Government of Canada International Scholarships (ELAP| SEED|SiCS)

The Government of Canada offers several scholarships to partially support candidates from abroad who wish to study in Canada on a short-term basis by participating in course-based exchange programs.  UAlberta works with the Government of Canada to administer 3 such scholarships:

Eligibility

To find out if you are eligible to apply for one of the Government of Canada Scholarships listed above please click on its name. Doing so will take you to the Government of Canada webpage with the detailed scholarship description. Eligibility information will be listed in the “Eligibility” section.

To be eligible you must also:

1) agree to engage in full-time studies during your desired exchange at UAlberta which means that you must register in at least 9 credits worth of courses per term (this is usually 3 courses per term) and ...

2) be from an exchange partner institution with which UAlberta has a current student exchange agreement (SEA). Check if your home institution is one of UAlberta's exchange partner institutions by using the database of partners we maintain on our "Education Abroad Programs" webpage. To do so, use the "Country" filter to select the country in which your home institution is located and select "Exchange" from the "Program Type" filter. If your home institution shows up in the resulting list, then we have a current SEA and you may proceed with pursuing a course-based exchange program at UAlberta and an application for one of the Government of Canada scholarships listed above.

Important Dates

You will need to submit your completed application to the relevant UAlberta Exchange Programs Coordinator by the UAlberta-specific date communicated to your home institution (NOT by any deadline you may see on the Government of Canada website).

Warning

Please be sure to have money to support yourself if you arrive for the start of your exchange and the scholarship money you are expecting isn't yet available.  UAlberta will not be able to give or lend you money in the meantime.

How to Apply 

Step 1
Get nominated for an exchange to UAlberta or get an assurance that you will be nominated from your home institution. At the same time, get the *current* Government of Canada scholarship application details from your home institution. This information would be specific to UAlberta and would be contained in an email sent to your home institution by the relevant UAlberta Exchange Programs Coordinator.
Step 2

Once you know that you have been, or will be, nominated for an exchange, please submit your application documents to the relevant UAlberta Exchange Programs Coordinator as per the instructions and in time for the deadline given.

To find out more about the application documents, please click on the name of the relevant Government of Canada Scholarship listed above. Doing so will take you to the Government of Canada webpage with the detailed scholarship description. In the  “Application process” section you’ll find information about the required application documents in the subsection entitled, “Supporting documents.”

You need to submit all documents listed on the Government of Canada website with the following exceptions:

  • You only need to submit a copy of the “Letter of invitation from the Canadian supervisor” if you are a graduate student who will be participating in the RSCH 900 course.
  • You do not need to submit the “Signed copy of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or Agreement with the partner institution” since it will be submitted by UAlberta to the Government of Canada on your behalf.
  • You do not need to submit "A ranking of applications" since it will be submitted by UAlberta to the Government of Canada on your behalf.

Furthermore, you will also need to include the following 2 documents which the Government of Canada website does NOT mention:

  • A list all of the courses you intend to take while on exchange (and it will be fine if the courses you end up taking while on exchange differ from those on the list.)
  • A statement from you indicating that you agree to engage in full-time studies during your desired exchange at UAlberta (which means that you must register in at least 9 credits worth of courses per term - this is usually 3 courses per term)
Step 3
UAlberta will review all applications for eligibility and completeness. Should we notice any errors or omissions in your application we will contact you to let you know so it will be important to monitor your inbox, spam/junk mail and trash/garbage/deleted folders for any messages from UAlberta and until you get confirmation from us that all is well with your application.
Step 4
UAlberta will submit eligible applications to the Government of Canada on behalf of candidates by the Government of Canada deadline.
Step 5
UAlberta will notify candidates of the results via e-mail once they are shared by the Canadian Bureau of International Education (CBIE), usually about 3 - 4 months after the Government of Canada submission deadline has passed.

Are you interested in coming to UAlberta to conduct research?

With one exception*, all of the information viewable on this page is meant for students wanting to come to UAlberta for course-based exchanges.  If you are instead hoping to come to UAlberta with Government of Canada funding to conduct research then the information you'll need to view is on a different part of our website, not on this page.

*The exception mentioned above is for graduate students from institutions with which UAlberta has active student exchange agreements.  Graduate students MIGHT be able to come to UAlberta on exchange to conduct research (instead of taking courses) and with one of the Government of Canada scholarships named above. Please contact the relevant UAlberta Exchange Programs Coordinator to get more information about this option.

Return to the sitemap of the Incoming Exchange Student Application Guide.

Updated for 2025/26 applications