Graduate Blog

This 3-year award has a value of $50,000 per annum.  Canadian
and international students are eligible.  The department will
be assigned one, possibly two, nominations to put forward to
the university-wide
competition. If interested in being considered, please follow
the important instructions below.



The VANIER CGS PROGRAM aims to attract and retain
world-class doctoral students by supporting students who
demonstrate both leadership skills and a high standard of
scholarly achievement in graduate studies in social
sciences and humanities, natural sciences and engineering,
and health.

Canadian and international students are eligible to be nominated
for a Vanier CGS.  In an effort to support students in broadening
their research horizons and seeking new challenges, the Vanier
CGS program strongly encourages candidates to pursue
their studies beyond the university that granted their undergraduate
and graduate degrees. Students wishing to apply for a Vanier CGS
must do so through the Canadian university to which they are
applying for doctoral studies. The Vanier CGS Scholarships are
valued at $50,000 per annum and International students are
eligible.


ELIGIBILITY:  candidates must have completed no more than 20 months
of doctoral studies as of May 1 following the announcement of
results in order to be eligible to be nominated (i.e. candidates
who began their program as early as September 2009 would be eligible)

This applies to candidates who are in a combined MA/PhD program,
who fast-tracked from a master's to a PhD (did not complete their
master's and transferred to a PhD) or who entered directly into a
PhD program from their bachelor's degree; for these candidates,
the agencies will not include the first 12 months of graduate study
when evaluating eligibility.


APPLICATION PROCESS:


Please note: the online application will no longer be accessible
after September 20th 2010 (9 AM). Students must complete and
submit their application electronically by this date.


Vanier website for eligibility requirements:
http://www.vanier.gc.ca/prog-desc-eng.shtml#a4

and for directions on application submission:
http://www.vanier.gc.ca/process-processus-eng.shtml



Students will be expected to complete the electronic application
and print off a copy to submit to the graduate unit by
SEPTEMBER 21, 2010


Students will be required to provide the graduate unit with all
original transcripts along with a current original University of
Toronto transcript. This is required of all applicants including
those whose program commenced September 2010.

Students are reminded to request transcripts and complete the
"Indentify Referee" task on ResearchNet well in advance.
Referee assessments must be completed and submitted to
ResearchNet before students can complete and submit their
application. Technical support from ResearchNet is not available
on weekends.


Leadership Reference Letter is required:
The student will be responsible for attaching this letter to his/her
application package.

The leadership component is paramount in the selection of Vanier
CGS scholars. In order to assist the agency-specific peer review
selection committees and the Vanier Selection Board in assessing
this criterion, the nomination package will include a
leadership reference letter. This letter should be written by
someone who knows the candidate in a non-academic capacity and
can comment on the candidate's leadership skills. Leadership can
be determined in a variety of ways; proof of leadership must be
demonstrated in the letter.


Recruitment and Student Mobility:
As of the current 2011-12 competition, compelling cases of
students pursuing studies at the same university where their
previous degrees were obtained will be accepted, but these
should be the exceptions and not the rule.

Candidates who are nominated by a university where they have
completed a previous degree will be asked to provide a compelling
rationale, in the "Special Circumstances"?ssection, as to why
they have chosen the same/nominating university to undertake their PhD.