Orcadia Foundation Scholarship

This scholarship provides up to $5,000 paid over one year.

Three scholarships available.

To be eligible for this scholarship you must:

• be an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident or a permanent humanitarian visa holder
• be born overseas, recently migrated to Australia and from a non-English speaking background
• be able to demonstrate circumstance/s which impact your ability to study such as:
  • receiving a government tested low income benefit or having a Centrelink Health Care Card
  • living with a disability, long-term medical condition or identify as neurodivergent
  • experiencing personal/family/social difficulties
  • be from an interstate or rural/regional area and moving/moved to Melbourne to study at RMIT
  • have previously/are currently living in foster/kinship care or are a ward of the state
  • be from an under-represented background such as
    • current or former refugee 
    • completed secondary school at a School Network Access Program school
• be enrolling full-time in semester 1 and 2 in a diploma or undergraduate degree program at RMIT in 2025
• have at least one year of your program left to complete

Preference will be given to current or former refugees and/or commencing students who have recently migrated to Australia.

Postgraduate students are ineligible to apply.

It is preferred that you apply direct to RMIT for this scholarship.

Direct to RMIT applications

The link to the application form will be provided here once applications open.

VTAC applications

Apply online through the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) website (www.vtac.edu.au). 

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 are a current or former refugee, you will need a copy of your: 

• permanent humanitarian visa or Australian Permanent Humanitarian Visa; or
• Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) check; or
• refugee documentation from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection/Department of Home Affairs.

Please visit Supporting Your Application for more information.

Find out more about applying for scholarships.

Applications are now closed.

Applications for 2025 are now closed.

This scholarship will next be offered for Semester 1 2026, with applications opening August 2025.

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

The Orcadia Foundation Scholarship is made available by the generous support of the Orcadia Foundation. The founder of the Orcadia Foundation and his family relocated to Australia from the UK in 1972; it was, in many ways, a seamless transition.

‘We understood the way of life here, we spoke the language and our qualifications were recognised,’ he said.

But the challenge of starting again in a new country motivated the founder to empathise with the difficulties faced by those relocating from very different cultures and environments.

The Orcadia Foundation Scholarship is provided to make the lives of migrant students less of a struggle.

Quotes from past recipients:

"The scholarship has given me the confidence and helped me focus on my study and not be concerned about the course fees and expenses that I have to pay" - Certificate IV in Information Technology Networking student

"The benefits of this scholarship were very effective and has made a huge difference in how much time I got to spend on my studies to achieve my goals and maintain high grades throughout the year, instead of working at any minimum wage job to support myself, which I would not have been left me with much time to focus on my studies. Therefore I truly found the scholarship very supportive and helpful during the year." - Bachelor of Economics and Finance student

Find out how to contact the Coursework Scholarships Office.