Up to $40,000 is available from the Regional Journalism Scholarships Program to support students and graduates from regional areas of Australia to take up opportunities to study journalism.
Regional Journalism Scholarships Program
The Regional Journalism Scholarships Program will support students and graduates from regional areas of Australia to take up opportunities to study journalism. In regional Australia, media employment numbers are under pressure as traditional media outlets are challenged by the evolving media landscape.
Objective
The objectives of the Regional Journalism Scholarships Program is to assist scholarship recipients to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to operate effectively as journalists in the contemporary news media industry, and be job-ready at the completion of their studies.
The expected outcomes of the Program are to increase the:
- number of regional and remote students undertaking journalism related courses
- rate of completion of these students, and
- number of regional and remote students seeking employment in journalism related occupations upon completion of their studies.
Funding
The Australian Government has announced a total of $2.4 million over two years for the Program, beginning in the financial year 2018–19. A total of $1.2 million is available for the first funding round, with the first payments to be made in October 2018, subject to execution of the grant agreement.
In total, 60 scholarships will be made available over a two year period (commencing 2018–2019), with each scholarship valued at $40,000. The funds will be able to be used by recipients to pay for course related expenses, including tuition fees, accommodation and living costs.
Eligible Activities
You can only spend grant funds on eligible grant activities as outlined in your grant agreement. The grant funding is to be used to assist scholarship recipients with their:
- tuition costs, which are those costs directly related to the eligible course of study undertaken by a scholarship recipient, and
- Eligible courses of study are those courses which:
- are classified as, or equivalent to, the Australian Standard Classification of Education field of study “Creative Arts—Communication and Media Studies—Journalism”
- are classified at the Australian Qualification Framework Level 5 (Diploma) to Level 9 (Master Degree) Level, and
- have a maximum course duration equivalent to four years full-time study.
- Eligible courses of study are those courses which:
- study related expenses.
- Study related expenses are costs directly related to the scholarship recipient undertaking an eligible course of study (such as the purchase of stationery and other equipment reasonably required by the scholarship recipient to undertaken an eligible course of study). This may include a reasonable portion of accommodation and relocation costs.
As the payment of grants may not align with the census dates for academic study, some flexibility will be provided in terms of when successful scholarship recipients must begin their selected courses—however, scholarship recipients will be required to enrol in an eligible course of study no later than 30 June 2019 for the grants provided to higher education providers under this grant opportunity.
Eligible Applicants
To be eligible for funding, applicants must:
- be a higher education provider, and
- offer an eligible course of study
Higher education providers are those providers registered by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency to offer an accredited higher education course. You must provide details of your Provider ID as part of the application process.
Timing
Applications close 27 July 2018.
