How to Apply for Australia Awards Scholarships 2027: Step-by-Step Guide

Australia Awards Scholarships are the Australian Government’s flagship long-term development awards, funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). They are not a general scholarship you apply for in the abstract. They are a country-by-country programme: your country of citizenship decides whether you can apply at all, which levels of study are offered, which fields are prioritised, what work experience and English scores are required, which documents you must upload, and the exact opening and closing dates that apply to you. That is why this is a step-by-step guide rather than a simple eligibility list. Follow the steps in order — country profile first, course second, documents third, OASIS last — and you will avoid the most common reason applications fail, which is building a strong application for the wrong country’s rules.

A naming point that confuses many applicants: Australia Awards intakes are named for the year study commences, not the year you apply. The “2027” intake in this guide means study commencing in Australia in 2027, with applications that opened on 1 February 2026 and closed, for most countries covered here, on 30 April 2026. If you are reading this after that closing date, do not treat the guide as out of date. The process, the OASIS system, the document types, the selection criteria and the return-home obligation stay the same from intake to intake, and the next intake follows the same February-to-April pattern. Use the verified 2027-intake dates in this article as your worked example, and confirm the new dates on your country’s profile when the next round opens. You can also track upcoming rounds through our scholarships directory and study tools.

Australia Awards 2027 at a Glance

Step 1: Check Your Country’s Eligibility and Priority Fields

Start on the official Australia Awards website at australiaawards.gov.au and on DFAT’s participating countries information, then go straight to your country profile. Do not start with a university course search. Your country profile is the controlling document alongside the Australia Awards Scholarships Policy Handbook, and it answers five questions no other page can answer for you: Are citizens of your country eligible for this intake? At which levels — bachelor’s, Master’s by coursework, Master’s by research, PhD — are awards offered? Which fields are priorities for your country in this intake? What country-specific conditions apply on work experience, English, age, employment sector or residency? And what are your opening and closing dates, including the exact closing time and time zone?

The general eligibility baseline in the Policy Handbook applies everywhere: you must be a citizen of a participating country, residing in and applying from that country in the way your profile requires; you must not hold Australian or New Zealand citizenship or permanent residency, and you must not be applying to migrate permanently to Australia; you must be able to satisfy the Department of Home Affairs requirements for a DFAT-supported student visa; you must not be serving military personnel where your profile excludes it; and you must accept the scholarship conditions, including returning home for at least two years after your studies. On top of that baseline, country conditions diverge sharply — which is why the three worked examples below matter. A rule that is true for Pakistan is not automatically true for Indonesia, and a document that Bangladesh requires to be attested by a Notary Public may be handled differently elsewhere.

Worked example A: Bangladesh — Master’s only, targeted employment groups, IELTS 6.5

The official Bangladesh Country Profile for the 2027 intake (study commencing in 2027, published for the Australia Awards South Asia and Mongolia programme) offers awards for Master’s by Coursework and Master’s by Research only, for a period of not more than two years. Applicants must be existing employees from one of four target groups: Group A — Civil Service Cadre officials of the Government of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Bank officials and Judicial Services cadre officials; Group B — workers from development organisations, particularly non-government organisations, civil society organisations or community-based organisations; Group C — entrepreneurs or employees of private sector organisations; and Group D — individuals from research institutions, universities, media and cultural organisations. You must be a citizen of Bangladesh, residing in and applying from Bangladesh, and not be married, engaged to or de facto with a person who holds or is eligible to hold Australian or New Zealand citizenship or permanent residency at any time during application, selection or mobilisation.

On English, Bangladesh requires an IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 or higher with no band below 6.0, or an equivalent TOEFL or PTE score, valid on 1 January 2027. Applicants with disability, Indigenous applicants and applicants from marginalised gender groups may be considered for eligibility with IELTS 6.0 overall and no band below 5.5, but if offered a scholarship they must still meet the general DFAT English requirement and the Australian institution’s requirement to receive the scholarship. On qualifications and experience, preference is given to candidates whose course builds on previous study and full-time, relevant, consistent work experience of five years; you must have completed a tertiary qualification at least equivalent to an Australian bachelor’s degree, preferably with no more than 15 years of study gap since your last formal degree, and if all your degrees are from Bangladesh, at least one must be from a university recognised by the University Grants Commission (Bangladesh). Bangladesh also has a special condition: the programme will request Recognition of Prior Learning for all recipients, and if a university grants it, your degree may be shorter than your original preference.

