The period of tenure of an award shall be two years for a Masters degree and three years for a PhD degree. The University may approve a formal request to extend the tenure of an award for a PhD by six months where the research has been delayed due to circumstances beyond the awardee's control and where the delay is related to the research rather than being of a personal nature. Periods of study already undertaken towards the degree prior to the commencement of the award or undertaken during suspension of the award, or undertaken during the tenure of a previous Australian Postgraduate Course Award, will be deducted from the maximum period of tenure.
Awards are renewable annually subject to satisfactory progress.
An annual report form will be forwarded to each award holder. A six-monthly report will also be required. A current APA with Stipend holder who, prior to submitting his or her Masters degree thesis, arranges to enrol in a PhD immediately afterwards, can use the balance of the award towards the PhD candidature. However, there must be no interval between Masters and PhD candidature, unless such an interval is covered by suspension of the award. Because an award normally expires on completion of a program, the awardee must ensure that the progression to PhD or suspension of the award is arranged before the Master studies are completed.