Melbourne/Malaysia 'Split' PhD Partnership

Melbourne/Malaysia 'Split' PhD Partnership

The PhD and research collaboration initiative

The Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education recently negotiated a Partnership Agreement between seven Malaysian Universities and The University of Melbourne. This Agreement is similar to agreements which the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education has in place with Nottingham University and with Imperial College, London. The University of Melbourne is the only Australian university invited to participate in this initiative.

The primary objectives of the Agreement are:

to build capacity in the Malaysian higher education sector by providing joint PhD research training at The University of Melbourne and the designated Malaysian Universities to selected candidates from the participating Malaysian Universities; and


to foster collaborative research and exchange between academic staff of the participating Malaysian universities and The University of Melbourne.


To achieve these objectives, scholarships will be provided by the Malaysian universities to selected academic staff of their respective universities to undertake PhD training at The University of Melbourne. The PhD training will be based on a four (4) year full-time course of study whereby the selected candidates split their research time between The University of Melbourne and their respective Malaysian university. Full scholarships will be provided to commencing PhD students for the next four years commencing in 2007/8 through to 2010/2011. This means that in effect the Agreement continues for a period of eight years.

Important features of the Agreement are as follows:

The PhD qualification will be an award of The University of Melbourne.
The period of residence at The University of Melbourne will normally be a minimum of 50% of the four year full-time course of study (ie a minimum of 2 years) and this period will include the first three months and the last three months of the PhD program. Students may, however, spend more than two years at Melbourne if this is required for the particular project. The remainder of the candidature will be undertaken at the respective Malaysian university. The time period at each location will be negotiated on a case by case basis between the supervisors, candidate and the respective universities. Please note that some Malaysian universities may limit the amount of consecutive time in Australia to 12 months for any single visit.
Each selected PhD candidate will normally be supervised by an approved supervisor from The University of Melbourne and an approved supervisor from one of the participating Malaysian universities, although there is provision in the Agreement for the co-supervisor to be sourced from any Malaysian university.

The scholarship will cover tuition and applicable service fees over the 4 year full-time PhD program, including agreed skills development programs; accommodation and living expenses in Melbourne; costs associated with supervision (including the cost of travel, accommodation and living expenses of supervisors and co-supervisors for at least one trip per annum to each other's university for the purpose of supervising their respective candidates); overseas medical insurance; an establishment/relocation allowance; and international travel costs.

Any staff member of a participating Malaysian university who has been offered a Malaysian Government PhD scholarship and who is interested in studying at The University of Melbourne will need to apply for admission to the PhD program and will be required to meet all University of Melbourne selection criteria and other course requirements.

Staff members from other Malaysian universities are also eligible to participate in this initiative but they must register through one of the seven participating Malaysian universities.
A Joint Advisory Committee, comprising equal representation from the University of Melbourne and from the participating Malaysian universities, will be established to oversee the program and to monitor progress.

A key contact person for this initiative has been designated at Ministry of Higher Education.

This key contact person is

Dato' Prof. Ir. Dr. Sahol Hamid Abu Bakar (Tel: +60 3 883 5070/5146)

The key contact person for the University of Melbourne is

Carmella Prideaux, School of Graduate Research (Tel: +61 418 576 518).

Ms Jan Drew, Regional Director (Malaysia and Singapore) (Tel: +60 3 2615 7319) who is located in the University's Malaysia Office in Kuala Lumpur can also provide assistance, including presentations/briefings at the participating universities.