Scholarships, Awards and Bursaries

Indigenous Fellowships and Awards

Each year, the law graduate program considers new as well as continuing Indigenous (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) law graduate students for the following awards and fellowships, and a separate application is not required:

Dean of Law's Indigenous Fellowship $20,000
Indigenous Law Graduate Fellowship $22,000 (effective September 2024)
British Columbia Graduate Scholarship (Indigenous) $17,500

The following award requires a separate application from eligible students:

Dean's Award for Indigenous Graduate Students $6,000 or higher

UVic Scholarships and Awards

The Faculty of Graduate Studies provides awards to graduate students of high academic standing. The distribution, value and duration of these awards and fellowships is determined by UVic Law, based on eligibility (usually academic performance); final approval is made by the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

UVic Fellowships of up to $17,500 in first year (master's) and $20,000 per year (PhD)
UVic Graduate Awards of up to $10,000 per year (master’s and PhD)

Successful applicants are considered for Faculty of Graduate Studies awards and fellowships, Graduate Entrance Awards, President Research Scholarships, and donor awards, based on eligibility. Applicants are not required to submit a separate application.

Renewal of scholarships and awards is not automatic or guaranteed, and students must make arrangements to pay their tuition and mandatory fees, as these are not waived.

Are you the recipient of external funding?

Please Graduate Program Office to declare the amount awarded

to help inform planning around future funding and meet internal awards policy requirement.

UVic Law Graduate Program Awards

New graduate students may be partially funded by the Law Graduate Program, if they submit a strong application with exceptional research proposal, and are not eligible for Faculty of Graduate Studies award for entrance term. This is not automatic or guaranteed, and depends on availability of funding.

UVic Donor Awards

Some donor awards are distributed on a competitive basis, and the Faculty of Graduate Studies adjudication committee selects recipients for these awards. The Graduate Program Office will contact you separately regarding any submission requirements, if you are eligible to be nominated for one of these awards.

External scholarship competitions

Students are strongly encouraged to apply for fellowships and awards from other departments, institutions and agencies, including but not limited to the following:

SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) for master's and PhD (domestic only)
Vanier (application by invitation only) (domestic and international)
Trudeau Foundation for PhD scholars only (domestic and international)

For the above, it is recommended you consult the Scholarships Office or UVic Law's Research Facilitation Officer, who have a wealth of experience on these applications, which are highly competitive.

Scholarship application help is also available online.

If your SSHRC application is successful, for each year you are a SSHRC fellowship recipient, the Faculty of Graduate Studies will also provide a $5,000 President Research Scholarship.

The Graduate Program Office will notify registered graduate students of funding opportunities, whenever possible, including and beyond those already noted on this page.

All graduate students are encouraged to seek out funding opportunities pertinent to their specific research area, and to apply for funding, whenever possible, and where eligible.

Bursaries

Bursaries are non-repayable awards based on financial need and good academic standing.

Find more information at Students Awards and Financial Aid.

Research Assistantship

Law faculty members will advertise above when available. Your supervisor and supervisory committee members (law and non-law) are key people when it comes to obtaining this sort of work.

Teaching Assistantship

UVic Law faculty advertise above opportunities as they arise. Other UVic departments share above opportunities with us, when opportunities match the background of our law graduate students.

There are occasionally opportunities to acquire teaching as well as teaching assistant experience. A small number of PhD students, after completing their coursework and/or candidacy exam, obtain sessional teaching contracts in our Faculty or in other departments.

Work Study Program

The Work Study Program provides financial assistance through part-time employment opportunities for students with documented financial need. The 2023/2024 Work Study Program runs September 6, 2023 to April 26, 2024. More information about this program, including eligibility requirements and how to apply, can be found here.

Faculty of Law Internal Awards Policy

A condition of internal funding awarded through the Faculty of Law or the Faculty of Graduate Studies is that if you obtain other scholarship funding you inform us.
Some or all of the excess will be reallocated to another needy student, unless exception granted.
Students may not hold another major award (e.g. SSHRC) in conjunction with program funding.
Please refer to our Internal Funding Structure (currently being updated - refer to Graduate Program Coordinator) for the thresholds set for clawbacks of internal funding in this situation.