Indigenous Graduate Students

Terms of Reference

1. The Indigenous Graduate Entrance Scholarship is currently valued at $21,000 per annum for Indigenous doctoral students and $18,000 per annum for Indigenous master’s students. Tenure of the award is two years at the master’s level and four years at the doctoral level.
   
2. To be eligible for consideration, a student must be planning to enter a thesis based masters or PhD program at Simon Fraser University.
3. During tenure of the Indigenous Graduate Entrance Scholarship, the recipient must be registered full-time in a thesis based graduate program at Simon Fraser University.
4.  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).    
5. 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.
6. Indigenous Graduate Entrance Scholarship recipients may accept scholarship support from other sources including SFU’s ‘private’ awards (derived from annual and endowed funds) provided they are consistent with SFU’s general funding policies. Recipients should be aware that some external awards may restrict students from holding a scholarship at the same time as the external award.
7. There is no restriction on Indigenous Graduate Entrance Scholarship recipients receiving income for work performed during tenure of the scholarship.
8. Entering students who meet the criteria are eligible for consideration. Students must be nominated for the Indigenous Graduate Entrance Scholarship by the Graduate Program Chair of the academic unit to which the student will be admitted.
9. Awards are made by the Senate Graduate Awards Adjudication Committee after a University-wide competition in which departmental nominations are considered.

Revised: February 2017 / 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 component important to 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 and Postdoctoral 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

1. Read about the award to ensure you and your research travel/expenses are eligible.
2. Search for the award in the Graduate Awards Application System. Deadlines to apply are November 30, April 15^th and July 30^th of every year.
3. Students need to submit a travel report after completion of their travel.