Canadian Centennial Scholarship Fund

Founded in 1967 by the Canadian Women’s Club to mark Canada’s centennial, the CCSF has awarded some 500 scholarships to outstanding students from across Canada who are enrolled in postgraduate programmes at UK universities, colleges, institutes or conservatories.

Recipients are chosen on the basis of academic excellence, as well as on their ability to represent Canada within the UK academic and artistic community. They represent a breadth of academic interests and pursuits. The scholarships are among the most prestigious annual scholarships for Canadians studying in the UK.

Who can apply?

CCSF awards are for Canadians who are undertaking postgraduate study in any field including the Performing Arts in the UK and are exclusively for students who have already started their postgraduate programme of study in the UK.

To be eligible to apply for a CCSF award, an applicant must:

• Be pursuing a postgraduate degree in any field including the Performing Arts.
• Be a Canadian citizen with a valid Canadian passport: proof of Canadian citizenship is required in the form of a pdf of the main page of your valid passport.
• Have lived in Canada previously. You will be asked to demonstrate a strong personal connection to Canada in your application.
• Be currently living in the UK and have a current UK bank account. (You may be on field-work, but must be returning to live in the UK after a set period of time).
• Have already completed a higher education degree (i.e. Bachelor’s).
• Be currently enrolled full-time in a postgraduate programme (or equivalent), be considered a postgraduate student by the university/institute or similar institution, and have completed at least one full-time term of study of your current degree.
  • You must be aiming to receive a degree from the UK institution that you are registered with at the time of application (i.e. you cannot be a visiting student but a specific dual-university scheme (such as the NIH-Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program) is acceptable.
• Applicants must be returning to their current programme of study full-time the next academic year from Sept/Oct of the year in which they are applying, with a minimum of one full-time term remaining to completion.
  • Applicants undertaking a one-year programme are not eligible.
  • Applicants moving to a new degree are not eligible (ie. Masters’ to PhD/DPhil or BEng to MEng are not eligible); with the exception of specialist diplomas in the Performing Arts as a follow on from a Master’s degree.
  • Medical students who are pursuing an intercalated PhD/DPhil must be at least one term into the PhD/DPhil component of their studies to be eligible.
  • Even if you have obtained a place for your PhD/DPhil, you can NOT apply until you have started your PhD/DPhil and completed at least one full term of study.
  • Students on a two year Master’s programme may apply for funding for their second year of study, but need to be able to demonstrate that they are undertaking original research for a dissertation as a component of their degree. If your Master’s degree is in the Performing Arts this is not a requirement.
• Be able to demonstrate academic excellence.
• Require funds to complete their studies.
• Previous applicants may re-apply. The CCSF offers a maximum of two scholarships to any one individual.

Eligible Nationalities:

Applicants must be Canadian.

How to Apply

If you are eligible to apply, you will apply online at the Canadian Centennial Scholarship Fund website.

You must be able to:

• Provide contact details for two referees; one must be your current UK Supervisor or academic programme director. The second referee ideally should be involved in your current programme of study or in your very recent past programme of study. A non-academic reference is acceptable provided they can comment on your research ability and area of current study (a past employer/direct line manager). The CCSF will contact your referees and reference letters will be confidential to the CCSF. Reference letters will be due by the closing deadline for applications.
• Provide a Personal Statement & Programme Overview (max. 500 words). The CCSF Committee is a group of volunteers with varied backgrounds and interests. Your statement should be an overview of your programme of study that is accessible. You should demonstrate what impact your work may have on your field of study, on Canada and why a CCSF scholarship will be important to you. The CCSF will provide this overview to your two nominated referees.
• Provide information about your personal and academic finances, i.e. expenditures and any income (including scholarships, grants, etc.) expected in the upcoming year of study. A statement of financial need (150 words) will be requested.
• A PDF file of a short CV (no more than 2 A4 pages) providing details of specialised knowledge, research ambitions, and technical or academic training and/or work experience.
• A PDF file of the main page of your valid Canadian passport.
• A PDF file of the transcript from your most recently completed degree (this may be a copy).