The Faculty of Science will offer select international PhD candidates a big break starting this fall by reducing their tuition to domestic fee levels.

“Although international PhD students pay higher tuition than domestic PhD students, this new scholarship will reduce the tuition for select students to the domestic level,” says Dan Mennill, the faculty’s associate dean of graduate studies and research.

“We envision new international PhD students leading world-class research, enhancing the quality of our undergraduate training, enriching diversity on our campus, and extending the network of our alumni further around the globe.”

The new scholarship will be connected to recruitment of domestic PhD students in the preceding fiscal year. The number of scholarships available to each department will be equal to the number of domestic PhD students whose program began in the previous fiscal year.

“It is vital that we continue to recruit domestic PhD students, given that they play a key role in the Faculty of Science, and given that the government grant for each domestic PhD student is a significant source of financial support for the University,” Dr. Mennill says.

Students will be eligible for this scholarship for up to four years of full-time enrolment in a doctoral program. Supervisors of incoming international PhD candidates in the Faculty of Science may request more information from their departmental graduate chair.

“We hope that a tuition reduction for these students will give rise to a ‘brain gain’ for the Faculty of Science,” says Mennill.