Inder Kaur Resilience Scholarship

This scholarship provides:

• Up to $8,000 per annum for full-time enrolled students, for up to five years
• Up to $4,000 per annum for part-time enrolled students, for up to ten years

One scholarship available.

To be eligible for this scholarship, you must:

• identify as a woman 
• be an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident or a permanent humanitarian visa holder
• be enrolling/enrolled full-time or part-time in a certificate IV, diploma, advanced diploma or associate degree or bachelor degree program at RMIT in Semester 1 2027
• have at least one semester of your program left to complete
• have a past or current experience of family violence
• be able to demonstrate circumstance(s) that impact your ability to study, or be from an RMIT priority group, including:
  • living with a disability, long-term medical condition, or identify as neurodivergent
  • have experienced or currently experiencing significant personal or life difficulties
  • have relocated/will be relocating from interstate or a rural or regional area to Melbourne to study at RMIT (check eligibility using the Regional Adjustment Calculator)
  • are experiencing financial hardship, for example if you:
    • receive a Centrelink/Department of Veterans' Affairs low-income support payment, or
    • hold a low-income Centrelink Health Care Card
  • are an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
  • are an early school leaver, mature-age student, or you entered university via a TAFE pathway
  • are a current or former refugee
  • are from a low socioeconomic (low SES) background
  • have recently completed secondary schooling at a SNAP (School Network Access Program) school
• not have previously completed the same level of program or higher, e.g. if you plan to study a Bachelor of Architectural Design, you should not have previously completed another Bachelor degree.

 

The online application form will be made available here when applications open. 

Supporting documentation

Depending on your circumstances, you will need to provide different types of evidence and material to support your scholarship application. Applications without supporting documents will not be considered.

If you have experienced family violence, you must complete this Statutory Declaration (PDF, 58KB) and attach it as evidence. Please note, you do not need to provide details of your experience of family violence in the application form or the statutory declaration. 

Please visit Supporting Your Application for more information.

Application questions

It is expected that the online application will take approximately thirty minutes to complete. The main application questions are listed below to allow you time to prepare your answers prior to starting the online application. When you answer these questions, please use your own words, ideas and experiences — we want to hear your voice, not something written by AI or copied from another source.

• What program are you currently studying (or about to start) at RMIT, and why did you choose this program?
• What are your career plans after you finish your studies at RMIT?
• How will your RMIT program help you prepare for this future career?
• How would receiving a scholarship support you to continue and complete your studies at RMIT?

Find out more about applying for scholarships.

Applications for Semester 1 2027 open 1 August 2026.

Timely applications: If you submit your Access and Equity Scholarship Application by 31 August 2026, we’ll let you know if we need any additional documentation.

Applications for Semester 1 2027 close 2:00pm Tuesday 20 October 2026. No late applications will be accepted.

View the Coursework Scholarships Office’s terms and conditions (PDF, 698KB).

Education was a passion for Inder Kaur. She was taken out of school in Rawalpindi after the 8th grade because she was a girl. After the partition of India in 1947, the family including her husband and three daughters left their ancestral home in Rawalpindi and became refugees. She began studying again, while helping to support her family.

Inder Kaur graduated with a Masters degree in Punjabi from the University of Delhi in 1958 when she was 47 years old. This was a rare accomplishment. She became the Founding Principal of three women's colleges in Punjab, India.

Scholarships in the name of Inder Kaur have been established to assist women in pursuing their dream of education. 

Quotes from past recipients:

"Before receiving this scholarship I had major doubt in being able to continue in this course due to the financial pressure I was under. This has allowed me to focus more on getting the most out of my studies and less on trying to juggle a very hectic work/study balance." - Diploma of Nursing student

Find out how to contact the Coursework Scholarships Office.