Referee Reports for Australian Universities

Referee Reports for Australian Universities

For a PhD or MPhil at the University of Sydney you need "Two referee reports using our forms". The form asks your referee how they know you, asks them to compare you with research students they have known, and asks them to tick bands from "up to 40%" to "90% plus". It is not a free letter.

Sydney and UNSW say "referee report" where US universities say "letter of recommendation", and the difference is more than a word. Our view: in Australia the referee report belongs to research degrees. A coursework master's applicant searching for "LOR samples for Australia" may be solving a problem the application does not have. Sydney's general document list for international coursework applicants does not mention referees at all. This page walks through the two research forms we could retrieve, Sydney's and UNSW Engineering's, and tells referees how to fill them in honestly. If you are the referee and your narrative is drafted, you can get a free Quick Review of the letter.

Every university page and form quoted below was checked on 31 October 2026. The University of Melbourne's and Monash University's application pages refused automated access (HTTP 403) when we checked, so their rules are not covered here. Check them on their own sites.

Coursework or research: the first question

Sydney's page for international applicants to undergraduate and postgraduate coursework lists the documents you need: "academic certificates and transcripts, proof of English language proficiency and proof of identity (such as your passport)". It adds that "Some programs may also require additional documents such as a supplementary form, personal statement or portfolio." Referee reports are not on either list (Sydney: international applications).

Sydney's research application page is different. Its document list includes a research proposal "of up to 2000 words", "Evidence that a primary supervisor has agreed to supervise you", and "Two referee reports using our forms" (Sydney: postgraduate research applications).

The countercase: some coursework programs set their own extra documents, and the page says so. Read your course page's admission requirements. If it asks for referees, follow it. If it does not, spend the time on your personal statement instead; our guide to Australian master's personal statements covers what those programs ask.

What Sydney's research referee form asks

The form is titled "Postgraduate Research Referee Form" and the copy linked from Sydney's application page on 31 October 2026 is marked "vMay16" (the form, PDF). It tells applicants they "MUST obtain Academic Referee's Reports from at least two academics who are familiar with their studies and research potential." The referee section has five parts:

1. "In what capacity, how well, and for how long, have you known the applicant?"
2. A personal assessment of "technical competence, initiative, diligence, motivation, and promise of sustained and productive participation in the graduate program", with the instruction: "Please compare this student with others known to you who have been accepted in previous years or are now applying for admission."
3. A five-point rating of "academic and research potential" in relation to "other PhD or masters by research candidates known to you": Very strong, Strong, Moderate, Minimal, Nil.
4. A grid of seven qualities, from "Preparation for proposed course" to "Intellectual promise", each rated "in comparison to other students you have supervised" in bands: Below average (up to 40%), Average (40 - 60%), Above average (60 - 80%), Good (80 – 90%), Excellent (90% plus), or "Unable to judge".
5. Two direct questions: "Does your institution offer the graduate program this applicant seeks? If YES, would he/she be accepted at your institution?" and, for applicants whose first language is not English, whether they "understand, read and express himself/herself fluently in English".

A US-style letter is mainly prose. Sydney's form is the other way round: the ratings and boxes are the report, and the prose fits inside them.

UNSW Engineering counts the other way

UNSW Engineering's research referee form asks for ratings "in relation to all Honours/Masters/PhD candidates you have known", with columns Excellent (top 10%), Very Good (11-25%), Above Average (26-40%), Average (41-60%), Below Average, and "No opportunity to observe" (UNSW Engineering referee form, PDF). It also asks for comments on the applicant's "potential to complete a research higher degree in minimum time (3 years full time for PhD, 2 years full time for Masters of Philosophy)", and suggests questions such as "Would you supervise this student in a higher degree program? Why or why not?"

Sydney's numbers read as percentiles counted from the bottom ("90% plus" is Excellent). UNSW Engineering's count down from the top ("top 10%" is Excellent). So the bands do not line up: by our arithmetic, Sydney's Above average (60 - 80%) covers roughly the top 20% to 40%, while UNSW's Above Average is the top 26% to 40%. Read the column headings before you tick.

At UNSW's School of Art and Design, applicants do not send the reports at all: "Nominated supervisor(s) are required to submit two referee reports and the HDR Interview Form. They will submit these documents separately as applicants should not be privy to them." (UNSW Art and Design: how to apply). Rules differ by school, even within one university.

Who should be your two referees

Sydney asks for "at least two academics who are familiar with their studies and research potential". UNSW Art and Design says "Strong referees are those who know applicants as researchers and can vouch for their research skills, aptitude, and experience."

Our view: your two referees are, in order, the supervisor of your thesis or largest research project, and a second academic who saw you do research or research-like work. A professor who taught you one large course can answer the capacity question but will struggle with the comparison with research students. If you have no thesis, see our sibling page on a PhD in Australia without Honours.

