Ontario Graduate Scholarship

Brief description:

The University of Toronto is making available Ontario Graduate Scholarships (OGS) for students who wish to undertake Masters and Doctoral degree programs at the University. The Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) program encourages excellence in graduate studies at publicly-assisted universities in Ontario. Since 1975, the OGS program has been providing merit-based scholarships to Ontario’s best graduate students in all disciplines of academic study. The scholarship program is jointly funded by the Province of Ontario and the University of Toronto. The Province allocates OGS awards to universities specifying the number of awards that each may offer to their students annually.

Host Institution(s):

School of Graduate Studies

Level/Field(s) of study:

Masters and PhD degrees in any subject

Number of Scholarships:

Not stated

Target group:

Canadian citizens, Canadian permanent residents and protected persons and international students from around the world

Scholarship value/inclusions:

The value of the OGS is $5,000 per session. Thus, awardees may receive $10,000 for 2 consecutive sessions or $15,000 for 3 consecutive sessions. In all instances, the awarding graduate unit will contribute to one-third the cost of the total award received by the students.

Each scholarship is tenable for 1 year (i.e., 2 consecutive or 3 academic sessions). The value and duration of each OGS award will be determined by the awarding graduate unit and detailed in the offer letter. Students are limited in the number of years that they may hold an OGS. Master’s students may receive a maximum of 2 years of OGS awards. Doctoral students may receive a maximum of 4 years of OGS awards. Both are subject to a lifetime maximum of 6 years per student.

In addition, OGS guidelines restrict students to a lifetime maximum of 6 years of government-funded awards and prohibit students from holding an OGS and another government-funded award concurrently.

Eligibility:

Applicants have to be Canadian citizens, Permanent Residents, or Protected Persons under subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada), or international students who are studying or plan to study at the University of Toronto under a temporary resident visa (student study permit). They have to be registered or intend to register in an eligible program on a full-time basis for the academic year. An eligible program is defined as a full-time program of study of 2 or 3 sessions at the University of Toronto leading to a graduate degree. A full-time student is one who is in at least 60% of a full course load (40% for students with a permanent disability) or as defined by the University.

They must have achieved at least A- (or equivalent) in each of the last 2 completed years of study (full-time equivalent); or if the student has completed 2 years of graduate studies at the time of application, the student must only demonstrate an overall average of at least A- (or equivalent) on all graduate courses completed. If marks used for calculating an applicant’s grade point average (GPA) are not available (e.g., courses were graded on a pass-fail basis), then the next most recent available undergraduate or graduate marks should be used to determine eligibility.

To hold an OGS award, recipients must register and remain enrolled as a full-time student at University of Toronto in an eligible program at the graduate unit from which the OGS was awarded. They must be in good standing with the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP). Applicants who have defaulted on a Canada or Ontario Student Loan, or have failed to make satisfactory repayment on a loan overpayment, are ineligible to receive the award. Those with an OSAP restriction may still apply for the OGS. But if awarded, they must have the restriction cleared within 30 days of notification in order to accept and hold the award.

Scholars may accept research assistantships, part-time teaching positions, or other paid employment that does not affect their status as a full-time graduate student and is commensurate with the graduate unit policies. Typically, students holding full-time paid employment are not eligible to receive an OGS from the University of Toronto. Scholars also cannot hold an OGS award in the same session (overlapping) or in the same award year as a scholarship from SSHRC, NSERC, CIHR, QEII-GSST, or another OGS.

The eligibility criteria provided here are the minimum requirements only. Graduate units may impose additional criteria to apply, receive, or hold an OGS. Students are to inquire with their graduate unit regarding any additional requirements or conditions to those listed here.

Application instructions:

Applications are currently closed.

Applicants must submit an OGS application to their proposed graduate unit using the University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies centralized online OGS application. Each graduate unit will have their own internal submission deadline to which applicants must adhere (for Fall 2020 entry, the deadlines vary from December 2019 to April 2020). See the official website (link found below) for deadlines imposed by the different Graduate Units.

Students must submit an OGS application to each institution for which they are seeking admission. OGS awards are not transferrable from 1 university to another. If applying to multiple graduate units/departments within the University of Toronto, a separate OGS application must be submitted to each graduate unit/department.

Important note for visa students: Applicants holding or will be holding a valid student visa by the graduate unit’s OGS visa application deadline (or at the graduate unit’s discretion, by 31 March 2020 at the latest), are eligible to apply following the same application process and internal deadlines set by their current or proposed graduate unit. Graduate units will select and forward a limited number of applications to the School of Graduate Studies to compete in a centralized adjudication, by 1 June 2020.

It is important to visit the official website (link found below) for detailed information on how to apply for this scholarship.

Website:

Official Scholarship Website: https://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/awards/ontario-graduate-scholarship/#section_0