Please follow the steps below, and do not hesitate to contact the Future students team if you have any questions.
Approach a Supervisor and Academic Unit
Your first step is to determine your preferred field of study and find the faculty or academic unit that will best meet your requirements. You are encouraged to research our staff members to identify a potential supervisor who matches your area of interest. You may contact a potential supervisor to discuss your project prior to applying for admission.
Select a Research Topic and Prepare Your Research Proposal
You should discuss a broad plan for your research topic with the head of the academic unit, faculty head of postgraduate studies or your potential supervisor. You are required to nominate a working title at the beginning of your enrolment but may change this with the approval of the academic unit. Your thesis topic will become better defined as your research progresses.
All candidates must submit a research proposal summarising the project they would like to pursue. It is highly recommended that you discuss your research proposal with your potential supervisor before completing your HDR application.
If your potential supervisor is in the Faculties of AIIM, EIS, or SMAH, then your research proposal should be 1-2 pages in length and include introduction, research design/methodology, expected outcomes, and references.
If your potential supervisor is in the Faculties of BUS, LHA or SOC, then your research proposal should be 3-4 pages in length and include introduction, literature review, research design/methodology, expected outcomes, and references.
For assistance on please read our Writing a Research Proposal guide.
NOTE that your research proposal must be written in your own words and may be checked for plagiarised material.
Apply for Admission
Check and confirm the academic and documentary requirements required to apply for your degree of interest through CourseFinder.
Complete and submit your application for Higher Degree Research.
Please note that the postgraduate research application process is lengthy as each application is assessed by the relevant faculty. Turnaround times for a research application is 6–8 weeks.
Creative Arts applicants may be required to submit documentation or portfolio material. Contact our Graduate Research School for further information.
English Language Requirements
If you are an International student or if your undergraduate degree was completed using another language, you should check UOWs general English Language requirements. Note that International Students will also need to understand the English language requirements for your student VISA.
For more information contact UOW
Supporting Documentation
If your undergraduate studies were completed in a language other than English, or in a country where English is not the first language, you must also provide evidence of English proficiency (e.g. IELTS Test Report Form or TOEFL Official Score Report—not a student copy) For more information contact the Future students on 1300 367 869.
Creative Arts applicants may be required to submit documentation or portfolio material. Further information is available from the School of Arts, English and Media
Certification of Documents
Original or certified copies of academic records, mark sheets or transcripts for studies previously undertaken must be provided. Certified English translations are also required for documents in another language. The transcript must show all subjects undertaken, grades and stages reached or qualifications gained.
For domestic applicants, a photocopied hardcopy document must be certified as a true copy of the original by:
- An authorised officer in the admissions office at any tertiary institution
- A member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia or the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants, or the National Institute of Accountants or the Association of Taxation and Management Accountants or Registered Tax Agents
- A bank branch manager (not in a bank travel centre)
- A barrister, solicitor or patent attorney
- A police officer of the rank of sergeant or above
- A post office manager
- A principal of an Australian high or primary school; or
- A justice of the peace
The person certifying the photocopies must:
- Write on the copy: “This appears to be a true copy of the original document sighted by me”, and
- Sign the document and print your name, address, telephone number, profession/occupation, date verified; and
- Affix the official stamp or seal of the verifier’s organisation on the copy, if the organisation has such a stamp.
My eQuals: Certified Digital Academic Documents
Where an applicant has had digital academic document(s) issued via My eQuals, they can submit links to these documents to UOW as part of their admissions application.
To submit My eQuals digital academic documents, please follow the below instructions:-
1. Generate a link to your My eQuals digital academic document(s) – do not nominate an expiry date
2. Paste the link into a Word document
3. If you added a PIN to the link, please ensure you note the PIN next to the link
4. Where you have more than one relevant My eQuals digital document to submit, provide a link for each, ensuring you label each link clearly
5. Save the Word document on your computer. Note: a document must not be bigger than 2 MB for undergraduate/postgraduate course applications and not bigger than 5 MB for HDR applications. Acceptable formats are: pdf, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, jpg, jpeg, tif and tiff.
6. Upload the Word document to your UOW admissions application
Please only submit My eQuals digital documents according to the instructions outlined above. The My eQuals portal offers other options in which to share documents, however, those options are not recommended by UOW.
Find out more about sharing My eQuals digital documents.