Queen’s welcomes international graduate students. There are various funding opportunities from both within the University and Canada, as well as external to Canada.
Funding options from within Canada
A small number of Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) awards may be made to student visa holders in Ontario under a temporary resident visa student study permit under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada). The current value of the award is $5,000 per term. Awards will be for two or three consecutive terms; one-term awards will not be made.
- Ontario Graduate Scholarship – apply directly to Queen’s.
The Graduate Calendar’s External Awards Offered by Government and Other Granting Bodies includes more details about OGS and other external awards for student visa holders at Queen’s.
- Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships - via one of the Tri-Council Agencies, NSERC, SSHRC, CIHR
- Government of Canada International Scholarships - Opportunities for non-Canadians (educanada.ca)
- Global Affairs Canada Scholarships – Study in Canada Scholarships, Scholarships & Educational Exchanges (SEED), Emerging Leaders in the Americas program (ELAP)
- Universities Canada – government funded international partnership programs
- Mitacs Globalink Research Awards support international research collaboration, providing special funding for graduate students with uncertain status in their current location to conduct research at Queen’s. These awards offer $6,000 from Mitacs to support student travel and accommodation expenses, research-related expenses, and student stipends for a 12-24 week project supervised by a Canadian faculty member. Applications are accepted any time and are processed as received. See the VP Research Office website for Queen’s contacts
- Mitacs - Globalink Graduate Fellowship - The Globalink Graduate Fellowship provides $15,000 in financial support to former Globalink Research Interns who return to Canada for full master’s or PhD programs, or Postdoctoral fellowships at any Mitacs partner institution
Further information about Canadian funding sources for international students can be found on the websites of the Office of the University Registrars' Student Awards and the Canadian Bureau for International Education.
Funding options from outside of Canada
International students are encouraged to explore awards offered by their home countries. These opportunities, can provide support as you pursue your studies at Queen’s. Additional opportunities to those below, can be found on the VP Global Engagement website.
Latin America
- CALDO - CALDO connects students with Canada’s leading research-intensive universities, supporting universities' recruitment and partnership development in Central and South America.
- Through CALDO, Queen’s has signed agreements with CONAPE (Costa Rica), and SENACYT (Panama), and agreements are in negotiations with FIDERH (Mexico), and Colfuturo (Colombia).
Agreement with the China Scholarship Council
Queen’s has an agreement with the China Scholarship Council (CSC), which is a government agency in China that provides scholarships to Chinese students for doctoral and postdoctoral studies abroad.
- A citizen of China, studying in China or abroad
- Students must be either 4th year undergraduates or in their 1st year of their PhD or current graduate students in a Master's program
- Note: There are no Master's scholarships. However, a letter of offer to a 4th year undergraduate program from a foreign university can indicate that the offer will lead to a PhD degree.
1. Contribution from the CSC
- The CSC pays for flight, accommodation, and living expenses for the student.
2. Contribution from the Department
- A student who comes with CSC funding is required to receive departmental funding equivalent to the cost of tuition – this can come from any combination of RA, QGA, TA, or other departmental resources. It is expected that, in addition to this department funding, the supervisor would cover bench costs.
- The conditional letter of acceptance should indicate that if the student receives the CSC Scholarship, they will receive funding equivalent to the cost of tuition fees, which they will be required to pay.
- What that means for the department, however, is you need to provide the student with an award that is at least equivalent to the cost of the tuition fee.
3. Example Wording for a Conditional Letter
Dear (name of student),
Congratulations on your offer to come to Queen's. The offer of admission is conditional on you winning the CSC. Once it has been confirmed that you have been awarded a CSC Scholarship, then you will be admitted into the PhD program in (program name) and you will be provided with an award that will be at least equivalent to the cost of tuition fees.
In relation to being a Teaching Assistant (TA), it is up to individual departments to assign TA positions to their graduate students. The TA stipend may form a part of the award given to you as tuition support. You should determine these details with the graduate coordinator in the Department.
Step 1 – Apply to a Queen’s Graduate program. See the “How to Apply” page on what documentation you need and how to complete the online application.
- In the section "Financial Information"(where you are asked to list the names of awards outside of Queen's), please specify that you have applied to CSC or you will be applying for the CSC competition. Please also include the deadline date for the CSC competition at your home university.
- Once you have received an offer of admission from Queen's University, apply to the CSC Doctoral Scholarship Program.
Step 2 – Once you have received a formal offer of admission from Queen’s, you may apply for the CSC scholarship.
- There are two rounds in which students submit their applications to CSC. Round 1 from March 1 - 20 and Round 2 from May 20 - 30. The second round will only be open if the pool of CSC funds in not exhausted in the first round. Thus, it is highly encouraged that offers be sent to students before March 1.
- If the language of instruction in your current degree program is not in English, please take the TOEFL or IELTS test, and ensure your test results are sent to Queen's University.
For further information on the CSC, please visit the CSC website.