Federal, Provincial & Private Scholarships in Canada

Canada, the maple leaf country, is investing heavily in scientific research through different means. Among these, millions of dollars are provided through scholarships, mainly to students in either the Masters or the Ph.D. curriculums. These grants are provided through different channels including the federal government, the provincial governments, and the private institutions. The "private" qualification is used to distinguish the latter from the governmental channels. Scholarships represent a great way to avoid debt, sustain life requirements, and enhance research capabilities for any student seeking excellence. While they are very competitive, especially for international students, it is possible to increase the chances of obtaining at least one with a good understanding of the requirements as well as a well-defined plan.

In this article, I would like to share my experience with some scholarships I applied for during my Ph.D. studies. Three examples of each channel will be presented. The first one is a prestigious federal scholarship, the second one is also a prestigious scholarship provided by Quebec province (there are 10 provinces in Canada), the third one is a private scholarship provided by one of the leading labs in digital intelligence. While the fields, the graduate levels, the requirements, and the processes may differ, several insights are common among all the scholarships. These insights are highlighted in this blog.

1. Federal Scholarships: VANIER Canada Graduate Scholarship

VANIER Canada Graduate Scholarship is probably the most prestigious scholarship in Canada. Luckily, it is open for international students as well. The program helps?Canadian institutions attract highly qualified doctoral students. The areas of research are Health Research, Natural Sciences and/or Engineering, and Social Sciences and Humanities. The awardees receive $50,000 (CAD) per year for three years during doctoral studies. The equally weighted selection criteria are Academic Excellence, Research Potential, and Leadership. Candidates must be nominated by a Canadian institution with a?quota to host Vanier scholars, and they should only seek a nomination from the institution at which they want to study. Being very prestigious, the selection process is extremely competitive, and universities require their students to have exceptional applications if they want to go for Vanier Scholarship. Any application goes first through university selection based on a predefined quota. If successful, the application is nominated by the university for the national competition where the best-nominated applications from Canadian universities are reviewed. While the deadlines differ among universities, it is usually around the end of September for the university and the end of October for the national competition. The announcement of results is usually in early April.

To share my experience, I applied for this scholarship from Polytechnique Montreal (Poly). Within Poly where the quota allowed by Vanier is 5, I was among 5 students selected to be nominated for the national competition. Then, on the national level, I was ranked 61 among 190 students. The number of awardees was 55, and I was waitlisted. As a whole, the experience was magnificent, very rewarding, and full of learnings. For Vanier Scholarship, I encourage students to apply with a permanent residency or after initiating the permanent residency process. It increases significantly the chances of being selected compared to being an international student with a study permit. It is also worth mentioning that leadership is a crucial criterion in this scholarship. The graph above gives an idea of some of the common leadership activities among Vanier scholars.

2. Provincial Scholarships: FRQNT Doctoral Merit Scholarship

FRQNT Doctoral Merit Scholarship is a prestigious provincial scholarship provided by "Les Fonds de Recherche du Quebec Nature et Technologies". It is also available for international students. The scholarship seeks to build a sustainable future in fields as varied as artificial intelligence, clean technologies, and climate change.?It offers financial support to top applicants from the Quebec province. The selection criteria are academic record (30 Points), Research Project (45 Points), Social Mobilization (20 Points), and General Presentation of the application (5point). The scholarship value can reach up to $84,000 (CAD) for four years. For this scholarship, the application can be directly submitted through the FRQNT portal. The application deadline is early October while the announcement of results is at the end of April of the following year.

To share my experience, I applied for this scholarship through the website. I was ranked top 8 among more than 30 applicants in the field of operations research, and I was awarded the scholarship. I also encourage international students located in Quebec to apply for this scholarship as well as other students in other provinces to apply to the corresponding scholarships. Similar to Vanier, leadership and social mobilization are taken seriously in this scholarship as well.

3. Private Scholarships: IVADO Ph.D. Excellence Scholarship

IVADO Ph.D. Excellence Scholarship supports research in the areas of data science in the broad sense, encompassing methodological research in data science (machine learning, operations research, statistics) and its applications in multiple sectors, including our priority sectors (health, transportation and logistics, energy, business, and finance) and any other sector of application (e.g., sociology, physics, linguistics, engineering). The objective is to train future actors in the field of digital intelligence. It is provided by one of the prestigious Quebec institutes in the field of data science. The amount is $25,000 (CAD) per year for up to three years. Applications are received starting from the end of December and results are announced at the end of April of the following year. The review committee ranks the applications based on excellence while paying particular attention to the applicant’s aptitude for research, the alignment of their experience with the proposed project, and the depth and breadth of their experience including multidisciplinary and professional experience, extra-academic activities, collaborations, contributions to the scientific community and society as a whole.

To share my experience, I applied directly through the application website, and I was awarded the scholarship among more than 50 applications. Compared to the governmental scholarships presented above where the application should not be very technical, the Ivado application is more technical given that it is reviewed by experts.

4. Application Approach

Based on my small experience, applying for a scholarship is a sequence of exercises that should be done thoroughly to increase the chances of success. The first exercise is understanding deeply the scholarship context including eligibility, criteria, deadlines, process, etc. To achieve information literacy about a scholarship, reading the provided information several times is required to not miss important details. The second exercise is leveraging the application story to fit enough the requirements. The more your story is interesting the more people will be willing to fund your work, research, studies, etc. Several things are useful including previous scholarships obtained, grades, academic and professional experiences, and leadership activities. The third exercise is several reading and tuning iterations. If the application can be fully reviewed by supervisors or previous awardees, it will be great. This cyclic approach can be called the RFT where R stands for Reading, F stands for Fitting, and T stands for Tuning. It is also highly recommended to start working on the application(s) as early as possible without procrastination. Applications that are developed over a sufficient period of time are usually better due to the availability of time to review, read, tune, improve, and get constructive feedback.

To sum up, great applications are usually consistent, interesting, and exciting to read. They reflect inspiring stories and they provide enough confidence in the ability of the applicant to achieve great results. Good luck to all upcoming applicants. Even if your applications are not successful, I guarantee great experiences full of learnings, insights, and lessons on both the professional and the personal levels :-) !

Have you been through a similar or different experience? I am looking forward to your insights in the comment section below.