Most of what we’ve verified on this site so far — Manitoba, Calgary, Saskatchewan, Alberta, TMU — turned out to be partial awards once we checked the fine print. This one’s different. Australia Awards Scholarships is funded directly by the Australian Government, and it’s genuinely, fully funded: tuition, flights, a living allowance, health cover, all of it. Pakistan has been one of its priority countries for over 25 years. Here’s what it actually takes to apply, verified against the official program.
Quick Facts
| Deadline | The 2027 intake closed April 30, 2026. The next opportunity — the 2028 intake — is expected to open February 1, 2027, closing around April 30, 2027, 2:00 PM AEST. |
|---|---|
| Host Country | Australia |
| Starting Date | Studies typically begin in 2028 for this cycle (Australia Awards names its intakes by the year study begins, not the year you apply) |
| Monthly Stipend | Yes — a genuine living allowance is included (see coverage details below), paid fortnightly. This is one of the few scholarships we’ve verified that actually includes one. |
Why This One’s Actually Fully Funded
We’ve spent a lot of time on this site pointing out where “fully funded” doesn’t mean what it says. This is the exception. Confirmed benefits include:
- Full tuition fees at your Australian university
- Return economy airfare to and from Australia
- A one-off establishment allowance of AUD $5,000 toward initial accommodation and study materials
- A fortnightly Contribution to Living Expenses (CLE) — a real, recurring living allowance, not a one-time payment
- Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) for your entire stay
- An Introductory Academic Program (IAP) before your studies start, to help you adjust
If your English score isn’t quite where it needs to be, some awardees are also offered funded Pre-Course English (PCE) training before their program begins — a genuinely rare feature we haven’t seen on any other scholarship we’ve checked.
What Pakistan-Specific Applicants Need to Know
Australia Awards runs slightly differently by country, and Pakistan’s rules are stricter in a few specific ways:
- Master’s level only. Pakistan’s program does not currently fund Bachelor’s or PhD study — if you’re looking for undergraduate or doctoral funding, this isn’t it.
- Age limit: 45 at the time of application.
- You must be a Pakistani citizen currently residing in Pakistan at the time you apply, and you cannot hold or be actively applying for Australian citizenship or permanent residency.
- Your proposed field of study needs to align with Pakistan’s current development priority areas. These have previously included things like infrastructure (water, transport, energy), health systems, education, and governance — but priorities are reviewed and can shift between cycles, so don’t rely on last cycle’s list. Download the current Pakistan Country Profile from australiaawardspakistan.org once the 2028 cycle opens, and check it against your intended field before you invest time in an application.
- You’ll need to sign an agreement to return to Pakistan for a minimum of two years after finishing your studies — this is a development scholarship, not a migration pathway, and Australia Awards is explicit about that.
English Requirement — No Duolingo Shortcut Here
Worth flagging since we’ve covered Duolingo extensively elsewhere on this site: Australia Awards does not accept it. Pakistani applicants need a valid IELTS, TOEFL, or PTE result. This lines up with what we found checking Australia’s actual student visa rules for our Scholarships Without IELTS guide — Australia is stricter on this than Canada or several European countries, and Duolingo doesn’t help you here at any stage, scholarship or visa. Test centres in Lahore and other major Pakistani cities do fill up close to the deadline, so if you’re planning to apply for the 2028 cycle, sitting your test early gives you room for a resit if you need one.
Required Documents
- Certified copies of degree certificates and academic transcripts
- A detailed CV
- Valid IELTS, TOEFL, or PTE score report
- An academic referee report
- An employment referee report
- Your Development Impact Linkage Plan (DILP) — this is the essay component, and by most accounts it’s the single most commonly botched part of the application. It needs to clearly connect your chosen field of study to a real development need in Pakistan, and your plan for applying what you learn once you return.
Step-by-Step Application Process
- Once the 2028 cycle opens (expected February 1, 2027), create your account on OASIS — the Online Australia Awards Scholarships Information System. This is the only legitimate application portal; the program is explicit that third-party “agents” charging fees to submit on your behalf are unnecessary at best.
- Download and review the current Pakistan Country Profile to confirm your field of study matches this cycle’s priority areas.
- Sit your IELTS, TOEFL, or PTE test early in the window if you haven’t already — don’t leave it until March.
- Complete the OASIS form: personal details, academic history, work history, English proficiency, and your top three preferred study fields and Australian institutions.
- Draft your DILP well before the deadline. Give yourself three to four weeks, not three to four days — this isn’t a section to rush.
- Collect your referee reports (academic and employment) with enough lead time that your referees aren’t scrambling at the last minute.
- Submit everything before 2:00 PM AEST on the closing date. Late submissions are not accepted, no exceptions.
- If shortlisted, you’ll be invited to an interview assessing academic competence, development contribution, and leadership potential.
Is This Worth Your Time?
If you’re a Pakistani professional with real work experience in a field tied to national development priorities, and you’re specifically looking at Master’s level study, yes — this is genuinely one of the strongest scholarships available to you, precisely because it’s actually fully funded rather than a partial award dressed up as one. It’s also genuinely competitive and not a fast process; the DILP alone takes real effort to get right, and the two-year return commitment is a real condition, not a formality.
If you’re looking for undergraduate or PhD funding specifically, this program won’t work for you under Pakistan’s current rules — worth knowing before you build a plan around it.
Verified against oasis.dfat.gov.au, dfat.gov.au, and the official Australia Awards Pakistan program. Priority areas, deadlines, and eligibility rules are reviewed and can change between cycles — always confirm current details on the official sources linked above before applying.
If you’re Nigerian rather than Pakistani, the rules here don’t apply to you directly — Nigeria’s program runs through the Africa scheme with different age, work-experience, and priority-field requirements. See our Australia Awards guide for Nigerian students for the version that actually applies to you.
Our Scholarship Toolkit has an SOP template with two samples, CV guides, document checklists and interview questions, in Word and PDF. It won’t guarantee an award, but it helps you stay organized and on time. See what’s inside →
Related scholarship guides
- Australia Awards for Nigerian students
- Commonwealth Scholarship UK 2027/28
- Chevening Scholarship 2027/28: the full guide
- Fully funded scholarship in China 2026
- 7 fully funded scholarships in Germany
- How to write a winning statement of purpose
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