Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship Program

Background

The Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship Program is celebrating 50 years! Since the plan's inception in 1959, the Government of Canada has provided scholarships of excellence to all member countries of the Commonwealth. The CCSP goal is to promote Canadian values and identity around the world and to help meet the human capital needs of developing countries.

Canada also played a leadership role in the establishment of the internationalCommonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan and is the largest contributor to this program after the United Kingdom.

Structure

The Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship Program is facilitated through student exchange agreements between Canadian and regional institutions. These student exchange agreements are created between universities for graduate students. Scholarship recipients remain registered as full time students in their home institution during this exchange.

Description

• Graduate Students Exchanges (GSEP) are hosted by Canadian institutions for a period of five or six months and provide up to $10,000 to cover transportation, living and other related expenses during the student's stay in Canada.

Student application process

Students interested in this scholarship program should contact their home institution to make their interest known, and to find out if there is an institutional collaboration or exchange agreement with a Canadian institution. The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) provides a database of international exchange agreements which, while not exhaustive, does provide a list of some existing agreements.

An institutional exchange agreement is desirable, however, where no agreement yet exists, research applications by students which may result in a new collaboration between professors from a Canadian and foreign university will be considered.

Candidates doing research must apply for a Work Permit in order to ensure a smooth entry at the Canadian border and to receive the funds.

Interested students may also wish to contact alumni of the program through their home institution for advice and a local perspective on the experience.

Additional questions can be emailed to scholarships-bourses@cbie.ca.