External Research Enrolment - Local and International Students
The external enrolment of a candidate is possible in special circumstances, with the approval of the Higher Degree Research Committee. An external candidate is defined as being located either interstate (outside of NSW and the ACT) within Australia, or overseas. An external international candidate who is located overseas does not require a student Visa for their program of study. The place of study, method of supervision, and periods of attendance for external attendance must be approved by the University and the requirements for such are outlined under Rule 5 in the Doctoral and Masters degree Rules.
Before admission can be approved, the candidate and the Department in which the student is to be enrolled must provide detailed information about how the following conditions will be met:
On-campus minimum attendance of one month per year of equivalent full-time enrolment with an overall minimum of two months for a Masters degree and three months for a Doctorate, a sufficient part of which must be during the final phase of thesis preparation.
The Higher Degree Research Committee, on the recommendation of the Dean of Division, will appoint a person at the place of study as an adjunct supervisor for the candidate, unless the Committee determines, in extraordinary circumstances, that an adjunct supervisor does not need to be appointed. Adjunct Supervisors may be appointed at any time for candidates enrolled either internally or externally and may be used when specific discipline expertise is available at an external agency, e.g. a medical facility or other laboratory.
Applications for a change to external mode of attendance must be made in advance of the half year in which the student requests a change to external attendance, on a Change of Program form which is to be lodged with the Higher Degree Research Office. This form requires the University’s conditions of a nominated adjunct supervisor in an appropriate tertiary institution and on-campus sessions to be defined, and approved by the Higher Degree Research Committee.
International students, who after enrolling in full-time internal mode, wish to change to external mode of study, will need to get approval for this change. External candidature will only be approved if the University’s requirements for external candidature are complied with. Applications for change must be made in advance of the half year in which the student requests a change to external attendance on the special form. This form requires the University’s conditions of a nominated external supervisor in an appropriate tertiary institution and on-campus sessions to be defined, and approved by the Higher Degree Research Committee (HDRC).
An international student who changes to external attendance, following approval by HDRC, will be reported to DEST and the student must leave Australia. The student visa no longer allows the student to stay in Australia.
HDR Candidates enrolled externally are ineligible to receive Macquarie scholarships.
Some research programs such as the Doctor of Applied Linguistics and the Doctor of Professional Communication are considered to be distance programs and all candidates enrolled in these programs have an external attendance mode.