Scholarship Planning
Congratulations on receiving your BBM Global Industry Scholarship. Our scholarships have provided financial assistance to over 1100 talented young Australians to further their education and experience overseas since 1983.
Your scholarship is intended to be used to develop your skills and experience through work and learning overseas. Your plans for your scholarship should include not less than 20 days of scholarship activities, such as work, training or industry events, related to your discipline, as agreed in the conditions of your scholarship.
The experience provides significant personal development opportunities for BBM Scholars with many saying they came back more confident and determined, with a greater aspiration for the future. The skills, knowledge, networks and experiences you gain benefit you, your community and Australia.
This page will provide information to help you navigate your scholarship experience, including what you need to do when you get back. More information can be found in FAQs.
Setting goals
What do you want to achieve with your scholarship experience and how are you going to achieve it? Refer back to your proposal and the goals you outlined there.
Your goals will shape every part of your scholarship; where you stay, what time of year you travel, how long you go for.
Start planning as soon as you can, certainly as soon as you accept your scholarship. Whether it’s researching host organisations, places to visit, teachers for lessons or workshops to take, the earlier you start planning your scholarship, the better prepared you are going to be. Keep in mind the aim of gaining industry exposure, knowledge and skills not readily available in Australia.
Think about the ways in which you’d like to develop whilst on your scholarship. This is an opportunity to break out of your comfort zone.
Reading through past scholars’ reports on the Blog page can be very helpful as is connecting with recently returned scholars in the BBM Global Industry Scholars facebook group. Don’t be shy to post a question in the group. There are many alumni who might be able to help. Contact your teachers, employers or industry leaders and ask for advice.
Secure an industry placement
Target the people you really want to spend time with. Make a prioritised list of contacts. This might include teachers you want to work with, schools you want to audition for or companies you would like work experience with. If emailing isn’t working, try calling instead. The people you are contacting are probably busy – and don’t know you! The best way to get in touch is to drop them an email and then follow up with a phone call.
Cold calling a stranger to ask for help or a favour, such as a work experience placement with their business, can be intimidating. You’re more likely to be confident and successful if you plan it out. Before you call anyone, write down the key things you want to talk about so you can refer to it during the call. You can even write out a script for the key parts of the conversation – what you’re asking for, when, why they might benefit from helping you. It’s hard to remember it all and means you look organised when you speak to someone. It also makes it less likely that you’ll have to keep calling to follow up on things you forgot. If people have spoken to you, they are more likely to commit to help you. Once you have called everyone you will have a good idea of where you will be going, who you will be seeing and what time of year you will be travelling.
If you send an email make sure to follow up on it within 24 hours so it’s still fresh on the recipient’s mind. You can’t sit back and wait for replies, you need to go out and get things done for yourself.
Write a Scholarship Plan
It is very important to keep BBM informed as you organise your scholarship so we know you are on track and in order to authorise payments at appropriate times. We can also help you if there are any particular challenges. Please provide a “Scholarship Plan” as soon as you have started to organise your placements/workshops/meetings/industry activities. This will develop over time and may have tentative dates at first, so you’ll need to update us of any changes and as plans are confirmed.
We will expect your first draft Scholarship Plan approximately 3 months before your planned departure.
Your Scholarship Plan should be in excel format (Scholarship Plan Template) titled “firstname_lastname_scholarshipplan_TODAY’s_DATE” and include the following:
- Goals statements
A description of what you want to achieve on your scholarship, and why it’s relevant to your industry. This will relate closely to your original proposal although you may have refined your ideas at this point. If your plans for your scholarship differ significantly from your original application, you’ll need to restate your goals and explain why they have changed.
- Travel and placement plans
An itinerary including dates (tentative or confirmed) of flights, placements, short courses, meetings etc. Industry activities – must total 20 days minimum
- Contact details of host organisations
- Supporting documents
- Proof of placements – Copies of emails, screenshots of text messages, or other correspondence confirming industry activities you have organised
- A flight invoice/receipt when booked
Make travel arrangements
When your draft Scholarship Plan has been approved you can start making your travel arrangements. Do NOT book any flights or accommodation until you have confirmed your placement itinerary and received approval for your plan.
Before you start booking accommodation and flights, it is important that you check if you need a visa for your chosen destinations (work or otherwise). If you will be going to the UK a Youth Mobility Scheme Visa (Tier 5) may well work for you. You can check on your visa status by going to: www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa. Other countries have similar websites to help you find the visa you need. Allow plenty of time for this as short-notice visas tend to cost a lot more. The USA is particularly tricky.
