Dean's Scholarship

These scholarships are offered to students who have outstanding academic records, show research promise and are registering for the first time in a thesis-based graduate program. Faculty or academic units make nominations for the Dean’s Scholarships; students do not apply directly.



The program provides Doctoral Scholarships ($20,000 for one year with possible one-year renewal) and Masters Scholarships ($18,000 for one year with possible one-year renewal). In both cases, you must be able to guarantee an additional year of matching funds for your graduate student at the relevant rate.

Preference will be given to:

  • Ph.D. applicants. There are seperate streams for Canadian students and for International students. 
  • Faculty holding external (especially TriCouncil) funding or, 
  • in the case of SSHRC-eligible faculty will have held such funding in the recent past, and are attempting to recruit a new student. 


Scholarship competitions will be held in February, March and April with the completed nomination packages due by 4.30pm on the 3rd Friday of each month. Unsuccessful nominees in earlier rounds will be considered in later rounds.

Eligable students are those who are:

  • Accepted into the InterD Studies Program;
  • Have an outstanding academic record (minimum of 85% in each of the last two years of study). Exceptions to this requirement will be considered but must be accompanied by supporting documentation that justifies the submission such as evidence of research achievement (e.g. research publications, presentations, awards)
  • Registering for the first time in a thesis or dissertation-based graduate program.

Application Process

If you have a student who meets the above criteria and for whom you can guarantee an additional year of matching funds at the relevant rate, there is a three step application process.

  1. You must write a letter indicating that you would like your student to be nominated for the scholarship program. Highlight the achievements that you believe indicate the student's merit and include a statement of guarantee on the additional year of matching funds. 


  2. Solicit an updated CV from your student. 


  3. Send your letter and the student's updated CV to the Interdisciplinary Studies Program of the College of Graduate Studies. 


The Chair of the InterD Scholarship Committee will complete the official nomination form based on the information you provided in your letter and will add to the nomination package the student's official transcripts and the three GSR 101 letters of recommendation (the InterD Committee will already be in possession of both the official transcripts and the 3 letters of recommendation as part of the application procedure). The Chair of the InterD Scholarship Committee will then submit the entire nomination package to the College of Graduate Studies and Research. 

For more information on the Dean's scholarship such as deadlines please refer to the cgsr website: www.usask.ca/cgsr/financial_aid/Deans-Scholarship-Program.php