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Indigenous Graduate Scholarship

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Scholarship at a glance

Deadline: February 19, 2025 at 4:00pm Atlantic Time
Value: up to $15,000 per year for up to two years
Scholarship type: Entrance or in-program
Degree level: All master's or doctoral
Available to: Canadian students self-identifying as Indigenous
Renewable: Yes

Description

Â鶹´«Ă˝ offers graduate scholarships valued at $15,000 per year, awarded annually to an Indigenous student who has either recently started or is planning to pursue graduate studies at Â鶹´«Ă˝.

The objective of these scholarships is to reduce systematic barriers and increase representation of Mi'kmaq and Indigenous scholars in the university's wide diversity of graduate programs and in advanced professional occupations. The graduate program may be at the master's or doctoral level, and may include professional, course-based or thesis-based programs.

Successful applicants will be encouraged to connect with a mentor from Â鶹´«Ă˝â€™s Indigenous faculty, and to get engaged with peer mentorship programs within the University.

The scholarship may be held for a maximum of two years of full-time studies. For students who are in-program at the time of application, the award will begin in May following the competition. In-progress master's students may only hold the award up until the end of their second full-time year in program. Eligible in-progress doctoral students can typically hold the award for the full two-year duration. Part-time students may hold the award at 50% value until the original eligible award amount is reached.

The scholarship is renewed annually subject to good academic standing and completion of annual progress reports in Dal Online (thesis students only).

Applicants must either intend to begin their graduate studies at Â鶹´«Ă˝ between May and the following January, or must have started their degree no earlier than the previous May (i.e. less than eight months in program as of December 31st of the current year). 

Candidates who hold other scholarships managed by FGS may receive this award as a "top-up award" to their other scholarships, up to the applicable funding caps.

This award may be held by full-time or part-time students. Part-time students will receive the award at 50% of its value for an extended duration until the original eligible award amount is reached.

Applications will be considered by a special scholarship committee constituted by the Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies. This committee will typically include member(s) from Â鶹´«Ă˝â€™s Indigenous community, including faculty, staff and students when possible.

While there are no GPA minimums required to apply, decisions of the committee will consider academic merit, community involvement and potential impact of support when selecting successful applicant(s).

Award and renewal decisions are final and cannot be appealed.

Eligibility criteria

  • You must be already enrolled in or planning to apply to a master’s or doctoral program at Â鶹´«Ă˝
  • You must self-identify as Indigenous, defined for the purposes of this competition as someone who identifies as First Nations (Status, non-status, treaty), MĂ©tis, Inuit, Native or North American Indian. First preference for the award will be for members of the Mi’kmaq community. After self-identifying, you must also provide your consent for Â鶹´«Ă˝ to use this information for considering you for this award. 
  • Self-identifying applicants will be asked to describe their connection to their community. You will also be asked to provide the name and contact information of a reference within the community who is familiar with their contributions and connections.

Application overview

  1. Log into the . If you already have a Â鶹´«Ă˝ NetID, please select “Use Â鶹´«Ă˝ NetID” to log in. If not, please enter an email address and create a password. It is only necessary to create one account, even if you intend to apply for multiple opportunities.

  2. Create a new scholarship application by selecting “Create New…” and “Major Scholarship Competitions”

  3. Select “African Nova Scotian and Indigenous Graduate Scholarships” as your application category and complete the application.

  4. °ä±ôľ±ł¦°ěĚý“Save and Next” at the bottom of each page to move through the application. Clicking â€Âٲą±ą±đ” will allow you to close the application and return to it later to edit or update it.   Â