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Postgraduate Research Scholarships Policy

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) is a research-led University. The University recognizes that high-quality research leads directly to enhance teaching quality and student experience as well as improved standing in world and national rankings. To become a fully research-led institution is a key strategic goal. To support the achievement of this aim, building postgraduate research communities and faculties with rich experience of research supervision, the University has created the Postgraduate Research Scholarship (PGRS) Fund. The Fund is able to offer a number of scholarships to attract outstanding postgraduate research students to the XJTLU research community.

 

1. Principle of Operation

1.1 The PGRS will support projects that have the potential to produce excellent research that significantly enhances knowledge and understanding.

1.2 The PGRS will be awarded on the basis of an assessment of the quality of the proposed project and, where applicable, the student candidate

 

2. Types of Awards

2.1 The PGRS Fund may award full scholarships (i.e., fees waiver plus stipend) or fees- only scholarships (i.e., fees waiver only), or 50% tuition fee scholarship.

2.1.1 A full scholarship consists of a tuition fee waiver for three years (RMB 297,000 total value) and a monthly stipend of RMB 5,000 for three years (RMB 180,000 total value).

2.1.2 A fees-only PhD scholarship consists of a tuition fee waiver for three years (RMB 297,000 total value).

2.1.3 A 50% tuition fee scholarship consists of a 50% tuition fee reduction for three years (RMB 148,500 total value).

2.2 The PGRS Fund will not support part-time studentships.

 

3. Application Channels

3.1 The PGRS will be awarded through open competition during two application rounds in each academic year, the deadlines for which are April 15 and October 15. Applications received after the deadline will be deferred to a subsequent round.

3.1.1 There are two types of applications: staff application and student application. Academic Schools will decide which types of applications they accept and inform the Graduate School at least three months before the application deadline to ensure sufficient time of scholarship promotion.

3.1.2 In each round, each staff member is limited to being the principal supervisor in only one successful PGRS application, regardless of whether it is submitted by a staff member or a student.

3.2 Academic staff members who have been awarded significant external funding may apply for a full scholarship or a fees-only scholarship, according to Appendix A Key Principles for the Provision of Additional University Support for Significant Externally Funded Research Projects.

 

4. Scholarship Allocation

4.1 Each year the University will allocate a quota of PGRS to each school. The quota allocation is recommended by the Graduate School, and approved by the Senior Management Team through Associate Vice President of Research and Impact.

4.2 Scholarship allocations are provided in the form of “scholarship units”. A full scholarship is given a measure of 1.00 units. A single full scholarship may be split into two fees-only scholarships, each worth 0.50 units, or four partial scholarships, each worth 0.25units.

4.3 Scholarships awarded under §3.2 are funded by a separate budget of the Graduate School and do not take up the quota allocated to each school.

 

5. Staff Application (Apply to applications under § 3.1)

5.1 Eligibility to apply

Full-time academic staff who meet the criteria of being principal supervisors for PhD students are eligible to apply for support from the PGRS Fund. The criteria can be found in Code of Practice of PGR Supervision and the appendix Eligibility for Research Degree Supervision at XJTLU.

5.1.1 Applicants are eligible to receive a maximum of two ongoing PGRS awards as Principal Supervisor, excluding awards awarded under §3.2 and awards transferred under §11. For the purposes of this Policy, the PGRS is deemed on- going until such time as the PhD candidate has received formal confirmation of conferment of their degree by the University of Liverpool. In instances where a PhD candidate withdraws from the programme for any reason prior to thesis submission, the PGRS is deemed ongoing until three years after the candidate’s registration into the PhD programme.

5.1.2 Academic staff who were awarded a PGRS but failed to supervise the relevant PhD student to successful completion are not eligible for applying for another PGRS during the three-year period awarded for the initial PGRS.

5.1.3 Academic staff holding an unfilled PGRS project are normally ineligible to receive a new PGRS award. An 'unfilled' project refers to a project without an identified candidate who has submitted a complete application to the university.

5.1.4 Academic staff must ensure that they have adequate internal or external funds to cover the research costs associated with this PGRS project, including but not limited to field trip expenses, high-performance workstations, consumable costs or extra conference funds exceeding university standards. Internal funds typically refer to project funding provided by the university, including sources such as RDF. External funds refer to project funding obtained from governmental authorities or enterprises, including the remaining funds accumulated in an Individual Research Account (IRA) upon the completion of the projects.

5.2 Application Process

5.2.1 All applications must be submitted on the e-Bridge online form (https://ebridge.xjtlu.edu.cn) to the Graduate School.

5.2.2 All applications must be for projects of three years’ duration.

5.2.3 All proposed supervisors must be identified both at XJTLU and UoL. Supervisors must be appointed in accordance with the requirements of the UoL Policy on Research Student Supervision and the XJTLU Code of Practice on PGR Supervision.

5.2.4 Applications may or may not identify a named student.

5.3 Responsibility of Staff Applicants

5.3.1 Applicants to the PGRS should not assume that PhD scholarship support is automatic, nor should they promise to support a prospective PhD student before funding for the scholarship is confirmed.

 

6. Student Applications (Apply to applications under § 3.1)

6.1 Eligibility to apply

6.1.1 Graduates who hold a UK Bachelor's degree with first or upper second-class honours or an equivalent degree obtained from other countries or regions in a relevant subject, are eligible to apply. A Master's degree is normally required in some disciplines.

6.1.2 For students whose native language is not English, evidence of language proficiency must be provided as per published entry requirements.

6.2 Application Process

6.2.1 Student applicants must submit a full application with all supporting documentations via the university's online application system.

6.2.2 Applications must include a research proposal on the prescribed template, outlining the research project to be undertaken for three years’ duration.

