External awards

At Waterloo, we encourage our top graduate students to apply for external awards including those from Canada’s three major research granting agencies and Ontario's major scholarships programs. Students who choose to study at Waterloo and are successful in the major federal and provincial competitions will also receive the President's Graduate Scholarship.

Application procedures vary. It is the responsibility of the applicant to check our external awards web pages below, as well as the agency specific websites for complete details on eligibility, application and applications instructions.

• Federal master's
• Federal doctoral
• Provincial scholarship
• Other prestigious external scholarships
• Additional resources
• Award payments for recipients of external funding from independent corporations/companies

Federal master's

• Tri-Agency (CIHR,NSERC,SSHRC) Canada Graduate Scholarships (CGS M)

Federal doctoral

• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)
• Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship

Provincial scholarship

• Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) and Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science & Technology (QEII-GSST)

Other prestigious external scholarships

• McCall MacBain Scholarship
• Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation doctoral scholarships (awards database)
• Rhodes Scholarship

Additional resources

• The Universities Canada web site contains useful tips and tools for international students planning to study in Canada, as well as a searchable database for scholarship programs for all students pursuing post secondary education.
• The Government of Canada International Scholarship Program website lists Canadian scholarship programs for non-Canadians wishing to study and conduct research in Canada. For details on Waterloo’s administrative process for graduate students, please contact Waterloo International. 
• MPOWER Financing is a non-Waterloo website containing external scholarship/funding opportunities for international students.
• The Scholarships Canada database is an extensive database to find scholarships, bursaries and grants. You'll also find information about student loans, applications and budget planning. 

• Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit organization that designs and delivers research and training programs in Canada. Working with 60 universities, thousands of companies, and both federal and provincial governments, Mitacs builds partnerships that support industrial and social innovation in Canada. Open to all disciplines since 2007, Mitacs has expanded in response to industrial and university needs, including programs in R&D management, professional skills development, and international research training.

• Visit the Waterloo International website for other external international opportunities.

• Visit the St. Paul’s University College website for Indigenous awards, scholarships and bursaries.

• Visit our Graduate funding and awards database to identify additional external award opportunities.

Award payments for recipients of external funding from independent corporations/companies

Students will often seek funding opportunities independently through external corporations or companies who often prefer to send the scholarship funds to the University in order that they be applied to the student’s tuition. If a cheque or EFT is being provided by the external corporation, it should be made payable to the University of Waterloo and be accompanied by a letter or memo containing details about the purpose of the funds along with the student’s name and ID number.

External award cheques should be mailed directly to Finance who will then collaborate with Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs to have the award processed in Quest.

Mailing address for external award cheques:

Suzanne Goggin
UW Finance – East Campus 5
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo ON  N2L 3G1

Questions about external award payments

Any questions about this process or about the status of an external award that has been sent to UW, can be directed to grad-payments@uwaterloo.ca.

T4A tax forms for external awards

The University of Waterloo has an obligation to issue a T4A tax form for all award payments made through the University including payments made on behalf of an external corporation.

T4As are produced each February for awards issued during the previous calendar year and will be available to access online.

Note: The University of Waterloo is unable to exclude specific scholarship/award payments from our T4A reporting processes. In the event that the external award provider has also issued a T4A for the same funds, you will need to ask them to revise their T4A form so that the award is not double-reported to Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).