The government is allowing universities to extend research scholarships – problem is there’s no more money

The government is allowing universities to extend Research Training Programme scholarships by six months, “for students whose research activities have been materially adversely impacted by coronavirus restrictions.”

Problem is, there is no more money and officials indicate universities can roll-over Research Training Programme funds from this year to the next.

This appears to assume that universities will have money to roll-over, which will depend on fewer HDR research students working this year and/or research offices being particularly parsimonious.

The Group of Eight, the members of which enrol half the country’s research postgraduates, warns, “there are limits” to what can be done with RTP funding . “This means either stretching more thinly the financial support available across more students; or reducing the number of new HDR students in 2021.”

And while the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations “welcomes” the extension, it warns that “finite funds” mean universities still “face the stark choice” of funding current students or “sustaining future enrolments.”