Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship (AGES)

Funded by the Government of Alberta through the Alberta Heritage Scholarship Fund, the value of the scholarship at the University of Alberta is $12,000 and is paid out to recipients as a one-time payment. Students must have a Canadian bank account and Alberta address updated in Bear Tracks account to be eligible to receive the award.

A student may only receive one Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship per year; these scholarships are NOT renewable. However, faculties may nominate students for a new award in each year during which they meet the eligibility requirements.

To be eligible, students must meet the following eligibility criteria:

• Must be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident of Canada,  or a protected person within the meaning of subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada), or an International student with a study permit
  • Students must ensure their Citizenship status is updated in their Bear Tracks account by their faculty’s internal nomination deadline. Students must consult with their faculty for their internal deadline, and their internal application process.
• Open to course-based or thesis-based study programs
• Open to masters or doctoral students. Students registered in a graduate certificate that can ladder into a Master's degree program are also eligible
• Students must be living in Alberta while enrolled (taking classes remotely/online or in-person) at the U of A
  • Students must ensure their Alberta home/residential address is updated in their Bear Tracks account by their faculty’s internal nomination deadline. University department addresses are not considered home/residential addresses.
  • Students are required to complete the AGES Student Declaration Form to affirm their Alberta residency while enrolled in their program.
• Current students must be registered full-time in Fall 2026 and/or Winter 2027 terms. Newly admitted January 2027 students must be registered full-time in Winter 2027.
  • Students who are registered with Student Accessibility Services or have a documented need for accommodation, can apply if they are enrolled in at least 40% of a full course load
• Must demonstrate academic excellence, as evidenced by one or more of the following:
  • Current students have earned a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.3 or greater over the most recent 15 units of course weight in current program. Where there are less than 15 graded credits in the current program, the admission GPA (AGPA) is a weighted factor. For students newly admitted in Fall 2026 or Winter 2027 terms in which graded coursework is not yet available in the current program, the Admission GPA (AGPA) will be used.
  • Research and/or academic contributions that may include published manuscripts, presentations, posters, exhibitions, community engagement, performances; and,
  • Previous record of scholarly achievement through awards, scholarships, prizes, among others.
• Must be registered in years 1-4 of the master's program or registered in years 1-6 of the doctoral program during the tenure of the scholarship. If students transferred from a Master’s program to a Doctoral program, the number of months completed during the Master’s program will count towards the Doctoral Program.
• Qualifying students are not eligible.

Students must be nominated to GPS by their home faculty; students cannot apply online in the GSMS Awards Portal. Students applying for Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship (AGES) must complete the (AGES) Student Declaration form and submit it to their home faculty by their internal deadline.

Students must consult with their faculty for their internal deadline, their internal application process, and regarding whether or not they have been nominated to GPS for an AGES.

Faculties are responsible for selecting nominees based on eligibility criteria and their allocation; refer to the AGES Faculty Memo and Allocation Table below. Departments are to consult directly with their faculty for their internal process.

Faculties determine the best way to select their AGES nominees. Faculties are encouraged to set an earlier, internal faculty deadline to allow time for internal adjudication (if applicable).

Each faculty is assigned a funding allocation by GPS, and then selects nominees based on those allocations. The faculty then nominates students to GPS by submitting through the GSMS Awards Portal by the nomination deadline (refer to the AGES Faculty Memo for details and submission instructions). Faculties are to use the 'GPA Guidelines - Awards' procedures available in Canvas for calculating the GPA on the last 15 credits.

Please see the faculty memo and allocation table for complete details and important information regarding nomination submissions:

• 2026 AGES Faculty Memo
  
• 2026 AGES Faculty Allocation Table
  

GPS verifies eligibility of faculty nominees, and notifies winners directly on behalf of the Government of Alberta.

Faculties are responsible for notifying their students on whether or not they have been nominated to GPS for an AGES. Students must contact their faculty directly regarding their internal results statuses.

The deadline for faculties to submit nominations to GPS through GSMS Awards Portal is Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. Refer to the faculty memo and allocation table for complete details:

• 2026 AGES Faculty Memo
  
• 2026 AGES Faculty Allocation Table

Funded by the Government of Alberta through the Alberta Heritage Scholarship Fund, the value of the scholarship at the University of Alberta is $12,000 and is paid out to recipients as one-time payment.

A student may only receive one Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship per year; these scholarships are NOT renewable.

