Funding

Things you need

Over the past two years, profound changes occurred across the landscape of graduate student funding. Some of these changes, such as the end of the PhD tuition award, have created challenges. Other changes have created opportunities to clarify commitments to graduate funding. The Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy offers various resources to help new and current graduate students meet their funding needs.

Basically, there are four funding categories for graduate students: University Awards & Bursaries, Graduate Assistantships, Fellowships, and Scholarships. Awards tend to be merit-based while bursaries tend to be needs-based. Assistantships involve academic work, either with an hourly wage or salary.

Quick links:

University & Faculty Level Graduate Funding

Four Year Fellowships (FYF)
The GES* funds are for recruitment while the FYF provides $18,200 per year plus tuition for a single PhD student for four years. FYFs are meant to recruit the best PhD students to programs. They cannot be sub-divided. These will usually go to incoming students, however they can be allocated to a second or third year student who is a “late bloomer.” Students receive FYF funding through to the end of their fourth year in their doctoral program. One condition on the award is that recipients of these awards must apply for SSHRC and Affiliated Fellowships.

Graduate Student Initiative (GSI)
The Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy is committed to graduating students from its thesis-based programs who will make important contributions to their communities, to scholarship, to academic leadership, and who will be competitive in the academic job market in Canada and internationally. A key factor in fulfilling this commitment is recruiting a diverse and talented pool of applicants. We also acknowledge that there is growing competition for outstanding applicants and that UBC must compete for these applicants with other universities.

The Faculty of Education distributes GSI funding through balancing principles of excellence and equity. EDCP follows these principles in distributing these funds e.g., (a) Equal amounts of these funds are distributed to new doctoral students, who have been selected for admission from the pool of applicants based on application criteria of excellence and fit with the Department’s expertise. (b) EDCP uses GSI funds as entrance scholarships for purposes of recruiting new students. (c) For highly competitive applicants, EDCP may use GSI monies as a scholarship “top-up” to promote recruitment of outstanding applicants. (d) EDCP uses part of the GSI funds to help unfunded second-year doctoral students to pay their tuition.

Please note that within EDCP, students who receive UBC Four Year Fellowships are generally excluded from GSI and/or other monies.

All admitted doctoral students in EDCP are considered for fellowship funding.

The student’s application for admission package is assessed in the following categories. Only highly ranked applications are selected for admission and for GSI awards.

Applications are assessed on the following:

Planned Program of study

  • Clarity and completeness of research proposal (questions, methods, link to literature)
  • Potential contribution or significance of the work (e.g., advancement of knowledge, innovative design, originality)
  • Feasibility

Professional and academic experience

  • Research assistantships or other relevant work experience that is related to the proposed research and career
  • Publications
  • Conference presentations

Academic results

  • Prior academic success (based on transcripts)
  • Academic awards and distinctions (e.g., dean’s list, scholarships)

Appraisal Letters

  • The two letters of appraisal previously submitted in the program application

Assistantships

Graduate Teaching Assistantships
Each year, the Dean’s Office allocates funding to EDCP for Graduate Teaching Assistants. The number of positions each year is dependent on the amount of funding received.

Graduate Academic Assistantships
Each year, the Dean’s Office allocates  funding to EDCP for Graduate Academic Assistants. These GAAs include the PhD and Masters Peer Advisers, 4 Laboratory Assistants, and an assistant for seminars. This year we appointed 8 GAAs with varying levels of FTE. Centres often budget for a few GAA opportunities each year but these sources of funds remain decentralized.

Graduate Research Assistantships
There is no allocation of GRAs to the Departments in the Faculty of Education. GRAs are fully decentralized and left to the discretion of faculty member grant holders. Centres often budget for a few GRA opportunities each year but these sources of funds remain decentralized.

Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy Awards

Graduate Scholarships in Curriculum Studies
A scholarship has been endowed for a doctoral student in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy. Adjudication is based on Department rankings of applications for the UBC Affiliated Award/SSHRC competition. The award is made on the recommendation of the Department.

Albon Pearson Health Professions Educational Research Scholarship Endowment Top Up Fund
A $1,000 scholarship has been made available through an endowment established by Drs. Simon Albon and Marion Pearson, long-serving faculty members in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and alumni of the Faculty of Education’s PhD program in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP). The scholarship is awarded to a Faculty of Education graduate student whose scholarly work contributes to health professions education through the advancement of curriculum and pedagogical practice, educational leadership, and/or policy development.  Preference will be given to a graduate student with a background in the health professions, and a student with an interest in pharmacy education. Awards are made on the recommendation of the Faculty of Education, in consultation with the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

Allen Clingman Memorial Prize
A prize has been endowed by friends, family, colleagues and alumni in memory of Dr. Allen Clingman (1929–2005) for an outstanding graduate student in music education. Dr. Clingman taught at UBC for 33 years prior to his retirement as Department Head of Music Education in 1992; he was a dedicated advocate of community music education. The award is made on the recommendation of the Faculty of Education.

