HRD students with work interrupted by COVID-19 are asking university managements for more funded time to complete.  Uni Melbourne is helping, up to a point

The university is offering PhD researchers whose funding expired/expires June-November stipend extensions of 12 to 26 weeks, depending on the extent of COVID-19 caused disruption.

There is also a six-month extension for submissions. Jeremy Waite from Uni Melbourne’s Graduate Student Association calls it a, “promising preliminary announcement.”

The university expects to make a further announcement on what it can do in September. But researchers should not get hopes up. The university warns it will need to manage finite funds to assist current and soon to start researchers as COVID-19 continues.

It’s a problem all-over, with existing HDR public funds at most universities being stretched. As the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations puts it, “universities still “face the stark choice” of funding current students or “sustaining future enrolments,” (CMM May 11).