Bangladesh priority areas for 2027 are broad but structured: blue economy (fisheries and aquaculture, marine and maritime studies, maritime domain awareness, seaports and shipping); health (health care management, leadership and economics, global and public health including nutrition, Indigenous and community health, occupational health and safety, geriatric health); sustainable development and environment (agriculture development, climate change adaptation and mitigation, disaster management and risk reduction, forestry and environmental management, emergency and humanitarian response, water resources management, disability equity and rights); social inclusion; inclusive economic development (financial planning, international trade, ICT, innovation and entrepreneurship, small and medium enterprise, sustainable tourism, supply chain management); public policy and international relations; governance (power, energy and mineral resources, public policy and management, public administration, public finance and economics); infrastructure, computer science including artificial intelligence and machine learning, data and networks; engineering; and security studies. If your proposed course does not sit convincingly inside that list, a Bangladesh application starts at a disadvantage no personal statement can fully repair.

Worked example B: Indonesia — postgraduate Master’s and PhD, closing 30 April 2026

For Indonesia, the Australian Embassy in Indonesia’s media release for the 2027 intake states that Australia Awards Postgraduate Scholarships opened on 1 February 2026 for Master’s or PhD study at an Australian university commencing in 2027, and that applications closed on 30 April 2026. Applicants are assessed on professional skills and experience, personal attributes, academic competence, and potential to lead and make a contribution to their organisation and community. The programme explicitly encourages Indonesians from diverse backgrounds, including equity target groups — targeted provinces, women from disadvantaged backgrounds, and people with disability. Indonesia’s application route has its own country programme site, australiaawardsindonesia.org, and Indonesian applicants should follow that site’s instructions for how essential supporting documents are uploaded, rather than assuming the Bangladesh or Pakistan document list applies to them. Note also that Indonesia has run additional, separately described streams — for example a Garuda stream and an LPDP–Australia Awards stream with their own closing dates publicised separately (a Garuda closing in late May and an LPDP stream closing in early May were publicised for the 2027 commencement year). Those are distinct streams, not extensions of the main 30 April deadline, and you must follow the stream you are actually applying under.

Worked example C: Pakistan — Master’s, 16 years of education, five years’ experience, age 45

The Pakistan country conditions publicised for the 2027 intake require you to be a Pakistani citizen currently residing in Pakistan and applying from Pakistan; to have completed 16 years of education; to have a minimum of five years of relevant work experience in Pakistan; and to be not more than 45 years of age at the time of submitting the application. You must submit a Development Impact and Linkages Plan outlining clear objectives and motivations to contribute to development in Pakistan, and you must return to Pakistan for at least two years after completing your study. People with disability who meet the eligibility criteria could apply with an IELTS score of 6.0 with no band below 5.0 in the publicised conditions, subject to taking another English test arranged by Australia Awards Pakistan and achieving the required score before starting the scholarship if selected. Applications for the 2027 intake opened on 1 February 2026 at 09:00 AEDT and closed on 30 April 2026 at 14:00 AEST, and all applications had to be lodged online through OASIS. Pakistan’s priority discussion in official and programme materials centres on areas such as climate change and environmental sustainability, agriculture, water and food security, empowerment of women and girls, inclusive economic development and infrastructure, and public policy, health and governance — confirm the current priority list on the Pakistan country profile for the intake you apply to, rather than relying on any summary, including this one.

If your country is not a participating country for an intake, there is no alternative OASIS route around that rule. In that case, look at other Australian funding in our study abroad guides — for example university scholarships and the Australian Government Research Training Program — and at other countries’ government scholarships in the Australia Awards Scholarships overview companion guide, which sets this programme in context.

Step 2: Read the Policy Handbook Before You Write Anything

Every country profile repeats the same instruction: applicants must meet all eligibility requirements detailed in the Australia Awards Scholarships Policy Handbook, published by DFAT. Read it before you draft your statements. The Handbook is where entitlements, responsibilities, visa-related conditions, suspension and termination rules, and the detail of the two-year return obligation are set out. DFAT may revise the Handbook at any time, so download the current version for your intake rather than working from a copy a previous applicant shared with you. Many “surprises” applicants report at the shortlisting or mobilisation stage — about preparatory training, about what happens if you defer, about family and visa conditions — are not surprises in the Handbook at all. They were simply never read.

