Indigenous Graduate Fellowships

Eligibility to Apply for IGF funding

• From the 2023-2024 academic year onwards, eligibility for the IGF is extended to students in professional and coursework-only master’s programs (previously, only research-based programs were eligible).
• All Indigenous students are eligible to apply, but priority is given to Indigenous students whose traditional territory falls, at least in part, within Canada. This includes Canadian First Nations, Métis or Inuit students and may include Indigenous students from Alaska and other states of the USA. The university may request further information to confirm Indigenous eligibility.
• Applicants may or may not be UBC graduate students at the time of application – the competition is open to both incoming and continuing graduate students. However, awardees must be enrolled as full-time status graduate students at the UBC Vancouver campus for the 2026-2027 academic year in order to receive an Indigenous Graduate Fellowship through this competition.
• Students in programs that are not administered by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (such as MBA, MEng, MEL, MM, MDS) are not eligible.
• Months of study
  • Master's: To be eligible to hold IGF funding as a master’s student, applicants must have completed, as of December 31, 2025, no more than 12 months of full-time (or full-time equivalent) master’s-level study.
    • Successful applicants for master's-level funding are eligible to receive IGF funding until the end of their second year of master's-level study.
  • Doctoral: To be eligible to hold IGF funding as a doctoral student, applicants must have completed, as of December 31, 2025, no more than 48 months of full-time (or full-time equivalent) doctoral-level study. For applicants who have transferred to the PhD from the master’s without completing the master's, eligibility is counted from the date of transfer.
    • Successful applicants for doctoral-level (second point immediately above) are eligible to receive up to four years of IGF funding or to receive IGF funding until the end of their fifth year of doctoral-level study, whichever comes first.
  • All previous studies at the graduate level, regardless of institution and discipline, will be included in determining eligibility.

Eligibility to hold IGF funding

• To be eligible to receive Indigenous Graduate Fellowship funding, award holders are expected to devote full-time hours to the research or studies for which they were funded (full-time status), and are required to make satisfactory academic progress throughout their funding period.
• Applicants are not eligible to receive IGF stipend funding concurrently with external (e.g., Tri-Agency) funding that equals or exceeds the IGF stipend amount.
• As of September 2022, Indigenous students receiving Band funding are eligible to receive tuition awards (ex. International Tuition Award, 4YF Tuition Award, IGF Tuition Award).
• Please note that policies regarding the amount of the IGF Tuition Award are in alignment with the 4YF Guidelines policy for tuition awards (see guidelines, 'Award Values',  'Tuition').