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For Industrial Postgraduate Scholarship (IPS) Holders
General Regulations
Start Date
Value and Duration of Award
Part-time Industrial Postgraduate Scholarship
Deferment of Award
Payment of Award
Interruption of Award
Reinstatement of Award
Change of Research Project
Change of Institution/Location of Research
Other Sources of Income (Employment and Other Awards)
Annual Progress Reports
Termination of Award
Exit Survey
Taxation and Other Issues
 General
Regulations
To hold an award, you must:
Awards may be cancelled without notice if the conditions under which they are granted are violated. Any payment made for a period during which you were not eligible to hold the award must be reimbursed.
Start Date
- Shown on award letter.
- Must not be changed without prior authorization
by NSERC.
Value
and Duration of Award
- The value of the award is $15,000 per year, plus a minimum company contribution
of $6,000 per year.
- The duration of your award is detailed in the Notice of Award you
received for your IPS.
- The value and duration of your award may be adjusted if your registration status changes (e.g., early completion
of your degree or termination of your graduate studies program).
Please notify NSERC of any changes in your registration status.
IPS 1 holders: Award holders should note that their scholarship
support will not extend beyond the 28th month of their master's program.
If you have completed more than four months' full-time equivalent in a master's
program at the time you take up your award, the normal 24-month term will
be decreased by the number of months in excess of four that have been completed
at that time.
Request for the balance of the IPS 1 support if the duration of your
award is less than the maximum of 24 months: You can request the balance
of the award if you transfer to a doctoral program during the term of your award
or if you complete your master's degree prior to the termination of your award
and enter immediately into a doctoral degree program. To request the balance
of your award, please contact NSERC.
IPS 2 holders: The scholarship support will not extend beyond
your 64th month of graduate studies.
Part-time Industrial Postgraduate Scholarship
- IPS support is available to those who are pursuing part-time graduate studies in the natural sciences and engineering at an eligible Canadian university. See the Program Guide for Students and Fellows for details.
- If you are changing your status from full-time to part-time, you must contact NSERC.
Deferment
of Award
- If you want to defer your award, contact NSERC to determine the requirements.
Payment of Award
- NSERC and the company will send their payments to the institution, which will ensure the distribution
of funds to the student.
Interruption
of Award
Any interruption (paid or unpaid) requires prior agreement from the university, the sponsoring company and NSERC.
- You may interrupt your award only for the reasons described in Unpaid
Leave for Reasons of Maternity, Child Rearing, Illness or Health-Related
Family Responsibilities; in Paid Parental Leave; and in Leave for Relevant
Work Experience.
- For approved interruptions, NSERC will suspend payment of your award
for the duration of the interruption and will resume payment when all
the conditions of your award are met, generally, on your return to full-time
studies. The
interruption will not reduce the total amount of support available to
you, and the end date of the award will be adjusted.
- For the purpose of determining eligibility for future NSERC scholarships,
these interruptions will not count when the number of months spent in
graduate studies is being calculated, regardless of your registration
status.
- You may not interrupt your award in order to take up another award
or to pursue studies other than those for which you received funding.
- Submit all necessary documentation to NSERC for approval. Please see the relevant sub-section below.
- Specify the start date and expected end date of the interruption.
Unpaid
Leave for Reasons of Maternity, Child Rearing, Illness or Health-Related Family
Responsibilities
- You are eligible for a leave of absence of up to three years, in accordance
with your institution's policies, only for reasons of maternity, child rearing,
illness or health-related family responsibilities, provided
your institution permits such leaves.
- To request this leave of absence, contact NSERC. You must provide supporting documentation,
such as birth or medical certificates, justifying and substantiating
the reason for interrupting your award, as well as a letter of support from the Dean of Graduate Studies.
Paid
Parental Leave
- If you will be interrupting your studies/award within six months following
a child's birth or adoption in order to be the primary caregiver for
the child, you may request a paid parental leave supplement at your
current stipend level for up to four months.
- You may not receive this supplement while your award is being deferred.
- The maximum period of paid leave is four months, even in cases of
multiple births or adoption of more than one child at the same time.
- If both parents are supported by NSERC, each parent may take a portion
of the leave, for a combined maximum duration of four months.
- To request the paid parental leave, you must contact NSERC and provide a
letter in which you confirm that:
- during the parental leave you will not be engaged in your research
activities or employed;
- you will be the primary caregiver of your child during the parental
leave; and
- you are not eligible for and will not receive employment insurance
or other maternity/parental benefits from other sources.
- Please request the paid parental leave at least four months before
the proposed start date of the leave.
- As soon as possible after the birth/adoption of the child, you must
submit a copy of the child's birth/adoption certificate to NSERC in
order to activate payment.
Leave
for Relevant Work Experience
- You are not entitled to receive your award payments during such interruptions.
- To request an interruption, contact
NSERC.
- To request an interruption of your award for this leave, you must
notify NSERC four weeks in advance in writing, and your request must
be supported by your supervisor and the Dean of Graduate Studies. NSERC may require an amendment to the agreement.
- You are permitted one four-month interruption during the term of the
award, provided the company and institution approve it. Please note
that this work experience does not count toward the 20 per cent of your time that you must spend at the company.
Vacation
Leave
- Your institution's regulations will apply regarding to vacation
leave.
Reinstatement
of Award
- To reinstate a deferred or interrupted award, you must notify NSERC
in writing at least eight weeks before resuming your studies or research,
confirming the exact date you want your award reinstated. Before
your instalment payment can be issued, you must also provide confirmation
from your institution (Faculty of Graduate Studies) that you have resumed
the studies or research for which the funds were awarded. See the Payment
of Award section.
- Awards will be governed by the regulations applicable at the time
of reinstatement.