Step 3: Choose a Course at a Participating Australian Institution

With your country’s priority fields in front of you, shortlist courses that do three jobs at once: they fall inside a priority area, they build directly on your previous qualification and work experience, and you meet the institution’s own academic and English entry requirements. Australia Awards study is at Australian tertiary institutions participating in the programme, and course selection tools such as the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS) and Study Australia’s course search at studyaustralia.gov.au are the official starting points country programmes themselves recommend. For research Master’s and PhD applications, this step includes identifying a supervisor: Bangladesh research applicants, for example, must provide evidence of written, in-principle support from a potential supervisor, and a research proposal on the prescribed template. Do not nominate a research course in OASIS hoping a supervisor will appear later.

Be precise about level. If your country offers Master’s by coursework only, or Master’s by coursework and research only, an undergraduate or diploma preference in your application signals that you have not read your own profile. If Recognition of Prior Learning may shorten a degree — as Bangladesh explicitly warns — choose a course you would be content to complete in the shorter form as well as the longer one. And check duration: Bangladesh awards are offered for not more than two years, for the minimum period necessary to complete the programme including preparatory training. A course whose normal duration exceeds your country’s maximum should be queried with your country programme office before you submit, not after you are shortlisted. You can compare Australian universities and their strengths in our universities directory and rankings pages while you build that shortlist.

Step 4: Prepare Your Documents — Including Statements and Referee Reports

Document preparation is where the February-to-April window is won or lost. The exact list is country-specific, so use your profile’s document table as the checklist and treat the Bangladesh table below as the best worked example of the standard of detail expected. In OASIS, each document is uploaded under a specified document type, and several Bangladesh documents must be attested by a Notary Public. Colour, legibility, correct order and correct file naming matter across country programmes — programme guidance for other countries instructs applicants to compile documents into single PDFs by category, in colour, legible, in correct page order and orientation, with all documents translated into English where necessary.

Three documents deserve extra time. First, the Development Impact and Linkages Plan — called a Development Impact Plan in Pakistan’s conditions — is not a generic personal statement. It must show what development problem you will work on, how your chosen course gives you the specific capability to work on it, what you will do in the first years after returning home, and what linkages with Australia or Australian organisations support that plan. Second, referee reports: choose referees who have supervised your work or study recently enough to give evidence, give them the template and a deadline at least two weeks before the OASIS closing date, and follow the academic/professional combination your country requires rather than submitting two letters from the same type of referee. Third, supporting statements inside the OASIS form itself: answer each question for the course and country priorities you have actually chosen. Statements that could be pasted unchanged into any scholarship application, for any country, in any field, read exactly that way to a selection panel.

Step 5: Apply via OASIS — or Hardcopy Where Your Country Requires It

For Bangladesh, Indonesia’s main programme guidance and Pakistan, applications are lodged online through OASIS at oasis.dfat.gov.au. When you register in OASIS you answer questions that establish your eligibility and you are given a unique registration number, username and password. Use your full name exactly as it appears in your passport — programme guidance for multiple countries stresses full legal names, no nicknames or abbreviations, and your own personal email address, not someone else’s. Complete every section, upload every required document under the correct document type, and submit well before the closing time. Country programmes warn explicitly that the online system experiences peak usage in the days before the deadline and applicants may experience delays or errors, and that applications or supporting documents received after the closing date and time will not be considered. There is no grace period for a slow upload on 30 April.

Some participating countries, in some intakes, require or allow hardcopy applications, or operate a country-managed online form first with selected recipients then assisted to complete OASIS — Indonesia’s programme site, for example, has described selected recipients being invited to and assisted with completing OASIS. The rule is simple: follow your country profile and your country programme office’s instructions for your intake, and no one else’s. If your profile says online only, a posted application is not a backup. If your profile gives a hardcopy address and deadline, an OASIS submission alone may not be a complete application. Keep your OASIS registration details, submitted-application copy and document files until long after results are announced.

Country-Specific Closing Dates: Verified 2027-Intake Examples

The lesson of that table is not that “the deadline is 30 April”. It is that the deadline is 30 April in many countries, at a different clock time and in a different time zone in each, and a day earlier in at least one Pacific example. Convert your country’s closing time to your local time, write both on your plan, and aim to submit at least a week early. For the next intake, expect the same shape — a 1 February opening and a late-April closing for most countries — but confirm the exact dates on your country profile when DFAT publishes them, because the published date for your country, in your intake, is the only date that protects you.

