Study Australia Scholarships Guide 2028
Australia funds thousands of international students each year through several separate scholarship streams. Most applicants cannot tell them apart, apply for the wrong one, or miss rules buried in country-specific fine print. This guide lays out what exists, who can realistically apply, and where people trip up.
ScholarshipUnion Editorial
7 min read
Updated Oct 6, 2026
What this scholarship portal actually is
Study Australia is the official Australian government portal for international students considering study in Australia. It is run by the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), not by a single university or scholarship body. Think of it as the front door. Behind that door sit several completely separate scholarship programmes, each with its own eligibility rules, application system and selection process.
Australia Awards runs one round a year. The 2027-intake window for most countries ran from 1 February 2026 (9:00 am AEDT) to 30 April 2026 (2:00 pm AEST) and is closed; Palau ran a later window, 30 March to 30 June 2026 (DFAT dates table). The next full round, for the 2028 intake, has no published dates yet; based on recent cycles it is expected to open around 1 February 2027 and close around 30 April 2027. Confirm on your country's Australia Awards page before planning around those dates.
The biggest and best known stream is Australia Awards Scholarships, funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). It is a development aid programme. It exists to bring students from specific developing countries to Australia, train them in fields that matter for their country's progress, and send them home to use those skills. It is not an academic excellence prize open to the world. If you are from the United States, the United Kingdom, India or China, you are not eligible. That surprises a lot of people.
Alongside Australia Awards there is the Research Training Program for domestic and international research students, the Australia for ASEAN (Aus4ASEAN) Scholarships, and a patchwork of university-specific awards. The Quad Fellowship also comes up in these searches, though it funds STEM study in the United States rather than in Australia. Destination Australia, a regional-campus scholarship that older guides still list, has had no new funding rounds since 1 July 2024. Each has different rules. One of the most common mistakes is treating them as interchangeable, or assuming the Study Australia portal is itself an application system. It is not. It is an information hub that points you toward the actual application channels.
If you searched for the Endeavour Scholarship and landed here: that programme was discontinued in 2019 when the Australian government cut its funding, and nothing replaced it. More on that below.
The five main scholarship streams
Full tuition, a fortnightly living allowance (A$36,230 a year at the 2026 rate), return airfare, health cover and an establishment allowance. Available mainly for Master's and PhD study (a few countries also fund bachelor's or diploma study). Restricted to citizens of participating developing countries across the Indo-Pacific, South Asia and Africa. The catch: you must return home for at least two years after finishing. You cannot choose this scholarship if your real plan is to stay in Australia permanently.
Government block grants given to Australian universities, which allocate them to individual research students. It offsets tuition and usually pays a tax-free stipend (around A$34,000–36,000 a year in 2026, depending on the university). Open to domestic and international students doing a Master's by Research or PhD. You apply directly to your chosen university, not through a central portal, and each university sets its own deadlines and criteria. There is no return-home requirement.
This scholarship paid up to A$15,000 a year to students at regional Australian campuses. In the 2024–25 Budget the government announced no further funding rounds from 1 July 2024. Existing recipients keep their support until they finish, but there are no new places, so ignore older guides that tell you to apply (Department of Education).
A newer DFAT programme for citizens of ASEAN member states and Timor-Leste, at Master's level. DFAT reports 227 Aus4ASEAN Scholarships awarded between 2023 and 2025, but it has not published a 2028-intake round, so check before planning around it. If you are from Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei or Timor-Leste, look at it alongside Australia Awards.
A joint initiative of Australia, India, Japan and the United States for STEM graduate students who are citizens or permanent residents of those four countries or of ten Southeast Asian nations. Fellows receive a one-time US$40,000 award for a STEM Master's or PhD at a university in the United States, so it is not a route to studying in Australia; Australians are eligible to apply. It is administered by the Institute of International Education.
What this guide covers
We built this guide by reading through hundreds of questions posted on Reddit, Quora, YouTube comment sections and student forums. The same confusions came up over and over: people applying for scholarships they were never eligible for, people missing country-specific deadlines because they assumed one global deadline existed, people finding out about the two-year return obligation after they had started planning a life in Australia. The official Study Australia website is a starting point, but it does not answer the questions applicants actually have. This guide does.
Who actually qualifies for each stream, which countries are in, and the requirements nobody mentions upfront.
What each scholarship actually pays for, and where the gaps are.
When applications open and close, and the 12 to 18 month path from submission to arrival.
The OASIS portal, country-specific steps, and everything the form does not tell you.
The complete checklist, certification rules and referee requirements that trip people up.
What the panel asks, how they score, and the one topic every shortlisted candidate needs to nail.
The errors that get applications rejected, from forums, alumni feedback and selection panel insights.
Visa, pre-departure, arrival, living costs, part-time work rules and the return-home obligation.
Straight answers to the questions people keep asking on Reddit, Quora and YouTube.
The Endeavour Scholarship is gone
This comes up constantly. The Endeavour Leadership Program, which included the Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships, was discontinued by the Australian government in 2019. It was open to students from all countries, including developed ones, and covered postgraduate study, research fellowships, vocational education and executive development. When the funding was cut, nothing replaced it, and students from wealthy nations lost their main pathway to Australian government scholarship funding.
If you are from a developing country on the Australia Awards list, you still have access to full government funding. If you are from a developed country like the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada or most of Europe, your options are now university-specific scholarships or the RTP for research degrees. There is no broad Australian government scholarship available to you.
If anyone links you to an "Endeavour Scholarship application", it is either outdated or a scam.
Many YouTube videos and blog posts from 2017 and 2018 still rank highly in search results and describe Endeavour as though it is active. It is not.
Quick reality check
The application process is long
Australia Awards applications typically take 12 to 18 months from submission to the start of classes. You apply between February and April of one year and, if selected, begin studying in January or February of the next: for the 2028 intake, that means applying in early 2027 and starting in early 2028. The path includes shortlisting, interviews, medical checks, English testing, visa processing and pre-departure briefings. If you need funding for next semester, this is not the programme for you.
The stipend is tight in big cities
The Australia Awards living allowance is A$99.26 a day from 1 January 2026, about A$36,230 a year or roughly A$3,000 a month. In Adelaide, Hobart or Canberra that is manageable. In Sydney or Melbourne, where a modest one-bedroom apartment can cost A$2,000 or more a month, you will need to share accommodation and budget carefully. Many scholars work part-time (up to 48 hours per fortnight on a student visa) to top it up.
The return-home rule is enforced
Australia Awards scholars must return to their home country for at least two years after completing their studies. This is a contractual obligation, backed by visa conditions. You must not apply for a visa to return to Australia during that period without DFAT support; if you do, you may incur a debt to the Commonwealth for the total accrued cost of your scholarship. If your plan is to use this scholarship as a pathway to permanent residency, you will be disappointed.
You may not get your first-choice university
You nominate up to three university preferences and the programme manages placement. Some scholars end up at their second or third preference based on available places and programme fit. Unlike most scholarships where you apply directly to the university, here the programme acts as the intermediary. If your heart is set on one institution, be prepared to end up somewhere else.
Ready? Start with the eligibility page: it tells you which streams you qualify for based on your nationality, study level and field.