6.2.3 Applications may or may not identify a potential supervisor.

 

7. Evaluation of Applications (Apply to applications under § 3.1)

7.1 A School PGRS Evaluation Panel will be chaired by the School Associate Dean of Research or School Director of Postgraduate Research Students and will include senior members of academic staff from each department within the Schools.

7.2 The School PGRS Evaluation Panel, in consultation with the Graduate School, will assess and prioritise all eligible applications, taking full account of the pre-defined criteria. Appendices C1 and C2 of this Policy provide further information about the detailed prioritisation of staff applications and student applications.

7.3 The School prioritisation results will be submitted to the Internal Review Panel for approval under the authority of the University Research Committee.

7.4 The decisions of the University Research Committee will be final.

7.5 Funding decision will be communicated to the applicants by the Graduate School and in the case of staff application summary feedback will be provided to the staff applicant.

 

8. Recruiting Students for PGRS awards

8.1 Student applicants who have been successfully awarded a scholarship will be processed for admission following the funding decision.

8.2 For staff applications awarded a scholarship, candidate if identified, will be asked to lodge a formal online application for admission. Staff awards without identified candidate, upon request of the Principal Supervisor, will be advertised nationally and internationally for student recruitment.

8.3 Staff whose project has been funded may also allocate his/her staff award to a current self-funded PhD student.

8.3.1 If the Principal Supervisor chooses to allocate a PhD scholarship to a self- funded PhD student who is already registered for the research programme at the University, the tuition fee waiver and the stipend will normally only take effect the first day of the subsequent month following the award of the PGRS being confirmed

8.3.2 The current self-funded PhD student must be self-funded for a minimum of six months prior to taking up the award.

8.3.3 The overall award will be reduced by the period of the student's registration prior to the date of allocation of the PGRS award, and the scholarship will terminate on the third anniversary of the student's first registration at the University.

 

9. Conditions of the Award

9.1 PhD students awarded a full scholarship award are required to undertake a Teaching Assistant or Research Assistant or Graduate Assistant role in Years 1 - 3 of their period of registration for no additional payment over and above the stipend. Teaching duties carried out by the PhD student must be in accordance with the XJTLU's Code of Practice on PGR Teaching Duties and XJTLU's Teaching Assistant Policy.

9.2 Full scholarship holders who refuse to perform teaching assistantship (or research assistantship or other form of graduate assistantship) assigned by the schools may lead to suspension or termination of the scholarship.

9.3 Scholarships are renewable for up to three years subject to satisfactory performance by the student. Unsatisfactory academic progress is grounds for suspension or termination of the awarded scholarship.

 

10. Termination of Awards

10.1 PGRS projects that have been awarded to the staff but have not registered students within two years of the date of the original award will be terminated.

10.2 For PGRS-awarded projects that have registered students, if the student withdraws from the programme of study for any reason, the original PGRS award will be terminated.

 

11. Termination of Employment of the Principal Supervisor of a PGRS-awarded Project

11.1 Staff projects which have received a PGRS Award but have not yet started would normally not be allowed to proceed if the Principal Supervisor’s employment ceases at XJTLU.

11.2 Where a Principal Supervisor’s employment at XJTLU ceases before his/her PGRS- awarded project is completed, the following will apply:

11.2.1 The Principal Supervisor must notify the XJTLU Graduate School immediately and must submit a progress report and a plan with regard to the future development of the project to the XJTLU Graduate School and their School Director of Postgraduate Research Students.

11.2.2 The School Director of Postgraduate Research Students must make suitable arrangements for the continued supervision of the PhD student who received the PGRS, in consultation with the Heads of the Department of the proposed new Principal Supervisor.

11.2.3 New arrangements for supervisory support must be considered in accordance with the UoL Policy on Research Student Supervision and the XJTLU Code of Practice on PGR Supervision.

11.2.4 In case of any changes to the scope and scale of the original research proposal due to the change of the supervision arrangement, the Principal Supervisors newly appointed under this provision should submit a plan for completing the project to the XJTLU Graduate School for approval.

11.2.5 Replacement of the Principal Supervisor

11.2.5.1 If the PGRS-awarded project supervision team designated a co- supervisor from XJTLU, the Principal Supervisor should strongly consider nominating the co-supervisor to act as a new Principal Supervisor to lead the project to completion;

11.2.5.2 If the Principal Supervisor is the sole supervisor from XJTLU, then the School Director of Postgraduate Research Students must make suitable arrangements for the supervision of the student in question.

11.3 Where the employment of a Principal Supervisor to a PGRS-awarded student project ceases before the student is registered, School Director of Postgraduate Research Students must make suitable arrangement for the supervision. In the cases where no suitable expertise can be identified to supervise the original project, revisions to the original research project may be accepted, with the approval of the School PGRS Evaluation Panel in consultation with the Associate Vice President of Research and Impact.

 

12. Publications associated with the PGRS

12.1 Any publications arising from PGRS support should indicate the funding source when published.

12.2 Records of publications (including conference papers, journal papers, book chapters, etc.) should be maintained in the PURE system.


Inquiries and Submission: PGRS@xjtlu.edu.cn

Appendices:

Appendix A Key Principles for the Provision of Additional University Support for Significant Externally Funded Research Projects

Appendix A1 PGRS Application Form for Significant Externally Funded Projects

Appendix A2 Research Proposal for PGRS Awarded for Significantly Externally-funded Projects

Appendix B Criteria for the Prioritisation of Applications (Staff Applications)

Appendix C Criteria for the Prioritisation of Applications (Student Applications)

 

(Last review date: 04-Sep-2024)

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