Did you know? If you have recently had changes to your supervisory and/or thesis title approved and they do not match what's shown on your Review Form, you can tick the 'Refresh Candidature Details ' box on Page 1 of the form to update them.
Overview of candidature variations
Depending on your circumstances, you may be eligible to apply for variations to your candidature. These changes require approval from your principal supervisor, and in some cases, additional approval from your Advisory Committee Chair or Graduate Research Director.
Before submitting the appropriate form, you must first discuss the proposed change with your principal supervisor. The form must then be submitted for approval before the change takes effect. Retrospective applications will only be considered under special circumstances with supporting documentation.
How to submit a candidature variation form
- Log in to eStudent
- Select the ‘Graduate Research’ tab on the top of the page
- Click on the link to the type of variation you are requesting on the left panel of the page
- Complete all the required fields and submit the application
All applications for a variation to candidature are governed by the University of Melbourne’s Graduate Research Training Policy (MPF1321).
Leave of absence
You may apply for leave of absence or an extension to your existing leave – a period of non-enrolment, whereby your research time is paused temporarily – for reasons related to health, family or carer responsibilities, which may temporarily hinder your studies.
To view a summary of your leave entitlement, please see the Taking Leave how much leave can I take? section. You may also be entitled to addition leave, such as parental or recreation leave, please see the Taking Leave additional entitlements section.
Before submitting a request, International students should view the information on the Student Leave of absence web page.
To understand payment agreement/eligibility, Scholarship recipients will need to view the Graduate Research scholarships terms and conditions web page.
Please note that you must provide supporting documentation for the following applications:
- backdated/retrospective applications
- parental leave (maternity, adoption leave and partner leave)
- medical leave
- within the first half of probationary candidature
- in the last month of candidature
- beyond the entitlement
- during a period of ‘at risk’ or unsatisfactory progress
- International students on a student visa
When applying for one of the above due to compassionate or compelling circumstances, you’ll need to provide any documents which support your application. Examples of appropriate documentation include:
- a detailed medical statement from a physician or medical specialist (a general doctor’s letter is not acceptable)
- a detailed statement from a counsellor (for example, the University's Counselling and Psychological Services team) who has been involved in your assessment and/or treatment. If you have been seeing a CAPS counsellor in an ongoing way about issues affecting your study, you can talk to your counsellor about completing a Health Professional Report (HPR) to support an application under compassionate and compelling circumstances.
- a police statement
- a copy of a death certificate or death notice for a close family member
Supporting documentation for compassionate or compelling circumstances must be from an independent source or authority, and clearly indicate:
- what the special circumstances were;
- when they occurred;
- how long they lasted; and
- the level of impact of the special circumstances.
Documents in languages other than English require a certified translation.
To request for a period of leave of absence or an extension to your existing leave, please submit a request here:
Return from leave
To officially resume your enrolment (and your scholarship payments) after an approved leave of absence, please confirm your return. If you're unable to return as planned, it's important to submit a new leave of absence request, otherwise, your candidature and/or scholarship may be at risk of cancellation.
To confirm your return to study, please submit a request below:
Submit return from leave of absence notification
Study away
If you're conducting research interstate or overseas during your candidature, you must register for Study Away, regardless of the duration.
Please keep the following in mind:
- You must complete at least 12 months of your candidature on campus.
- Each Study Away application can cover a maximum of 365 days.
- You must maintain regular supervision throughout your time away.
- Review dates remain unchanged and must be completed on time.
- Travel to high-risk locations requires additional approval from the Academic Registrar.
- Travel to destinations classified as “Do Not Travel” is unlikely to be approved.
Please review the GR Hub: Study Away page. To request for a study away period or if you require an extension to your existing study away, please submit a request here:
Return from study away
At the end of your approved study away, you must confirm your return from study away. You will receive a system notification approximately five days prior to your expected return date.
Change of study rate
You can request a change to your study rate—from full-time (40 hours per week of dedicated study) to part-time (20 hours per week of dedicated study) or vice versa—at any stage of your candidature, and more than once if needed. All changes must be approved and should reflect your current capacity to engage with your research.
For Student Visa holders, please review your visa conditions before submitting a request. For more information, refer to the Reduced study load web page.
To request for a change in study rate, please submit a request here:
Apply for change of study rate
Change of project details and supervisors
As your research project evolves, you may need to update your research project details. Any changes to your supervisors or Advisory Committee members. thesis title or Field of Research (FoR) codes must be reflected in your record.
If you need to make changes to your supervisory arrangements, please discuss them first with your Advisory Committee Chair. All supervisory changes will be reviewed by the Chair and must be approved by the Graduate Research Director.
For updates involving only your thesis title and/or Field of Research (FoR) codes, the form will go to your Principal Supervisor for approval.
To make changes to your project details, please submit a request here:
Apply for change to project details
To make changes to your supervisory panel, please submit a request here:
Apply to change my current supervisors
If your new principal supervisor is in a different Faculty or a different School within the same Faculty, please read in detail information on:
Add and drop coursework subjects
You are able to request enrolment into additional coursework subjects beyond the PhD Coursework Component throughout your degree. These subjects should be relevant to your research and not exceed the maximum credit point allowance for graduate researchers (inclusive of the subjects compulsory in the PhD coursework component):
- 100 points for PhD
- 50 points for MA
You may also make changes to your existing PhD Coursework enrolment where necessary.
Please note standard enrolment and Census Dates apply to coursework subjects. Graduate researchers enrolled in coursework subjects should be mindful of all Census Dates relating to their subjects.
To apply for enrolment into additional coursework subjects or make changes to your PhD Coursework Component, please submit a request here:
Apply to add or remove subjects
Course withdrawal
You can withdraw from your research degree at any time. However, it is not possible to withdraw from your research degree under the following circumstances:
- the University has notified you of a recommendation to terminate your enrolment, or
- your thesis (or creative equivalent) has been submitted for examination
To apply for a course withdrawal, please submit a request below:
Glossary
View the commonly used terms or phrases that you may come across throughout your candidature.