USP Graduate Assistant Scholarships for Research now open

Closing date 17th November, 2017

Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates for Graduate Assistant Scholarships to undertake a Masters degree or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) by research only at The University of the South Pacific (USP).

The awards are tenable from early 2018 and maybe held in any member country of the USP.

Generic Research Areas

The University is keen to fund interdisciplinary projects that fall within its areas of research focus which include:

Specific Research Areas
The academic Schools, Departments, Institutes and Centres at the University of the South Pacific are organised into three faculties. These are: the Faculty of Arts, Law and Education; the Faculty of Business and Economics; and the Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment. An interdisciplinary centre that focuses on climate change and sustainable development is the Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development (PACE-SD). For details on specific areas of research that these institutions support in this current round of funding, please visit their websites.

Benefits and Conditions
A Graduate Assistant Scholarship award in 2018 will comprise of the following:

Tuition fees (paid directly)
Book allowance of up to $750/year
General Services fees paid directly
Health Services fees paid directly
Living allowance of $21,600 for Masters students and $24,000 for PhD students per year to be paid on a monthly basis
Dependents Allowance of $10,883.00 per year to qualifying awardees
Establishment Allowance of $1,942.00 (one-off) to qualifying awardees
Research grant – only after the research plan and budget have been approved by the appropriate Faculty Research Committee
One return airfare when the person receiving the award has to travel to a USP campus in another country to take up the offer.

All amounts are in Fijian dollars.

Scholarship Conditions
These scholarships are for full-time study only. Awardees are not permitted to be in paid employment during the tenure of their awards and will be required to work a minimum of 40 hours per week for the entire year on their research. Scholarship holders will also be expected to contribute to ongoing teaching in their respective faculties for a maximum of eight hours per week only during semester time.

Research degree at USP
Masters awards will be for 12 months for applicants who have completed their Postgraduate Diploma, 18 months for applicants who have completed their Undergraduate Degree only and PhD awards for 36 months. Applicants for a Masters degree should normally have completed a Postgraduate Diploma (or equivalent) while applicants for a PhD should normally have completed a Masters degree. The University recognises that there are special circumstances in which some applicants without these pre-requisites may be eligible for enrollment in these degree programmes. More details in the University Calendar at www.usp.ac.fj/publications.

Applications
Applicants must be citizens of a USP member country, and preferably be 35 years or younger for Masters studies and 45 years or younger for PhD studies at the time of application to be considered for the scholarship. Applicants for a Masters programme must have a grade point average [GPA] of 3.5 or above.

The application must include:

Completed Applicant Detail Form
Cover letter or a letter of application
An outline of proposed research topic*
Curriculum vitae
Name and contact details of three referees
Certified true copies of relevant transcripts and certificates
Proof of citizenship

*Applicants may discuss their applications with a potential supervisor.

An Applicant Checklist is provided to aid the applicant, and must be submitted with the application.

Please Note:

Final year undergraduate students who wish to apply for the Graduate Assistant Scholarship for Research need to explicitly state the expected date of completion of their current programme in the application letter.
Undergraduate and Postgraduate students applying for a masters award must have a GPA of 3.5 or above to be considered for the scholarship.
Applicants must enrol in their respective faculties; the award for this Graduate Assistant Scholarship does not guarantee a place in the faculty.

Research Student Coordinator

Ms Anushka Maharaj
Research Office
The University of the South Pacific
Phone: (+679) 323 1888
Fax: (+679) 323 1504
Email: maharaj_a@usp.ac.fj [preferred]

Source: Research @ USP

Scholarships