You should NOT need to pay a company to get your visa. If you have questions, please call us. One past scholar lost money to a Visa company who could not deliver a USA visa. Be warned!
Accommodation is an extremely important part of scholarship travel and one of the biggest fixed costs when travelling. Reducing your accommodation costs will lead to big savings and allow you to really maximise your time overseas.
Always research accommodation options that fit your criteria, sites like booking.com and hotelscombined.com will help with this and make finding the best deal easy. Airbnb can also be a great option of finding good value place to stay, and your host may even help with some local knowledge. Think about the location of where you want to stay, sometimes the better option is to get accommodation a little further away and travel to where you need to be.
Some past BBM Scholars have been lucky enough to have friends and family to stay with overseas. Now could be the time to reconnect with that long-neglected relative!
There are plenty of sites to get flight price comparisons websites such as:
www.webjet.com.au/flights/compare
It can really make a difference to how far your scholarship will go. Deals and specials are always changing, so it’s worth spending some time to look for offers.
You now have your visa (if needed), accommodation and flights sorted. The next step is to write up a budget for your time away. Think about any expenses you might have whilst you are out there and do some research into costs for things such as food, drink, travel, competition/audition fees etc. Your budget will allow you to get the most out of your scholarship. Like your itinerary, your budget needs to be flexible but it gives you a good idea of where you are financially for your scholarship
Check the website below for general travelling and safety tips:
http://smartraveller.gov.au/guide/all-travellers/everyone/Pages/advice-for-all-travellers.aspx
While you are travelling things can happen that could throw your plans off, so set yourself up as well as you can before you depart.
Payment Process
Your scholarship funds will be usually be paid to you in three instalments.
- To receive the first instalment of funds you must send us your draft Scholarship Plan – approximately 3 months before your planned departure. This must include dates, host companies, industry events, etc. along with documentation confirming these arrangements such as emails from hosts. Your placement itinerary must add up to no less than 20 working days in total across all placements or engagements. When this is approved, you will receive funds to book your flights and accommodation for this itinerary. Any funds required to lock in courses or trade events can be requested as needed.
- To receive your second instalment, submit your finalised Scholarship Plan with your flight details, any changes and final dates no later than one month prior to departure. This second instalment is to cover your living expenses during your placement and will be paid within one month prior to departure.
- The third instalment and final balance of $500 is payable upon fulfilment of your post-trip obligations including a satisfactory report and a post trip survey. The report document must comply with the report writing guidelines and be submitted within one month of you completing your itinerary. Remember: The Report Guidelines have all the information you need to compile a comprehensive, compelling report.
While you are travelling
Keep a journal and write down as much as you can. You really won’t remember it all! Take lots of photos and upload them so you don’t lose them all by accident (it happens!).
Please update your BBM Scholarship facebook blog regularly with updates, photos and videos or vlogs. This content will be invaluable when it comes to compiling your written or video report at the end. Keep in mind there are guidelines and requirements for your report – keeping a diary while on your trip can help get a head start. Read the Report Guidelines ahead of your trip so you know what to take note of and how best to record it.
Most importantly, have fun! This should be an incredible experience for you that you remember for the rest of your life – many scholars tell us they do! Work hard, make the effort and absorb the whole experience as best as you can.
Returning to Australia
Please let us now when you get back to Australia. Just send us a quick e-mail.
All BBM Industry Scholars are expected to provide feedback on their preparation and scholarship experience and we recommend you do this as soon as you can whilst it’s fresh in your mind. The feedback you provide helps us develop the scholarships and supports future scholars. It allows us to measure the impact this scholarship has on young people, both in their field of expertise and personally. Importantly, it helps us justify the financial investment of the awards to our supporters, to ensure we can continue providing them.
Giving back
The impact of the BBM Global Industry Scholarships on individual participants can be measured, but the impact on the broader community is immeasurable. Many of our scholars are household names while others become inspirational ‘quiet achievers’. But most of you will return to Australia with the drive to share your knowledge and enthusiasm within your professions and your communities. You become the mentors, role models, teachers and employers of the future. You inspire the next generation of young people to follow their dreams.
Once again congratulations on receiving your BBM Global Industry Scholarship, we look forward to welcoming you into the BBM Scholarship Alumni.