Internal + Donor Funded Awards

Terms of Reference:

1. Tenure for the Graduate Dean Entrance Scholarship (GDES) is a maximum of two years at the master’s level and a maximum four years at the doctoral level from initial enrolment in the program.
2. To be eligible, a student must be entering a master's or doctoral program at Simon Fraser University.
3. Students must be nominated for the award by the Graduate Program Chair of the academic unit to which the student will be admitted.
4. The criteria for this award are:
   1. a minimum CGPA of 3.50;
   2. demonstrated academic excellence at the undergraduate level and, if applicable, at the graduate level;
   3. evidence of outstanding achievement at the graduate level, with particular emphasis on intellectual ability, originality and ability in research.
5. During tenure of the Graduate Dean Entrance Scholarship, the recipient must be registered full-time in their graduate program at Simon Fraser University. In programs where fees are assessed on a per-credit basis, the successful candidate must be taking at least six credits to be eligible to hold the award.
6. The Graduate Dean’s Entrance Scholarship is normally held during consecutive academic terms. If a recipient registers “on leave” during tenure of their award, it will be interrupted until the student is registered full-time and payments will be reinstated at that time. No deferment of award payments to future academic terms will be permitted, except under 'extenuating' conditions with the permission of the Chair of the Senate Graduate Awards Adjudication Committee (SGAAC).
7. Graduate Dean Entrance Scholarship recipients may accept scholarship support from other SFU sources including SFU’s ‘donor funded/private’ awards. Recipients should be aware that some external awards may have restrictions on funding.
8. Awards are granted by the Dean of Graduate Studies on behalf of the SGAAC, upon the nomination of the Graduate Program Chair.

GDES Guidelines

Student receiving the GDES award should read the full GDES Guidelines

Revised: June 2021 / GUSE007

Terms of Reference

1. To be eligible to hold a Graduate Fellowship (GF), a student must be registered as a full-time, regular (not "on-leave") student in a Master’s or Doctoral program.  In programs where fees are assessed on a per-credit basis, students must be taking at least six credit hours to be eligible to receive a Graduate Fellowship.
2. Eligible students must have a minimum first-class (3.50) cumulative grade point average. In exceptional cases, other evidence of outstanding ability may outweigh this criterion. Since academic merit is the primary criterion for ranking eligible applicants, departments must notify all applicants in advance if additional criteria will be used.
3. Students will be eligible to hold a GF only during the first 9 semesters of a Master's program and during the first 15 semesters of a Ph.D. program.
4. Students who did not complete a Master's program before transferring into a PhD are eligible to hold the GF within the first 15 semesters of their PhD, from the PhD start date
5. GFs will be awarded in increments of .5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0. A partial GF (.5) is valued at $3,500; a full GF (1.0) is valued at $7,000. Applicants may be eligible to receive up to a maximum of two full GFs, or four partial GFs, during the academic year (September 1 – August 31).
6. GF recipients are eligible to hold other scholarships funded from SFU sources.
7. Graduate Fellowship recipients may accept other scholarship support from external funding sources including SFU’s ‘private’ awards (derived from annual and endowed funds). Recipients should be aware that some external awards may restrict students from holding a GF at the same time as the external award. Effective Fall 2021, if the total of the GF and other external support exceeds $60,000 per annum, the value of the GF will be reduced so that the total equals $60,000.
8. There is no restriction on GF recipients receiving income for work performed during tenure of the GF.
9. Application is made through the Graduate Award Application System.
10. Awards are made by the Senate Graduate Awards Adjudication Committee on the recommendations of the Departmental Graduate Program Committee.

Revised: November 2020

Terms of Reference

1. The purpose of this award is to support the travel and/or research component of the student’s graduate degree. 
2. The maximum award amount is $7,000 but individual award values will vary, depending on the expenses being submitted, academic unit approval and budgetary restrictions.
3. Master’s students must hold the award within 3 years (9 terms) of the beginning of their program; Doctoral students must hold the award within 5 years (15 terms) of beginning their program. These times may be extended for students who have taken an approved leave. Students who did not complete a Master's program before transferring into a PhD are eligible to hold the travel award within the first 15 terms of their PhD, from the PhD start date.
4. While holding this award, the student must be registered full time, regular (not on leave or part time), in good standing in a master’s or doctoral program. Students cannot hold this award while on a co-op or practicum term.
5. If award is being used to cover travel expenses:
   
