Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) – Guide for Award Holders

The value of the OGS/QEII-GSST is $5,000 per term. Recipients may receive $10,000 for two consecutive terms or $15,000 for three consecutive terms. The OGS/QEII-GSST is jointly funded by the Government of Ontario and NOSM University.

OGS recipients may hold their award for either two or three consecutive terms. OGS and QEII-GSST awards are not available to students with fewer than two terms of full-time registration remaining in their program in the academic year they are applying to.

Current Thesis-based Students:

If you have completed 4 full-time terms (16 months) in the MMS Program, you will be awarded two terms of OGS/QEII-GSST funding. Your total funding will be $10,000, or $5,000 per term.

If you have completed between 0-3 full-time terms (0-12 months) in the MMS Program, you will be awarded three terms of OGS/QEII-GSST funding. Your total funding will be $15,000, or $5,000 per term.

Incoming Thesis-based Students:

Once you have accepted your Offer of Admission to the MMS Program as a full-time student in the Thesis-based stream, you will be awarded three terms of OGS/QEII-GSST funding. Your total funding will be $15,000, or $5,000 per term.

To “activate” or accept your OGS/QEII-GSST award, you must confirm with the Graduate Studies Office by email (graduatestudies@nosm.ca) that you accept the award, and have reviewed the Guide for Award Holders in its entirety.

All OGS and QEII-GSST recipients will receive disbursement of OGS and QEII-GSST funds starting in Fall 2026. Recipients must uphold all conditions to maintain an OGS/QEII-GSST award, which are listed below.

NOSM University will credit your student account with one $5,000 installment of your OGS or QEII-GSST scholarship near the beginning of each term for which the award is granted. Any outstanding amounts owed to NOSM University will be deducted from the scholarship.

Registration Status

• Full-time registration in the MMS Program must be maintained during the tenure of the award at NOSM University.
• Recipients whose registration status changes (i.e., who withdraw, switch to part-time studies, fail to complete a term, interrupt their studies) after they have received OGS or QEII-GSST funding for any given term or terms, will be required to repay any amounts received prior to the change.
• You cannot be enrolled in a qualifying or make-up year, or be on a paid educational leave or sabbatical.
• OGS or QEII-GSST awards may be deferred if you obtain an approved leave of absence for medical leave or family obligations related to health care, maternity or parental leave or compassionate leave (bereavement) with supporting and current documentation (e.g. medical certificate).

Duration for OGS and QEII-GSST

• Master’s students can receive an OGS or QEII-GSST award for a maximum of two academic years.
• OGS and QEII-GSST recipients must be eligible to accept the award for at least two consecutive full-time terms.

Funding Limitations

• OGS and QEII-GSST recipients cannot hold at the same time nor exceed the lifetime maximum of 6 years of government-funded student awards from the following granting agencies:
  • Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology (QEII-GSST)
  • Ontario Trillium Scholarship (OTS)
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
  • Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR)
  • Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships (Vanier CGS)

Other conditions

• OGS/QEII-GSST recipients cannot be restricted from receiving student financial assistance through the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP). The universities are obligated by the Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security (MCURES) to verify restrictions at the beginning of each term. Should the MCURES inform NOSM University of a restriction on a student’s OSAP account, the OGS or QEII-GSST funding will be immediately cancelled. The MCURES may place a restriction on current and/or past terms and you will be required to repay NOSM University for the funding received. You will also be held responsible to pay any additional fees that could be charged to your student account (i.e. late payment fees, interest charges, etc.) due to a cancellation of an OGS/QEII-GSST award.
• Scholarships may be a taxable income. However there is no tax deducted at the source.
• NOSM University must issue a T4A for all scholarships. Furthermore, the Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security (MCURES) of Ontario require all universities to enter all OGS and QEII-GSST awards in their Bursaries Recording System (BRS). The BRS will not allow universities to disburse OGS and QEII-GSST funding to anyone who has not provided their Social Insurance Number (SIN). Please ensure that your SIN is in NOSM University’s Student Information System.
• OGS and QEII-GSST recipients may also accept other paid employment, like research or teaching assistantships, that do not affect their status as a full-time graduate student.
• OGS and QEII-GSST scholarships are not transferrable to another university nor are they transferrable to a faculty other than the one in which you applied for the funding.

Failure to meet any one of these conditions will result in the scholarship being revoked and you will be required to reimburse the total amount of the funding you have received to NOSM University.