Lorna Stirling Fund

Ms Lorna Stirling was a Music Director in the Melbourne University Drama Club in the 1940’s. On her death in 1956 she bequeathed funds to the University for the purpose of promoting international student relationships through the creation of scholarships for the exchange of students between the University of Melbourne and other universities (Regulation R.7.92).

Lorna Stirling Travelling Scholarships are available annually to currently enrolled students at the University of Melbourne.

Benefit
One-off payments of between $500 and $4000.

Eligibility Criteria
In order to be considered for a scholarship you must:

• be enrolled at the University of Melbourne at the time of application and for the period of the proposed exchange or project;
• have a signed letter of support from a relevant student organisation, such as the Student Union or a Faculty based student society;
• demonstrate how your project is relevant to the interests of the student population at large; and/or
• demonstrate how your project will enable mutual understanding to be established between students at the University of Melbourne and at the international university(s).

Successful applicants are required to provide a detailed report on the success and benefits of the project within six weeks of its completion.

Additional Information
Grants will not be given to students who wish to travel overseas to carry out research work or training, that would form part of their degree.

Where there is strong competition for grants from students wishing to attend international student meetings, preference will be given to official student representatives at this University. Applications from individuals to participate in conferences held overseas will be considered provided the applicants can show how such participation will develop mutual understanding to this University as well as themselves.

Since the annual income of the Fund is small, only limited support can be given to student organisations to help defray the costs of running student conferences.

Application
The Lorna Stirling Travelling Scholarships are awarded by the Lorna Stirling Fund Committee which meets annually in May/June. Eligible students should complete an application form and submit it to the Secretary of the Committee by the due date.

For further information please contact the Secretary, Ms Mary Tsaousis.

Due Date
The closing date for applications is 16th May, 2008 (by 12.00pm midday). Please note late applications will not be considered.

Selection
Selection will be based on the extent to which projects meet the following criteria:

• promotion of genuine student interchange and to enable mutual understanding to be established between students at the University of Melbourne and international universities; and
• support of international meetings of students in which students or student organisations and the University of Melbourne have an interest.