University of Toronto St George campus quad in autumn with stone academic buildings.

Canada Competitions run annually through each Ontario university. Internal deadlines vary — several universities opened their 2026 round in late August 2026 with November closing dates, so check your own graduate school's calendar

Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS)

The Ontario Graduate Scholarship is the province of Ontario's own merit award for graduate students, jointly funded by the Government of Ontario and the participating universities, and it is one of the few Canadian public scholarships that international students can actually hold. The value is CAD 15,000 for one year — paid as CAD 5,000 a term for up to three terms, and it must be held for at least two consecutive terms — which at 235 rupees to the Canadian dollar is roughly LKR 3.5 million. It is open to both master's and doctoral students at eligible Ontario institutions, which include the University of Toronto, Queen's, Western, McMaster, Ottawa, Waterloo, York, Carleton and others. Now the important honesty, because this award is routinely misrepresented on aggregator sites as an entry scholarship for new applicants from abroad. International students are eligible only against a small dedicated quota, and the eligibility rule is that you must hold a valid study permit at the time you apply. In practice this means that at most Ontario universities you cannot win an OGS before you arrive — you apply in your first year of a Master's or PhD for funding in the following year. If you are sitting in Colombo choosing between offers, do not build your budget around an OGS. Treat it as what it is: a strong, realistic top-up you compete for once you are already enrolled, on top of departmental funding, teaching assistantships and any entrance award your university gave you. Applications are made through your own university's graduate school, not to the province, and each university sets its own internal deadline — commonly between November and February for the following academic year.

Government of Ontario (with participating Ontario universities)

Government-funded

emoji_events Award Overview

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Value

CAD 15,000 for one year (LKR ~3.5M)

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Structure

CAD 5,000 per term, 2 or 3 consecutive terms

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Level

Master's and doctoral students in Ontario

fact_check Eligibility Criteria

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You Must Already Hold a Canadian Study Permit

International applicants must hold a valid study permit at the time of application. This effectively excludes students still in Sri Lanka who have not yet started. Do not treat the OGS as an admission scholarship — it is an in-course competition.

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A Limited International Quota

Each participating university receives only a small allocation of OGS awards that may go to international students, so the international competition is far tighter than the domestic one. Several universities state plainly that incoming international students are not eligible to apply.

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Strong Academic Record

The OGS is purely merit-based. Universities typically expect at least an A-minus average over the last two years of study. Research output, publications and reference letters carry substantial weight at doctoral level.

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Full-Time Enrolment in an Eligible Programme

You must be, or be about to be, enrolled full-time in an eligible master's or doctoral programme at a participating Ontario university. There are limits on how many years of OGS support you may receive in total across master's and doctoral study.

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Ontario Institutions Only

This is a provincial programme. Studying in British Columbia, Quebec, Alberta or the Atlantic provinces makes you ineligible — Quebec runs its own equivalent through the Fonds de recherche du Québec, and other provinces have their own schemes or none at all.

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Cannot Be Held With Certain Federal Awards

You normally cannot hold an OGS at the same time as a major federal tri-agency award. If you are competing for both, check your university's rules on which you would have to decline.

account_tree Application Process

Secure admission and arrive first

Plan your first year's funding without the OGS. Departmental funding packages, teaching and research assistantships, and university entrance awards are what actually get a Sri Lankan student to Ontario.

Find your university's OGS page and internal deadline

Each institution runs its own competition and publishes its own dates and forms. There is no single provincial portal. Missing your graduate school's internal deadline is the most common way applicants lose the award.

Prepare transcripts, a plan of study and references

A typical application needs official transcripts, two academic references and a short plan of study. Write the plan of study for a non-specialist committee — most OGS panels assess across disciplines.

Confirm your study permit status

Your permit must be valid at the time of application. If your permit renewal is pending, resolve it before the internal deadline rather than after.

Check the effect on your funding package

Many Ontario departments claw back part of an internal funding guarantee when you win an external award. Ask the graduate coordinator what your net gain would be before assuming the full CAD 15,000 is additional money.

Reapply in later years

OGS can be held more than once, subject to lifetime limits. Doctoral students who miss out in year one frequently succeed in year two after publishing.

Why Ontario?

Ontario hosts the largest concentration of research universities in Canada and the largest Sri Lankan diaspora community in the country, centred on the Greater Toronto Area — which matters practically for a new arrival needing accommodation, familiar food and a community. Canadian graduate funding culture also differs from the American one in a way worth understanding before you apply: most funded Master's and PhD places in Ontario come as a departmental package of scholarship plus teaching or research assistantship negotiated at admission, with provincial awards such as the OGS layered on afterwards. Get the departmental package right first; the OGS is the bonus.