MBA Scholarship Committee

MBA scholarships are competitive. There are currently over 400 MBA students at the University of Alberta with only a limited number of scholarships available. The mandate of the MBA Scholarship Committee is to ensure scholarships are awarded to students who best meet the criteria of the particular scholarship as outlined by the donor or sponsor. The committee also endeavours to distribute awards as widely as possible across the student body.

MBA Scholarship Committee Composition

One voting representative from each academic unit:

Non-Voting Members:

  • Associate Dean, Masters Programs
  • Director, Academic Services
  • Director, Recruitment, Marketing and Admissions
  • Student Engagement Advisor
  • MBAA President*
  • MBAA Vice-President, Part-time*

*If a student committee member is eligible for an award that person is required to leave the room while the scholarship nomination is discussed.

The MBA Scholarship Committee is a subset of the Graduate Student Policy Committee and consists of a professor from each of the four departments in the School of Business. The scholarship meeting is also attended by the Associate Dean and up to three members of the Masters Programs Office who are involved to ensure that the selection process is consistent and that the criteria for awards are observed. In addition, there are two student representatives who join the committee (the MBAA President and Vice-President, Part-time) whose role is to advise the committee as to student involvement where extracurricular activities are part of the criteria for the selection process. It is important to note that the Associate Dean, Masters Programs Office staff and student representatives are not voting members of the scholarship committee.

Frequency

Each year the MBA Scholarship Committee meets at least three times to decide on scholarships.

Scholarship Award Eligibility

Awards and scholarships which require an application are sent to the Masters Programs Office prior to the deadline. Applications received are then verified to ensure a student is eligible to apply based upon the criteria. Those eligible applications are then distributed to the committee.

For awards with no application requirement, all students who meet the criteria for the award are automatically included in the appropriate list of eligible students. These lists are then distributed to the committee for consideration.

Committee Binders

The list of eligible students for each award is placed into a committee binder. Approximately 1-2 weeks prior to the scholarship committee meeting all of the pertinent information for scholarships is distributed to those who will be attending the meeting.

Each scholarship in the binder includes a listing of all students eligible for that particular award as well as the relevant criteria (i.e., GPA, number of credits, work experience etc.) If submitted, we would also include the most recent resume for each student nominee. Student representatives who attend the meeting receive a version of the binder which removes confidential information (such as GPA).

Committee Procedure

During the meeting scholarships are considered in the order of their value, with the highest value scholarships and awards being considered first.

In cases where either the MBAA President or Vice-President, Part-time is eligible for a scholarship, they are required to leave the room while that scholarship is being discussed.

For each award and scholarship the Associate Dean asks for nominations from the four voting members of the committee. Nominations must come from the list of eligible students for that award or scholarship.

The nominated students are discussed until a consensus is reached and at least three of the four voting members are willing to support that candidate as the recipient.

If the award requires approval from the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research (FGSR) the nomination from the committee is then forwarded to FGSR for approval. In cases where FGSR approval is not needed the recipient is informed directly by the Masters Programs Office.