About University of Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship
The new Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship recognizes outstanding academic achievement of students pursuing graduate studies in Alberta. It was established to incent the best and the brightest students, including international students, to study in Alberta.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible, students must meet the following eligibility criteria:
1. Must be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident of Canada, or a protected person within the meaning of subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada)), or an International student with a study permit
2. Open to course-based or thesis-based study programs
3. Open to masters or doctoral students.
4. Students registered in a graduate certificate that can ladder into a Master’s degree program are also eligible Students must be living in Alberta while enrolled (taking classes remotely/online or in-person) at the institution
5. Current students must be registered full-time in Fall 2022 and/or Winter 2023 terms. Newly admitted January 2023 students must be registered full-time in Winter 2023.
- Students who are registered with Student Accessibility Services or have a documented need for accommodation, can apply if they are enrolled in at least 40% of a full course load
6. Must demonstrate academic excellence, as evidenced by one or more of the following:
- Current students must have earned a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.3 or greater over the most recent 15 units of course weight in current program. Where there are less than 15 graded credits in the current program, the admission GPA (AGPA) is a weighted factor. For students newly admitted in Fall 2022 or Winter 2023 terms in which graded coursework is not yet available in the current program, the Admission GPA (AGPA) will be used.
- Research and/or academic contributions that may include published manuscripts, presentations, posters, exhibitions, community engagement, performances; and,
- Previous record of scholarly achievement through awards, scholarships, prizes, among others.
7. Must be registered in years 1-4 of the master’s program or registered in years 1-6 of the doctoral program during the tenure of the scholarship. If students transferred from a Master’s program to a Doctoral program, the number of months completed during the Master’s program will count towards the Doctoral Program.
8. Qualifying students and students on academic probation are not eligible.
Value
The value of the scholarship at University of Alberta is $12,000 and paid out to recipient as one-time payment. Students must have a Canadian bank account and Alberta address updated in Bear Tracks to be eligible to receive the award.
A student may only receive one Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship per year; these scholarships are NOT renewable. However, departments may nominate students for a new award in each year during which they meet the eligibility requirements.
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Application Procedures
Students must be nominated to FGSR by their home department; students cannot apply online in the GSMS Awards Portal.
Students applying for Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship (AGES) must complete the Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship (AGES) Student Declaration form and submit it to their home department by their internal deadline.
Students must consult with their department for their internal deadline and internal application process.
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Nomination Procedures
Departments determine the best way to select their AGES nominees. Departments are encouraged to set an earlier, internal departmental deadline to allow time for internal adjudication (if applicable).
Each department is assigned a funding allocation by FGSR, and then selects nominees based on those allocations. The department then nominates students to FGSR by submitting through GSMS Awards Portal (refer to Departmental Memo for details and submission instructions).
Departments are to use the ‘GPA Guidelines – Awards’ procedures available in eClass for calculating the GPA on the last 15 credits.
Adjudication Procedures
The FGSR verifies eligibility of department nominees, and notifies winners directly.
Application Deadline
Deadline for Department to submit nominations to FGSR through GSMS Awards Portal is Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 4:00 PM.
