Australia Awards Scholarships for Timorese Students
By Muntasir • Published Jul 25, 2026 • Updated Aug 08, 2026 • Scholarships & Funding, Study in Southeast Asia
Australia Awards Scholarships pay full tuition, return airfare, a living stipend and health cover for Timorese students to study undergraduate or postgraduate degrees in Australia. You apply online through Australia Awards Timor-Leste, sit an IELTS test, then go through shortlisting and a panel interview before the offer is confirmed.
🎓 Covers full tuition, return airfare, a living allowance, an arrival allowance, and Overseas Student Health Cover.
You must be a Timor-Leste citizen who has lived in the country at least 15 cumulative years since 1999.
No fixed priority field of study for Timor-Leste. Your course needs to connect to the country's development needs.
📩 Applications, IELTS testing and panel interviews run through australiaawardstl.org each intake cycle.
The program actively encourages applicants with disability, women, and students from outside Dili.
What Australia Awards Scholarships Cover
The Australian Government funds Australia Awards Scholarships through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In Timor-Leste, the program runs through the Australia Awards Timor-Leste office in Dili, which handles applications, testing and pre-departure support for successful candidates.
The award pays full tuition fees at your Australian institution, return airfare to and from Australia, a contribution to living expenses paid as a regular stipend, and a one-off establishment allowance when you arrive. It also includes Overseas Student Health Cover for the length of your study, an Introductory Academic Program before your course starts, and supplementary academic support if you need it. Some awards add a fieldwork allowance for research components.
Scholarships run for the minimum time needed to finish your specified academic program, including any preparatory English or bridging training first.
Who Can Apply
You need Timor-Leste citizenship and at least 15 cumulative years of residence in the country since 1999. Citizens of a developed country cannot apply, though the program allows some exceptions for applicants who also hold Portuguese citizenship, a legacy of Timor-Leste's colonial-era ties to Portugal.
You cannot apply for a degree at the same level as one you already hold, or a lower one. If you held an Australian Government scholarship before, you must complete a minimum two-year cumulative period living and working back in Timor-Leste before you qualify again, and applicants terminated from a previous award are barred outright.
Australia Awards Timor-Leste sets no priority field of study for the country. Selectors weigh how your proposed course connects to Timor-Leste's development challenges, alongside your academic record and personal and professional qualities. The program states it encourages applications from people with disability, women, and applicants living outside Dili.
Undergraduate and Postgraduate Pathways
Australia Awards funds both undergraduate and postgraduate study at Australian universities, with a separate undergraduate pathway alongside the main postgraduate round. Course choice still needs to connect to a development priority for Timor-Leste even without a fixed list of eligible fields.
How the Selection Process Works
Applications open through australiaawardstl.org , where you submit an online application first. Eligible applicants then sit an IELTS test, and the strongest candidates move to shortlisting and a panel interview before the Australian Government confirms final offers.
Timing shifts with each intake, so check the current round on the official site before you plan around it. In the most recently confirmed cycle, applications for the 2027 intake closed 30 April 2026, with panel interviews held 27-31 July 2026 for shortlisted candidates. Expect a similar rhythm each year: applications open, a testing window, then interviews several months later.
What Happens After You Study
Australia Awards holders travel on a student visa, not a permanent visa pathway. Like other Australia Awards programs across the Indo-Pacific, the scholarship exists to build skills that feed back into Timor-Leste's development, so plan your course and career around returning home and applying what you learn, rather than around staying in Australia after graduation.
Getting Help
Australia Awards Timor-Leste answers questions by email at [email protected] or by phone at +670 3322603 or +670 3322624. Start early. Gathering academic transcripts, references and an IELTS booking takes most applicants several months before the deadline.