below to get you on your way).

Students who do not wish to continue with their research program are required to notify the University by completing a Withdrawal form. A withdrawal is only valid once it has been approved by the GRC delegate and processed into your student record.

If you are enrolled in any current coursework units these will be discontinued. Depending upon when this withdrawal is applied for, one of the following scenarios applies:

• If a student withdraws before the census date, any enrolled units will have the status of "Withdrawn early". An exception is "Withdrawn no load", which applies to some teaching periods.
• If a student withdraws after the census date but before the withdrawn fail date, any enrolled units will have the status of 'Withdrawn Late'.
• Where a student withdraws after the withdrawn fail date, any enrolled units will show 'Withdrawn Fail'.

Note: The University can not process backdated requests, the earliest date a withdrawal can be processed is the date it is endorsed and received by the central Monash Graduate Research Office team.

Thesis Submission Date

If your thesis preparation is tracking well and you’re set to submit your thesis on time, you should refer to the thesis examination website for all the details about preparing and submitting your thesis.

If you have been impacted by research delays beyond your control and you will not be able to submit on time, you will need to submit an application to extend your thesis submission date. You are able to apply for extensions up to 4 years EFT in a single application or as two 3 month extensions.

Please note the following information in applying for extensions to your Thesis Submission Date:

• You must have achieved your Final Review milestone to be eligible for an extension;
• Applications;
  • Should be submitted at least 2-weeks before your due date
  • Can be submitted no earlier than 6 months before your due date
  • Must include a detailed timeline and justification for the extension
  • Must be submitted via the Thesis Submission Extension form

If you’re an international student and your current visa expires before you finish your course, you may need to extend your stay. Visit Monash Connect for more information. Extending your thesis submission date can also incur additional course fees. You should refer to your scholarship conditions, if applicable, and be aware of any further charges.

For further information on your entitlements please see the Graduate Research Enrolment Procedure (section 6.7-6.10).