Step 6: Shortlisting, Tests and Interviews

After the closing date, applications are shortlisted after eligibility checking, and only shortlisted candidates are contacted. Bangladesh’s profile states that the selection process may include a written test and an interview, and that successful candidates would be notified by September 2026 for the 2027 intake. Assessment is against three criteria: academic competence; potential outcome, specifically the contribution to development outcomes in the home country; and professional and personal leadership attributes, including relevant work experience. Indonesia’s embassy release describes the same assessment in slightly different words — professional skills and experience, personal attributes, academic competence, and potential to lead and contribute to an organisation and community. Prepare for an interview by re-reading your own Development Impact and Linkages Plan until you can defend every claim in it: why this course, why in Australia, why now in your career, what exactly you will do on return, and how your employer or sector will use what you bring back. Panels can also verify claims — short-course and fellowship guidance in the wider Australia Awards family notes that employers and referees may be contacted to verify employment and application claims, and scholarship applicants should assume the same diligence.

Step 7: If You Are Selected — Placement, Pre-Departure and Preparatory Training

Selection is conditional until placement, visa and mobilisation requirements are met. Successful applicants are required to attend course counselling, a pre-departure briefing, the university’s Introductory Academic Program, and any other required preparatory study on arrival in Australia, including participating in surveys conducted by DFAT or Australia Awards. The Introductory Academic Program is a compulsory programme before formal studies begin, covering living and studying in Australia. Where pre-course English is deemed necessary, it may be available in-country and/or in Australia. Awardee travel is subject to meeting Australian Government requirements as determined by the relevant federal department and by state and territory governments. Sign the scholarship contract with the Commonwealth of Australia, declare that you will comply with the scholarship conditions, and treat that contract as what it is — a binding agreement, breach of which can lead to termination and repayment consequences under the Policy Handbook.

Benefits in Full — and the Two-Year Return Rule

Australia Awards Scholarships are offered for the minimum period necessary to complete the academic programme specified by the Australian institution, including any preparatory training. Recipients receive full tuition fees; return air travel — a single return economy-class airfare to and from Australia by the most direct route; a one-off establishment allowance on arrival as a contribution towards accommodation, textbooks and study materials; a Contribution to Living Expenses, paid fortnightly at a rate determined by DFAT; Overseas Student Health Cover for the duration of the award for the scholar, covering basic medical costs with the usual exception of pre-existing conditions; the Introductory Academic Program; pre-course English fees where deemed necessary; supplementary academic support where available; and fieldwork support for eligible research students — and Master’s by coursework students with a compulsory research/fieldwork component — which may include one return economy airfare to the country of citizenship or within Australia. DFAT does not publish a single universal dollar figure for the living contribution in the country profiles used for this guide, and third-party figures vary; do not budget from a blog’s stipend number. Your award letter and the current Policy Handbook are the authoritative sources for amounts in your intake.

The return rule is central, not administrative. Scholars must leave Australia and return to their home country for at least two years after completing their scholarship. Pakistan’s conditions state it as returning to Pakistan for at least two years; Bangladesh scholars accept the same programme obligation under the Handbook and contract. Time spent back in Australia during that period can affect the clock in the way the Handbook describes. If your long-term plan is migration to Australia immediately after study, this scholarship is not compatible with that plan, and applying while intending not to return misrepresents the purpose for which DFAT funds the award. The programme’s value to its scholars’ countries depends on graduates actually going home and leading change there — and its alumni network, which you join on completion, is built on that shared commitment.

How to Improve Your Chances

Start a full intake early: gather certified or attested documents, book an English test so the score is valid on the date your profile specifies (1 January 2027 in the Bangladesh and Pakistan 2027 examples), and contact referees in the previous calendar year if you can. Choose a course that a panel can connect to a priority area in one sentence, and write the Development Impact and Linkages Plan around outcomes in a named organisation, sector or community rather than national generalities. Show a coherent career line — previous study, relevant work experience (five years is the preferred or required benchmark in both the Bangladesh and Pakistan examples), proposed course, and post-return role should read as one story. Apply to the institution’s expectations as seriously as to DFAT’s: meet the university’s academic and English requirements, secure supervisor support early for research degrees, and submit a complete OASIS application a week before the deadline, with every document under the correct type and, where required, correctly attested.

Common Mistakes

Applicants most often fail by applying under the wrong country’s assumptions — importing another country’s deadline time, document list or English threshold. Others miss that their country offers Master’s only and propose undergraduate or PhD study, choose a course outside the priority fields, submit an English score that expires before the validity date in the profile, upload unattested copies where attestation is required, provide the wrong referee combination, or leave the Development Impact Plan as a vague essay about “serving my nation”. A further set of mistakes happen at the portal: registering with a name that does not match the passport, using another person’s email address, uploading illegible or wrongly ordered scans, and attempting first submission on the closing afternoon when OASIS is at peak load. Finally, some selected candidates treat pre-departure briefings, course counselling and the Introductory Academic Program as optional. They are required parts of the award.

