Milestones

The HDR milestones provide an authentic learning strategy to ensure communication between student and supervisor is sound and focused on completion rather than generic ‘progress’.

Via the HDR milestone process, students, supervisors, colleges and the University will be able to monitor progress toward timely completion within the allocated time for the degree. The milestones also provide an opportunity to have open communication between students, supervisors, colleges and the University regarding any concerns that may impede on success.

Milestones are required to be completed by HDR students with their supervisors annually. For major milestones, students will deliver written work as well as an oral presentation to their supervisors and peers at college level.
(Note: Interim milestones do not require an oral presentation.)

Students are required to submit all work for the HDR milestone via the University’s text-matching resource, Turnitin, in accordance with the Research Integrity Policy. Students submit their milestones in Inspire. Refer to the Inspire quick reference guides for further information. Your Timeline in Inspire will have all the due dates of your milestones.

For more information on the enrolment duration for your degree, refer to the HDR Policy and about the milestones, the HDR Progression Procedures.

The HDR milestones are:                                       

• Confirmation of candidature
• Mid-candidature review
• Final thesis review and
• Interim review report for part-time HDR students (to be completed in between the milestones above, and to be used for all students enrolled beyond the final thesis review at 6-monthly intervals). (Note: Interim milestones do not require an oral presentation.)

The possible outcomes to your milestone can include:

• Continuation of Candidature
• Recommend upgrade to PhD (student must apply through the degree transfer form)
• Recommend downgrade to Masters (student must apply through the degree transfer form)
• Recommend 3 Month probationary period to resubmit Milestone
• Recommend Ongoing or Escalating Difficulty Progressing (only once a student has already had a 3 month probationary period)..

The Office of Graduate Research has developed a GANNT planning chart to assist you with the planning of your higher degrees by research candidature.

View the backward mapping VLOG presented by the Dean of Graduate Research for information on how backward mapping can help enable HDR completion in a way that guarantees both quality and timeliness.