   1. Students travelling to Northern Canada, the Northwest Territories or the Yukon are also encouraged to apply for the Northern Studies Training Program (NSTP).
   2. Students holding a Tri-agency CGS award, including Vanier CGSD awards, are also encouraged to apply to the Tri-agency Michael Smith Foreign Studies Supplement (MSFSS)
   3. Awards may be paid before or after the travel takes place. In the event of travel cancellation or changes, any award payment must be reimbursed to Graduate Studies. 
6. Students apply/are nominated through the graduate awards application system. The application should include documentation relevant to the expense. This might include: 
   1. Most recent transcript (unofficial SFU transcript for current students; previous university for new students) 
   2. A description of the travel and/or expenses and how they are relevant to the research
   3. A letter of support from the supervisor confirming the expenses
7. Awards are approved by the Senate Graduate Awards Committee Chair on the recommendation of the Graduate Program Chair. 
8. Examples of ELIGIBLE travel expenses include travel for research purposes, travel to present at or attend a conference, workshop or seminar related to research. 
9. Examples of ELIGIBLE research related expenses include direct costs of doing research such as interpretation services, paid data sets, computers/laptops, reasonable computer peripherals (keyboard, mouse, microphones), art supplies. This award may also be used to reward research excellence.
   
10. Examples of expenses NOT eligible include travel to practicums, co-ops, internships, job fairs or interviews, business or first class travel, course related travel or supplies (such as textbooks or journals). 

Terms of Reference

1. Tenure for the Indigenous Graduate Entrance Scholarship (IGES) is two years at the master’s level and four years at the doctoral level. There is one award available at the master’s level and one at the doctoral level.
2. To be eligible, the Indigenous student must be entering a research based master’s or PhD program at Simon Fraser University.
3. Students must be nominated for the award by the Graduate Program Chair of the academic unit to which the student will be admitted.
4. The criteria for this award are:
   1. Canadian citizenship and Indigenous ancestry
   2. a minimum entrance CGPA of 3.5;
   3. demonstrated academic excellence at the undergraduate level and, if applicable, at the graduate level;
   4. evidence of outstanding achievement with particular emphasis on intellectual ability, originality and ability in research.
5. During tenure of the Indigenous Graduate Entrance Scholarship, the recipient must be registered full-time in a research based graduate program at Simon Fraser University.
6. The Indigenous Graduate Entrance Scholarship is normally held during consecutive academic terms. If a recipient registers “on leave” during tenure of their award, the award will be interrupted until the student is registered full-time and payments will be reinstated at that time. No deferment of award payments to future academic terms will be permitted, except under ‘extenuating’ conditions with the permission of the Chair of the Senate Graduate Awards Adjudication Committee (SGAAC).
7. Indigenous Graduate Entrance Scholarship recipients may accept scholarship support from other sources including SFU’s ‘donor funded/private’ awards. Recipients should be aware that some external awards may have restrictions on funding.
8. There is no restriction on Indigenous Graduate Entrance Scholarship recipients receiving income for work performed during tenure of the scholarship.
9. Awards are made by the Senate Graduate Awards Adjudication Committee after a University-wide competition in which departmental nominations are considered.

Revised: June 2021 / GUSE006

Terms of Reference

1. The purpose of the Indigenous Graduate Travel Award is to provide financial support for Indigenous graduate students for the travel and/or research component of their research. Students can only apply for the Indigenous travel award once per academic year. Indigenous graduate students may apply for this fund before their travel to pay for costs in advance.
2. To be eligible for this award, the following criteria must be met:
   
   1. This award is for Indigenous graduate students attending Simon Fraser University.
   2. Indigenous or “Aboriginal” is defined by Canada’s 1982 Constitution as people identified as First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples of Canada.
3. Disbursements of up to $1000 each may be applied for in each academic year (starting September 1 of each year).
4. The funds will be given out on a first come / first applied for basis. The fund will be considered used for the year when the $5,000 limit for the year has been reached. Once the total fund has been distributed for the year, a message will be sent out through the Indigenous graduate student listserv.
5. Repeat applications will be allowed from year-to-year. Preference, however, will be given to students who have not yet received money from this fund (this is at the discretion of Graduate Studies).
6. Application includes:
   1. A completed budget which accounts for the requested amount;
   2. A letter of support from the applicant’s academic supervisor or a faculty member familiar with your work (to verify the student’s academic status, intent, and need).

Travel Report

Upon completion of travel, successful applicants will need to submit the following within two weeks to the Graduate Awards Assistant: gpsaward@sfu.ca

A concise Travel and Activity Report, written in language suitable for the general public. Contents and/or quotes from the report may be published in Graduate Studies promotional material. If you do not wish for your travel report to be published, please indicate so.