Change
of Research Project
- If your program of studies or research is in a discipline that falls
under the mandate of more than one federal granting agency (e.g., psychology,
management studies, geography, physical education, optometry or health
sciences), you must obtain prior approval from NSERC to change your
research project. To do so, send
an outline of the proposed research, including the proposed supervisor's
name, to NSERC.
- A change in research project must be approved by the supervisor at the sponsoring company.
- If you modify your research project to the extent that the field of
study is not under NSERC's mandate, you will no longer be eligible to
hold the award and it will be cancelled.
Change
of Institution/Location of Research
- If you wish to change your institution of tenure/research location,
you must obtain prior approval from NSERC to confirm your eligibility to hold the award at
the new institution. Such requests should be made as soon as possible,
preferably eight weeks prior to your start or transfer date.
- You must submit a new agreement signed by the new institution, the
company and other concerned parties, and a modified plan for the fulfillment
of the 20 per cent of your time to be spent at the company. If you also change supervisors,
you must describe to what extent it changes the research project.
Other
Sources of Income (Employment and
Other Awards)
- You may not concurrently hold another award from NSERC or from another
federal granting agency (CIHR or SSHRC). You may, however, accept awards
from other sources, regardless of value (e.g., foreign sources, provincial
awards, private organizations, your institution, etc.).
Full-time IPS holders
- NSERC expects full-time IPS holders to devote the majority of their time to the expeditious completion of their degree program. NSERC limits the number of hours of employment to 450 per 12 months, starting at each anniversary date of the award. (Note: NSERC scholarship holders are not employees of NSERC, the university, or [in most cases] the sponsoring company.)
- Payment of the award during paid internships and co-op work terms
is permitted, regardless of your registration status, provided that
they are a requirement of your program of studies.
- You may not accept remuneration or supplements paid from other NSERC
grants, whether paid as a scholarship or salary.
- If you accept full-time employment, you must contact NSERC regarding
your IPS award.
Part-time IPS holders
- There is no restriction on the number of hours worked.
Annual
Progress Reports
- As the holder of the scholarship, it is your responsibility to provide a progress report to the Dean of Graduate Studies. Each year during the tenure of the award, full-time and part-time award holders must submit a progress report to the Dean of Graduate Studies one month prior to the anniversary date of the award. The first progress report (1 and 2 below) must be received at NSERC one year after the start date of the award. For holders of a three-year IPS 2 award or of part-time awards, subsequent progress reports are due at NSERC every year on the anniversary date of the award.
Payment of further instalments of the scholarship is contingent upon the progress report proving satisfactory to NSERC.
- The following are to be supplied by the student to the office of the Dean of Graduate Studies:
- general information regarding the progress made towards the research objectives identified at the time of the application;
- details, in tabular form, of the time spent working on this project at the company location (complete with times, dates and hours). If no time has been spent at the company, the award may not be renewed; and
- justification if the student was unable to spend 20 per cent of his/her time at the company. NSERC considers 20 per cent of a student’s time to be an average of one full working day per week for a total of approximately 50 days per year. A proposal to bring the average time spent at the company up to 20 per cent in the subsequent year of the award must be submitted and agreed to by the company.
This part may be prepared entirely by the student, or parts may be contributed by the supervisor at the company or the university supervisor.
Length: no more than three pages.
- The following are to be completed by the University Dean or representative:
- confirmation that the student has maintained a satisfactory standing in the program;
- confirmation that the university has received the company contribution for the reporting year of the progress report; and
- confirmation that the company has indicated its intention to pay its subsequent year's contribution to the scholarship.
Termination
of Award
- If you have submitted your thesis, you are still eligible to receive
your payments until the defence is successfully completed, provided
you have not accepted full-time employment or started another program
of studies, and you are still registered full-time in the graduate studies
program for which funding was awarded. You must complete an exit survey (PDF format – 21 KB – 2 pages).
Full-time IPS holders
- If you terminate your full-time registration status or accept full-time
employment before the end of the period covered by the award (except
as permitted by regulations governing your award as outlined in Interruption
of Award and Other Sources of Income [Employment and
Other Awards]), you must contact NSERC to make the appropriate arrangements.
- You will have to reimburse any overpayment of your award.
- You must complete an exit survey (PDF format – 21 KB – 2 pages).
Exit Survey
- Near the end of the final year of your award, an Exit Survey (PDF format – 21 KB – 2 pages) must be completed and returned to NSERC. A completed copy of this survey must also be given to the Scholarship Liaison Officer in the Office of Graduate Studies at your university.
Taxation
and Other Issues
Taxation
- Most income you receive
is taxable and you must include it on your income tax return. Taxable income
includes scholarships and fellowships, as well as salaries and stipends. NSERC
does not deduct any income tax at source (at time of payment), so you should
plan accordingly for the possibility that you may owe tax at the time of filing
your return.
- NSERC will issue a T4A income tax slip to award holders it pays directly.
If your university pays you the scholarship on behalf of NSERC, or if you
receive income from other sources (e.g., foreign sources, provincial award,
private organizations or your university), those organizations should provide
you with the appropriate income tax slips.
- Given the uniqueness of each award recipient's personal financial situation, NSERC is unable to dispense advice on income tax matters to individual students
and fellows. Consequently, you are encouraged to seek advice from the Canada
Revenue Agency (CRA) or from a qualified income tax specialist.
- You are referred to two documents published by CRA:
Insurance
- NSERC is unable to assume
liability for accidents, illness, or losses that may occur during the tenure
of an award. You are responsible for ensuring that you have appropriate insurance.
The Access
to Information Act and the Privacy
Act
- We encourage you to read these acts as they pertain to
application information.
Table
of Contents | Where
Can I Get More Information?
Introduction
| General Regulations
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