How RTP Scholarship Ranking Works
Every university scores and ranks applicants within a round, and the top-ranked candidates get the stipends. The criteria are published. The weights mostly aren’t.
ScholarshipUnion Editorial
3 min read
Updated Oct 6, 2026
The basic mechanism
RTP stipends are awarded competitively. ANU, for example, awards scholarships through a competitive ranking process to the top-ranked candidates who meet merit-based criteria (ANU RTP page). Applicants in the same round are scored, put in order, and offers go down the list until the money for that round runs out.
For international applicants the list is short at the top, because only up to 10% of a university’s RTP funding can go to international scholarships. University-funded awards such as Sydney’s USYDIS or the Monash Graduate Scholarship appear to be allocated from the same ranking (our reading; the universities do not say so explicitly).
What each university says it scores
| University | Published criteria |
|---|---|
| Melbourne | Academic achievement in your last completed degree and research potential. May also consider a degree at the same level, professional experience, refereed publications, specialist medical qualifications or original music composition (Melbourne RTP page). |
| ANU | Academic record, research potential, supervisor support, referee reports, English language competency, and comparison with other applicants. |
| UQ | Academic performance, research capability, project quality, research environment quality, and the advisory team’s credentials. |
| UTS | Academic merit; research potential and relevant experience; publications; relevance of the research to UTS strengths. |
| Sydney | Competitively awarded. Preference may go to PhD applicants and those without a prior same-level research degree or scholarship. |
Sources: Melbourne GRS, ANU URS, UQGRSS, UTS 2026 conditions, Sydney.
Grades carry the most weight
Every list above starts with academic results. Melbourne is explicit that it ranks on the academic achievement of your last completed degree. ANU’s University Research Scholarships set a minimum of first-class honours or equivalent. Your grades are fixed by the time you apply, so the main lever is how clearly you present them: include the grading scheme, your class rank or percentile if your university issues it, and your thesis grade separately.
Research potential
This is where you can still move the score. Panels look for evidence that you have already done research:
- A research thesis with its length and grade stated plainly.
- Refereed publications — Melbourne and UTS name them directly. A first-author journal article counts for more than a list of co-authored conference abstracts.
- Relevant research experience such as research assistant work or industry R&D, with what you actually did.
- Referee reports that compare you with other students and give specific examples.
Supervisor and fit
ANU counts supervisor support, UQ scores project quality, the research environment and the advisory team, and UTS scores alignment with its research strengths. A supervisor who argues for you, and a project that clearly belongs in that group, can lift a candidate with similar grades above others.
What you can still improve before the deadline
- Turn a thesis chapter into a submitted manuscript, and list it as “under review” with the journal name.
- Ask referees for comparative statements, such as top 5% of the cohort, if they can honestly give them.
- Tighten the proposal so the question and method are clear to a non-specialist panel.
- Get the supervisor to read your file before submission, and ask whether they will endorse it.
- Pick a round where your final results are already available.
Universities don’t publish cut-off scores or international success rates for RTP rounds, and we won’t guess them. Treat each round as competitive and apply in more than one where you can.