The proposed supervisor is a different thing. Sydney asks separately for "Evidence that a primary supervisor has agreed to supervise you", and says "This could be a copy of the email correspondence showing the staff member's agreement to supervise you." That is not a referee report; keep it separate from your two referees' reports. Our sibling page on what counts as supervisor approval in Australia covers that document, and the Australian PhD expression of interest example covers the step before it.

The countercase: at a school like UNSW Art and Design, where the nominated supervisor submits the reports, the supervisor is the person who collects them. You still choose who writes them.

Filling the bands honestly

This part is for the referee.

• Match the ticks to the words. If the narrative says "the strongest research student I have supervised in five years", the potential rating cannot be "Moderate". A reader who sees a strong box and weak prose, or the reverse, trusts neither.
• Name the group. Sydney asks you to compare with research students "accepted in previous years or are now applying". Say who those are and how many.
• Use "Unable to judge" when it is true. If you never saw the student plan a long project, tick "Unable to judge" for "Ability to plan and complete work" rather than guessing. Our page on the "no basis for judgment" rating explains why a blank is better than an invented rating.
• Do not convert grades. Give the student's marks in your own scale with a rank and group size. Our sibling page on explaining grades and rank in a LOR has sentence patterns.

Constructed example: the capacity box and the comparison

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant statement. Context (invented): Dr. S. Menon supervised "Ananya Rao" for a master's thesis in India and is completing Sydney's form for her PhD application.

Weak answer to "In what capacity, how well, and for how long, have you known the applicant?":

I know Ms. Rao very well as she was my student.

Revised answer:

I supervised Ms. Rao's master's thesis from July 2024 to June 2026 and met her weekly. I also taught her one graduate course (41 students), in which she placed first.

Weak comparison answer:

She is one of the best students I have taught.

Revised comparison answer:

Of the 30 master's thesis students I have supervised since 2018, six went on to PhD programs. Ms. Rao is stronger than four of those six in research independence: she found and corrected a flaw in her own main result before I had seen it.

The revised answers give the role, the dates, the frequency and a group with a size, which is what the form's wording asks for. The comparison also gives one incident, so the "Very strong" tick has a reason beside it. For a full letter built the same way, see the PhD recommendation letter sample from a supervisor.

Before your referee submits

1. Confirm the degree is a research degree, or that your coursework page asks for referees.
2. Download the university's own form; do not send a US-style letter alone where a form is required.
3. Check whether you send the reports or your nominated supervisor does (UNSW Art and Design).
4. Ask each referee to read the band headings, because Sydney and UNSW Engineering count in opposite directions.
5. Make sure the narrative and the ticks agree.
6. Keep the supervisor's agreement email separate from the referee reports.

Questions about Australian referee reports

Do Australian universities need recommendation letters for a master's?

For coursework master's, Sydney's general international document list does not include referees. Some programs add documents, so read your course page. For research degrees, Sydney requires two referee reports on its form.

Can I send a normal letter instead of the referee form?

Use the university's form where it provides one. Sydney asks for "Two referee reports using our forms". A referee can still write prose inside the form's boxes.

Who should complete the referee report for a PhD in Australia?

Sydney's form asks for academics "familiar with their studies and research potential". Our view: your thesis supervisor should be the first.

Is my proposed supervisor one of my referees?

At Sydney, the supervisor's agreement is a separate document. At UNSW Art and Design, the nominated supervisor submits the two referee reports, and the page says applicants "should not be privy to them".

Get a free review of the letter

Get a free Quick Review of your recommendation letter against GradPilot's international academic recommendation rubric. It reads for how you know the candidate, incidents rather than adjectives, comparisons and grades a foreign reader can use, your own voice rather than the candidate's, and a clear endorsement for the program. Paste the text you plan to put in the form's comment boxes. For a US-style letter, use the graduate recommendation letter rubric.

GradPilot's letter reviews aren't for a letter you drafted for a recommender to submit as their own.

More Australia guides:

• Group of Eight personal statement guide: the statement coursework applicants write instead.
• MPhil and master's by research proposals in Australia: the proposal that sits beside these reports.
• What PhD committees want from letters of recommendation: the same evidence, in a US letter.
• Graduate school essays hub: all our master's and PhD guides.

Sources

Retrieved 31 October 2026.

• University of Sydney, International applications (no cycle stated): coursework document list.
• University of Sydney, Postgraduate research applications (no cycle stated): two referee reports on Sydney's form, proposal length, supervisor evidence.
• University of Sydney, Postgraduate Research Referee Form (form version "vMay16"): questions, scales and bands.
• UNSW Engineering, Research applicant Referee's Report form (no date stated): bands and questions.
• UNSW School of Art and Design, How to apply for postgraduate research (no cycle stated): supervisors submit referee reports.
• Not retrieved: University of Melbourne and Monash University application pages (HTTP 403 to automated requests on 31 October 2026).