Make the most of the financial resources available to you as a UBC graduate student.
Graduate students are awarded financial aid on a competitive basis. The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (G+PS) considers all program applications for financial aid; you do not require a separate application.
G+PS provides financial aid through scholarships, tuition awards, and scholarship top-ups. Funding is awarded based on academic excellence and is open to all domestic and international graduate students.
Teaching Assistantships
You can fund your graduate studies by becoming a teaching assistant (TA). In the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory, we offer TA positions to students entering the second year of their graduate programs. The department posts notices of teaching assistantships on March 31st. Duties include leading discussion sections and marking exams and papers for undergraduate courses for a maximum of 12 hours per week.
Funding Opportunities
Art History Travel Research Scholarship
Scholarships totalling $6,500 have been endowed for graduate students in Art History to assist them in studying works of art in galleries and museums around the world. The awards are made on the recommendation of the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory in consultation with the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
Audain Foundation Graduate Fellowship
It is awarded based on academic excellence to graduate students in the critical and curatorial studies (CCST) program. The fellowship is a gift from philanthropist Michael Audain. The gift creates endowments that will augment the CCST program and provide financial support to students through three annual fellowships.
BC Binning Memorial Fellowship
A fellowship of $18,000 has been endowed in memory of Professor Emeritus BC. Binning, painter and founder of the Department of Fine Arts at UBC. The award is made on the department's recommendation to a student entering the second year in the MFA program in the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory and showing exceptional drawing promise. Preference is given to a candidate who is a Canadian citizen or a landed immigrant.
Graduate Support Initiative
Awards are offered to the best and brightest incoming master's and doctoral students for full-time graduate study. All applicants to the program are automatically considered for this award. If a student receives another funding offer above the graduate support initiative allocation, the department reserves the right to withdraw the offer so that another student can receive funding.
Graduate Teaching Assistant Teaching Awards
The Faculty of Arts normally awards up to three Graduate Teaching Assistant Teaching Awards per year. The Dean's Office administers the awards based on departmental nominations. The award is open to any graduate teaching assistant who acts or has acted in this position during the current and/or preceding academic year.
Hugo E. Meilicke Memorial Fellowship
Established by the late Hugo E. Meilicke, who gave distinguished service to the community through his business associations and active participation in organizations such as the Kiwanis Club, the Salvation Army, the Vancouver Foundation, the Crippled Children's Hospital, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Vancouver Symphony Society. The annual income of $39,000 provides awards in various fields such as agriculture, political science, commerce, fine arts, and music. The awards are made on the recommendation of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
IODE Fine Arts Foundation Scholarship
Four awards have been endowed by the University Chapter of the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire. They are made on the joint recommendation of the Departments of Creative Writing, Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Theatre and the School of Music for excellence in these fields.
Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Travel Fund
Graduate students are eligible for reimbursement from the Graduate Student Travel Fund once per degree program. The travel fund provides travel support to a maximum of $500 per graduate student who presents a paper or poster at an official conference or symposium (student workshops are ineligible) or participates in a music competition. The conference or competition must take place while the student is enrolled full-time in a graduate degree program.
UBC-CCA Collection Research Grant
PhD candidates in the Department of Art History Visual Art and Theory can apply to participate in a joint fellowship offered by The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) to research CCA's collection and library.
Helen Belkin Memorial Scholarship in Fine Arts
The President's Fund has endowed a scholarship to honour the memory of Helen Mary Emily Belkin. The scholarship is offered to a fine arts student on the recommendation of the department. Undergraduate and Graduate students are eligible.
Helen Pitt Bursary in Fine Arts
Awarded to students in the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory by the awards office, based on financial need.
Roloff Beny Foundation Scholarship
The Roloff Beny Foundation has endowed a scholarship for graduate students in the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory whose work focuses on photo-based practices. Roloff Beny, a famous Canadian photographer, painter and designer, died in March 1984. For the outstanding photography and design of his beautiful books, he won numerous awards, including the Gold Medal of the Leipzig International Book Fair, the Charles Blanc Medallion of the French Academy, and the Order of Canada. The award is made on the department's recommendation in consultation with the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
Thea Koerner Memorial Scholarship
A scholarship endowed by her friends in memory of Thea Koerner and recognition of her most generous encouragement of the arts at the university and in British Columbia, is awarded upon the recommendation by the Theatre Program, the Creative Writing Program, the Departments of Art History, Visual Art and Theory, and the School of Music, to a full-time student, regularly enrolled in one of these areas and proceeding to a degree, whose past performance and future promise qualify them as the most suitable recipient of the award.
Governor General's Gold Medal
A gold medal is awarded to the graduate student who has achieved the most outstanding academic record in the doctoral degree's graduating class. A second gold medal is awarded to the graduate student who has achieved the most outstanding academic record in the graduating class for the master's degree with thesis. This is an opportunity to honour the best in the graduating class within the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. There is only one award for approximately 1,000 master's graduates and one award for more than 300 doctoral graduates. Medals are presented on behalf of the Governor-General of Canada by participating educational institutions and a personalized certificate signed by the Governor-General. There is no monetary award associated with the medals.
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Master's and Doctoral Scholarships and Fellowships
Awards based on academic excellence. Students who are either Canadian citizens or Landed Immigrants with first-class averages in their last two years of full-time study may be eligible to submit applications for these prestigious national awards. Applications are submitted to the department in the fall.
Vanier Scholarship
The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships (Vanier CGS) program is designed to attract and retain world-class doctoral students by offering them a significant financial award to assist them during their studies at Canadian universities. Vanier Scholars demonstrate leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in the social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and engineering, and health-related fields. Canadian and international students are eligible to be nominated for a Vanier Scholarship, which is valued at $50,000 per year for up to three years.
Indigenous Graduate Fellowships
The University of British Columbia offers multi-year fellowships to master's and doctoral Indigenous students. Award winners are selected on the basis of academic merit through an annual competition administered by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
Each fellowship provides a stipend of $18,200 per year for doctoral students or a stipend of $16,175 per year for master’s students. Additionally, IGF recipients are eligible to receive tuition funding. Tuition funding will not exceed the current value of standard doctoral or master's degree tuition fees. Applicants for Master's funding will receive fellowship funding until the end of their second year of master’s studies; applicants for doctoral funding will receive fellowship funding for four years or until the end of their fifth year of doctoral studies, whichever comes first. In all cases, continued fellowship support is conditional on satisfactory academic progress. Recipients of master’s fellowship funding must re-apply to be considered for doctoral funding.
NEW! Effective the 2023-2024 academic year, the IGF is also offering opportunities for (i) Indigenous PhD students in their fourth year to apply for a fifth year of funding and (ii) research master’s and PhD students to apply for research funding.
Applicants must check with their graduate program regarding their program’s internal application deadline. Internal application deadlines are normally several weeks before the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies department nomination deadline. It is generally advised that applicants applying to one of AHVA's graduate programs submit their IGF applicant concurrently with their admissions application.