Good news, hard working grad students of British Columbia! The BC government is supporting graduate students with scholarship funding for 10 public universities, totalling nearly $4 million. These 250 awards will be granted to students on a merit-based system and will provide the winners with at least 15,000 dollars across a 2-year period.

Focusing on researchers in STEM fields, the government's aim is to support a new generation of innovation through continuing support for graduate students doing new and exciting work.

Nearly $4 million in scholarships for STEM grad students

Some of the schools chosen for the graduate scholarship program include the University of British Columbia, which will offer funding worth $1.65 million, Simon Fraser University and University of Victoria, each offering $630,000. The University of Northern British Columbia, which will offer awards worth $255,000, and Vancouver Island University will offer $135,000.

By increasing investments in graduate students, BC intends to make the province more appealing to those considering graduate studies, as historically it's lagged behind other provinces in its implementation of graduate scholarship programs. The UBC Graduate Student Society has also made recommendations to the province on how it can continue to grow its support for grad students, so we may see even more support for budding researchers in the future!

UBC Graduate Student Society recommendations

1: Expanding the BC Graduate Scholarship to include fields outside of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), and implementing the scholarships as a permanent funding program.

2: Keeping the innovative talent within the province to help solve problems within the local communities by increasing the money given to the research sector.

3: Designating an award for graduate students based on their need for financial assistance. The proposal would make graduate students eligible for the BC Access grant, which is a tuition subsidy for low- and middle-income students.

The British Columbia government is looking forward to further supporting graduate students in the province.

In addition to the new BC Graduate Scholarships, many grad students are eligible for financial support through StudentAid BC.