David Bateson Prize In Science Education
A prize has been endowed by friends and faculty in recognition of Dr. David Bateson’s contribution to science education. The award is made on the recommendation of the Faculty of Education to a science education graduate student presenting at the Canadian Society for the Study of Education’s (CSSE) annual meeting. Preference is given to a doctoral student in the early years of the program, who has not attended the conference before and has no research or project funding.

Gordon And Marion Smith Prize In Art Education
A prize has been endowed by friends and faculty in recognition of Gordon Smith’s lifetime contribution to art education and the support given to him by his wife, Marion. The award is made on the recommendation of the Faculty of Education to a graduate student who shows great potential as an artist and educator.

Penny Gouldstone Prize In Art Education
A prize has been endowed by friends, colleagues and alumni to honour the memory of Penny Gouldstone, who made many contributions to the Faculty of Education and art education. Professor Gouldstone’s creative efforts received national recognition and were exhibited by numerous galleries across Canada. The award is made on the recommendation of the Faculty of Education to a graduate student in art education.

Rita L. Irwin Graduate Scholarship In Visual Arts Education
Scholarships have been endowed by Dr. Rita Irwin, a dedicated educator and artist. The scholarships are awarded to graduate students whose studies integrate the in their research and practice. The awards are made on the recommendation of the Faculty of Education in consultation with the Faculty of Graduate Studies (Availability of first awards TBA).

Faculty of Education Awards

Wendy K. Sutton Graduate Scholarship In Early Childhood Literacy
A $1,500 scholarship has been endowed by Dr. Wendy K. Sutton, a specialist in children’s literature and a dedicated educator, for an Education graduate student whose scholarly work advances the understanding and practice of early childhood literacy, with priority given to a graduate student focusing on the preschool years. The award is made on the recommendation of the Faculty of Education in consultation with the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

Margaret and Peter Lukasevich Memorial Graduate Prize in Early Childhood Education
There is no funding available this year for the Margaret and Peter Lukasevich Memorial Graduate Prize in Early Childhood Education.

Ted T. Aoki Prize for Outstanding Dissertation in Curriculum Studies
All Faculty of Education PhD supervisors are invited to nominate one of their Winter 2008 PhD graduates whose work resides in the field of curriculum for the Ted T. Aoki Prize. A prize worth approximately $275 has been endowed in honour of the contributions of Professor Ted T. Aoki to recognize an excellent dissertation in the area of curriculum inquiry written by a doctoral student in the Faculty of Education.

Summer Awards

Dean Of Education Scholarship
Scholarships for graduate students totaling $10,000 (amount to be confirmed each year) have been endowed by alumni and friends of the Faculty of Education. The awards will be given in recognition of Magistral or Doctoral students who have demonstrated high academic achievement and who have made substantial contributions to the field in the area in which they are studying.

Jimmar Memorial Scholarship In Education
Scholarships totaling $600 (amount to be confirmed each year) have been endowed through a bequest by James Sigurd Eckman for graduate students in the Faculty of Education. The awards will be given in recognition of Magistral or Doctoral students who have demonstrated high academic achievement and who have made substantial contributions to the field in the area in which they are studying.

Mary Elizabeth Simpson Scholarship
Two scholarships of $1,900 (amount to be confirmed each year) each will be awarded to students in the EdD or PhD programs. Preference will be given to a Doctoral student entering second or third year. The awards will be given in recognition of Doctoral students who have demonstrated high academic achievement and who have made substantial contributions to the field in the area in which they are studying.

John Francis Lidstone Scholarship
One scholarship of $300 (amount to be confirmed each year)has been endowed through a request by John Francis Lidstone. Each year the scholarship is offered to a student either in the Faculty of Arts or the Faculty of Education (alternating between Faculties and also undergraduate and graduate within the Faculty of Education across years).

Joseph Katz Memorial Scholarship
Scholarships of $2,300 (amount to be confirmed each year)has been endowed through a request by May Katz and by family, friends and colleagues in memory of Joseph Katz, a long-term member of the Faculty of Education. It is awarded on the recommendation of the Faculty of Education to an outstanding student in Multicultural and Minority Education.

LOMCIRA Harold Covell Memorial Scholarship
A scholarship of $400 (amount to be confirmed each year)has been endowed by the Lower Mainland Council of the International Reading Association (LOMCIRA) in memory of Dr. Harold Covell. The award is offered to a full-time graduate student specializing in literacy education and is made on the recommendation of the Faculty of Education in consultation with the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

Back to top