To be eligible, students must meet the following eligibility criteria:

• Must have aboriginal ancestry and be Status Indian/First Nations, Non-Status Indian/First Nations, Métis, or Inuit
• Be a Canadian citizen
• Open to course-based or thesis-based study programs
• Open to masters or doctoral students. Students registered in a graduate certificate that can ladder into a Master's degree program are also eligible
• Students must be living in Alberta while enrolled (taking classes remotely/online or in-person) at the U of A
  • Students must ensure their Alberta home/residential address is updated in their Bear Tracks account by GPS’ deadline. University department addresses are not considered home/residential addresses.
  • Students are required to complete the AGES Student Declaration Form to affirm their Alberta residency while enrolled in their program.
• Current students must be registered full-time in Fall 2026 and/or Winter 2027 terms. Newly admitted January 2027 students must be registered full-time in Winter 2027.
  • Students who are registered with Student Accessibility Services or have a documented need for accommodation, can apply if they are enrolled in at least 40% of a full course load
• Must demonstrate academic excellence, as evidenced by one or more of the following:
  • Current students must have earned a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.3 or greater over the most recent 15 units of course weight in the current program. Where there are less than 15 graded credits in the current program, the admission GPA (AGPA) is a weighted factor. For students newly admitted in Fall 2026 or Winter 2027 terms in which graded coursework is not yet available in the current program, the Admission GPA (AGPA) will be used.
  • Research and/or academic contributions that may include published manuscripts, presentations, posters, exhibitions, community engagement, or performances
  • Previous record of scholarly achievement through awards, scholarships, prizes, among others
• Must be registered in years 1-4 of the master's program or years 1-6 of the doctoral program during the tenure of the scholarship.  If students transferred from a Master’s program to a Doctoral program, the number of months completed during the Master’s program will count towards the Doctoral Program.
• Qualifying students are not eligible.

Students must apply directly to GPS by completing the online application in the GSMS Awards Portal. Nomination by their home faculty is not required for the AGES-Indigenous; however, students may be nominated by their faculty for the AGES. Students who are successful in both AGES and AGES-Indigenous will be granted the AGES-Indigenous only.

• Search for "Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship Indigenous" in the GSMS Awards Portal to access the online application and for detailed instructions. It is students' responsibility to ensure their application is complete before submitting it in GSMS.
• Students must click "submit" for GPS to access their application. Students are to follow the instructions on how to Apply for Awards under Students GSMS Resources located under Award Resources webpage.
• Successfully submitted applications will indicate the status of "GPS Review". Applications that are in the status of Application in Progress indicate that the application is NOT yet submitted to GPS.
• It is the student's responsibility to ensure that their application package is complete in every respect before submitting to GPS via GSMS Awards portal.

A complete application includes:

1. Up to date unofficial U of A Transcript (produced from Beartracks) showing current Fall 2026 term (or Winter 2027 for January admitted students) full time registration (courses/thesis in progress).
   
   • Students are not to upload transcripts from other institutions; only a current U of A transcript is required. Students who are newly admitted for Winter 2027 term and are not yet registered (and have no previous U of A degrees/course work), upload a blank unofficial U of A transcript produced from Beartracks.
2. CV (maximum 5 pages in length)
3. Research Proposal (thesis-based students), or Explanation of Courses and End Goals or Final Project-Capstone Project (course-based students) - maximum 1 page in length (and one additional page for references only, if applicable).
4. Completed AGES Student Declaration form
5. Academic Letter of Reference 
   • The letter of reference is an online reference/authorization form sent through the GSMS Awards Portal. Students are to follow the instructions on how to Apply for Awards under Students GSMS Resources located under Award Resources webpage. Please note:
   • The online request link will no longer work after the deadline set by the student
     • Students are to give enough time for their referees to submit the online request form via the GSMS Awards Portal
     • Students are to follow up with their referees regularly as needed
   • Do NOT have GSMS open in multiple windows
   • The online reference is NOT a letter – letters submitted to GPS in lieu of the GSMS online reference/authorization form will not be accepted
6. Proof of Indigenous ancestry is required. A photocopy (front and back) of one of the following documents must be uploaded to the online application in the GSMS Awards Portal for accepted proof of ancestry. Students are to write their status (Status Indian/First Nations, Non-Status Indian/First Nations, Métis, or Inuit) at the top of the document:
   
   To be considered for awards for students who are First Nation, Métis, or Inuit people of Canada administered by the University of Alberta, students must provide one of the following forms of documentation:

• a certified copy* of a Status card from the Government of Canada;
• a certified copy* of a Métis membership card from one of the five Métis Provincial Affiliates or recognized Territorial organizations; Métis Nation of Alberta, Métis Nation of Ontario, Manitoba Metis Federation, Métis Nation Saskatchewan, Métis Nation British Columbia, Northwest Territory Métis Nation. Additionally, the student may present a membership card from the Métis Settlements General Council showing membership in a Métis Settlement of Alberta;
• a certified copy* of an enrolment card issued by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
• documentation that an ancestor’s name has been entered 1) in the Indian Register according to the Indian Act, or 2) on the band list of an individual band, or 3) as beneficiaries of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement or other claim regions such as Nunatsiavut, Nunavik, and Inuvialuit;
• written confirmation of Indigenous identity from Indigenous Services
• written confirmation of Inuit enrolment from Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
• written confirmation of membership by a band council which has enacted its own band membership code

The University of Alberta recognizes that Indigeneity and connecting to your Indigenous identity can be a complex process. We work closely with the University of Alberta Committee on the Documentation of Indigeneity to review documentation that is not listed above.

Please note that presentation of one of the documents does not guarantee award selection, as selection is competitive.

*Certified copy references that the documents will be from a certified organization. Documentation does not need to be notarized to be submitted.

Note: Students who are unsure about their residency or proof of Indigenous ancestry documents are to contact GPS Award Services.