How the Canada Graduate Scholarships Master's Program Replaced Separate Tri-Agency Master's Awards
By Muntasir • Published May 23, 2026 • Updated Sep 20, 2026 • Scholarships & Funding, Canadian Universities & Colleges
The Canada Graduate Scholarships Master's Program (CGS-M) merged three separate SSHRC, NSERC and CIHR master's competitions into one $27,000, 12-month award with a single application. Starting with the 2026-27 competition, it operates under a new name, Canada Graduate Research Scholarships - Master's (CGRS-M), with the same value and process.
🎓 One shared application through the Research Portal, reviewed at your own university, not centrally.
💵 Worth $27,000 for 12 months, non-renewable.
📩 National deadline: December 1, 8pm ET, every year.
⏱️ Up to 3,298 students funded annually across all three agencies.
One shared master's scholarship, not three separate ones
Before this program existed, a master's student applied separately to whichever agency matched their field: the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), or the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Each agency ran its own master's-level competition, with its own form and timeline.
The Canada Graduate Scholarships Master's Program (CGS-M) replaced those three separate master's competitions with a single harmonized award. You submit one application, the three agencies fund it jointly, and your own university runs the review.
Starting with the 2026-27 competition, the program operates under a new name: Canada Graduate Research Scholarships - Master's (CGRS-M) . The value, the process and the December 1 deadline stay the same. Only the label changed, as part of a wider federal reform covered below.
What the award is worth
A CGRS-M award pays $27,000 for 12 months, non-renewable. The program funds up to 3,298 students a year across all three agencies combined, according to NSERC's program page . You cannot hold a CGRS-M alongside another master's-level scholarship from CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC.
Eligibility rules that carried over unchanged
You must be a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident, or a protected person under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. You need a first-class average, as your own university defines it, in each of your last two completed years of full-time study. You must be within your first 12 months of full-time study in an eligible master's or doctoral program when you apply.
How your application gets assigned to an agency
You do not pick your funding agency by preference. The subject matter of your proposed research decides it: health research goes to CIHR, natural sciences and engineering go to NSERC, and social sciences, humanities and education go to SSHRC. Your graduate studies office confirms the right agency if your topic sits between two fields.
| Research area | Assigned agency |
|---|---|
| Biomedical, clinical, health systems, population health | CIHR |
| Engineering, computer science, physical and natural sciences | NSERC |
| Social sciences, humanities, education, arts | SSHRC |
Selection happens at your university, not in Ottawa
Unlike a national scholarship competition, a CGRS-M application never reaches a central federal review board. Your university receives an annual allocation, a fixed number of awards to offer that year, then its own graduate awards committee ranks every internal applicant against the others and forwards names only up to that quota through the Research Portal. Your real competition sits against other students at your own school, not the whole country.
Documents the Research Portal requires
You submit transcripts from every post-secondary institution you attended, including exchange terms, two reference letters, a one-page Outline of Proposed Research, a separate one-page Bibliography, and a completed Canadian Common CV. The national deadline is December 1, 8pm ET, though your own graduate studies office sets an earlier internal deadline so its committee has time to review before forwarding. Missing or unofficial transcripts are the most common reason applications get ruled ineligible.
Why the name changed in 2025-26
Budget 2024 directed CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC to fold their scholarship and fellowship programs into one harmonized structure. The Treasury Board approved the plan on March 11, 2025, and the agencies launched the Canada Research Training Awards Suite that summer, consolidating 11 separate scholarship and fellowship programs. The 2025-26 CGS-M competition, with results released April 1, 2025, was the last one under that name. From the 2026-27 competition onward, the same award runs as CGRS-M.
The reform added funding rather than cutting it: the suite added 300 extra master's-level awards a year on top of the previous total, alongside increases at the doctoral and postdoctoral levels.
What this means if you are applying now
Treat CGS-M and CGRS-M as the same award under two names. If you find older guidance describing CGS-M, the value, the process and the assigned-agency rule still apply under CGRS-M. Confirm the current name and deadline directly on your graduate studies office's award page before you start gathering documents.