The following could be included in your report:

• The activities that were carried out, in respect to how the travel contributed to your research and/or scholarly activities
• Any unanticipated benefits derived from the travel, including those in relation to your current research objectives an/or to your general experience as a graduate student
• Any special issues or problems you encountered

Terms of Reference

APR Access: Student instructions | Staff instructions

To be eligible to hold a President’s PhD Scholarship (PS), the applicant must have completed fewer than 12 terms of enrolment in the program and be registered as a full-time, regular (not “on-leave” or “part-time”) student in satisfactory/good standing in a PhD program at Simon Fraser University. Students who did not complete a Master's program before transferring into a PhD are eligible to hold the award within the first 12 terms of their PhD, from the PhD start date.

At the time of nomination, eligible students must have completed all program and university requirements for the degree (eg. courses, comprehensive or qualifying examinations), except the thesis and, in the case of students in the Clinical Psychology Program, the internship. Students may not receive more than one President’s PhD Scholarship during their PhD program.

Evaluation criteria includes:

• the extent to which the student has made excellent progress
• demonstrated academic excellence
• scholarly output and leadership

Eligibility while holding other awards/sources of income:

• Students holding a national award from CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC or their equivalent (ie. SFU Entrance Scholarship or a major international award) are ineligible to hold the President’s PhD Scholarship at the same time.
• Given the intent of the award, recipients are expected, but not required, to limit the number of hours worked weekly.

A PhD student must be nominated for the President’s PhD Scholarship and the nomination must include a reference by the student’s supervisor addressing the student’s progress, academic excellence, scholarly output and leadership.   

Awards are made on the recommendations of the academic unit’s Graduate Program Committee to the Dean of Graduate Studies.

Terms of Reference

1. The Provost International Fellowship (PIF) will be awarded to outstanding international students who are initiating their graduate program at SFU and have received a scholarship from their home country to study abroad. These awards must provide a stipend* for living expenses for students studying abroad for all three terms including costs of Health and Medical Insurance and student fees, other than tuition.
2. To be eligible to receive this award, a student’s initial enrolment must meet the SFU graduate program entrance requirements for international students including:
   1. English language requirements;
   2. be registered as a fulltime, regular (not "on leave") student, and
   3. normally must have a first class (SFU equivalent of 3.67) grade point average.
3. The Provost International Fellowship has a value equivalent to the student’s tuition based on the research program full-time fee and will be disbursed on a per term basis. Normally, these awards are not available to students in premium fee programs.
4. This award is available throughout the duration of the student’s studies for up to a maximum of 2 (masters) or 4 (doctoral) years, provided PIF recipients continue to hold their country of origin’s scholarship to study abroad, that they remain registered as a full-time, regular (not "on leave") student, and maintain a first class (3.67) grade point average. In programs where fees are assessed on a per credit basis, students must be taking at least six credits to be eligible to hold a PIF. These fellowships will be reviewed on an annual basis to ensure that all requirements are being met.
5. There is no restriction on PIF recipients receiving income from Teaching Assistantships or Research Assistantships performed during tenure of the PIF but the maximum amount of financial support cannot exceed $60,000 (effective Fall 2021).
6. Academic units are encouraged to match the value of the PIF award through Teaching Assistantships or Research Assistantships on an annual basis provided the student is suitably qualified to act as a teaching assistant or tutor marker.
7. Eligible candidates must contact the Graduate Studies office directly and provide proof, including dates and value, of the major scholarship they hold.
8. Awards are made by the Dean of Graduate Studies on behalf of the Senate Graduate Awards Adjudication Committee, contingent upon the availability of funds.

Revised: February 2018 (due to changes in award eligibility, no retroactive PIFs will be awarded prior to May 1, 2018).

Terms of Reference

1. The Special Graduate Entrance Scholarship (SGES) is a one or two-term award.
2. It is intended as a means of recruiting to this University, outstanding applicants for admission who are considering other institutions.
3. The student must be nominated for the SGES by the Graduate Program Chair of the academic unit to which the student will be admitted based upon evidence that the student is outstanding as indicated by postsecondary transcripts, letters of reference, previous awards, and scholarly activity.
4. To be eligible to hold the SGES, the candidate must be registered as a full-time graduate student in a Master’s or Doctoral program at Simon Fraser University. In programs where fees are assessed on a per-credit basis, the successful candidate must be taking at least six credits to be eligible to hold the award. If a recipient wishes to register “on-leave” during tenure of this award, a deferment of the scholarship must be requested in writing to Graduate Studies. Permission will be granted in exceptional circumstances only.
5. SGES recipients are eligible to hold other scholarships funded from SFU subject to our graduate general funding policies.
6. SGES recipients may accept scholarship support from external sources including SFU’s ‘private’ awards (derived from annual and endowed funds). Recipients should be aware that some external awards may restrict students from holding a scholarship at the same time as the external award.
7. All awards are subject to SFU’s general graduate funding policies.

Revised: April 2018