Frequently Asked Questions

When do Australia Awards applications open and close?

For the 2027 intake covered here, applications opened on 1 February 2026 in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan, and closed on 30 April 2026 — at 11:59pm AEST for Bangladesh, 14:00 AEST for Pakistan, and 30 April for Indonesia’s main postgraduate programme per the embassy release. Times and even the day can vary by country, as the Niue example (29 April) shows. Always use your country profile’s dates for your intake.

Do I apply through OASIS or through a university?

You apply for the scholarship through OASIS (or by hardcopy / a country-managed form only where your country profile instructs that route). You do not secure the scholarship by applying directly to a university, although research applicants may need supervisor support, and selected scholars are then placed at an Australian institution for an eligible course. Scholarship application and university placement are connected but distinct steps.

Can I apply if I already have a Master’s degree?

That depends on your country profile and on whether you are proposing a second Master’s, a Master’s by research or a PhD where PhDs are offered. Some profiles restrict applicants who already hold an equivalent qualification. Read the “equivalent qualification” wording in your profile and the Policy Handbook carefully, and query your country programme office if your case is genuinely ambiguous — do not guess on an eligibility point.

What English score do I need?

For Bangladesh 2027: IELTS Academic 6.5 overall with no band below 6.0, or equivalent TOEFL/PTE, valid on 1 January 2027, with a lower eligibility threshold (6.0 / 5.5) for defined groups who must still meet DFAT and institutional requirements if offered an award. Pakistan’s publicised conditions use the same 6.5 pattern, with a 6.0 route for applicants with disability subject to re-testing before commencement. Your institution may require more than DFAT’s minimum for your specific course — the higher requirement is the one you must meet.

Is there an age limit?

There is no single programme-wide age limit published across all countries in the materials used here; there are country limits. Pakistan’s 2027 conditions set a maximum of 45 years at the time of submitting the application. Check your own profile — do not assume Pakistan’s limit, or the absence of one, applies to you.

Can my family come with me, and can I work in Australia after the scholarship?

Family, visa and dependant arrangements are governed by the Policy Handbook, your contract and Department of Home Affairs requirements — read those sources rather than relying on summaries. On work and migration, the position is clear in purpose: this is a development award with a contract to return home for at least two years after completion. It is not a pathway to permanent residency, and applicants must not hold or be applying for permanent residency in Australia or New Zealand.

What happens if my application is incomplete or late?

Country profiles state that applications and supporting documents received after the closing date will not be considered. Incomplete applications fail at eligibility checking and are not shortlisted. There is no published discretion to accept a missing referee report, an expired English score or an unattested certificate after the deadline because the rest of the application was strong.

How long after applying will I hear the result?

Only shortlisted candidates are contacted. In the Bangladesh 2027 example, successful candidates were to be notified by September 2026, roughly four to five months after the 30 April closing date — and selection processes generally take a minimum of several months from the deadline to conditional selection. Silence before that point means your application is in process, not that you should submit a second application.

Sources & Verification

Verified against official sources: the Australia Awards website at australiaawards.gov.au and DFAT’s Australia Awards and Policy Handbook pages on dfat.gov.au; the OASIS portal at oasis.dfat.gov.au; the official Bangladesh Country Profile for Intake 2027 published by Australia Awards South Asia and Mongolia (priority fields, target groups, IELTS threshold, document and attestation table, 1 February–30 April 2026 dates, selection criteria and preparatory training); the Australian Embassy in Indonesia media release of 30 January 2026 and Australia Awards Indonesia programme pages (postgraduate opening, 30 April 2026 closing, assessment basis); Pakistan country conditions publicised for the 2027 intake (16 years of education, five years’ experience, age 45, Development Impact and Linkages Plan, 09:00 AEDT opening and 14:00 AEST closing on the same February–April dates); and Study Australia at studyaustralia.gov.au for official course-search context. Where a stream-specific Indonesian date differed from the main programme date, this guide says so rather than merging them.

Disclaimer: Scholarship details, country priorities, document requirements and deadlines change yearly and vary by country. Always confirm deadlines, amounts and eligibility on the official Australia Awards website and your country profile before applying. StudyGraduate is an information portal, not an agency, and cannot promise selection, admission or visa approval to any applicant.