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About the Scholarship

The Lester B. Pearson International Scholarships at the University of Toronto provide an unparalleled opportunity for outstanding international students to study at one of the world’s best universities in one of the world’s most multicultural cities. The scholarship program is intended to recognize students who demonstrate exceptional academic achievement and creativity and who are recognized as leaders within their school. A special emphasis is placed on the impact the student has had on the life of their school and community, and their future potential to contribute positively to the global community.

Awarded annually, these scholarships recognize outstanding students from around the world, including international students studying at Canadian high schools. This is U of T’s most prestigious and competitive scholarship for international students. The Lester B. Pearson International Scholarships will cover tuition, books, incidental fees, and full residence support for four years. The scholarship is tenable only at the University of Toronto for first-entry, undergraduate programs. Each year approximately 37 students will be named Lester B. Pearson Scholars.

Notice

The University of Toronto has been alerted to fraudulent emails that offer to assist students with applications to our Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship program. Please exercise caution when researching scholarship opportunities and assessing communications about our programs. The University of Toronto does not work with recruitment agents or agencies. Students interested in applying for a Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship should follow the instructions on this website and submit their applications directly to the University.

Apply

To become a Pearson Scholar, you must be nominated by your school and apply to undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto. Ask your school guidance counsellor about being nominated. Once you’ve been nominated and have applied to the University of Toronto, you will be sent a personalized, secure link to the Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship application.

Pearson Scholars are students who have demonstrated exceptional academic achievement and creativity, who are accepted as leaders within their school, and who have the potential to contribute to the global community in the future. They can be distinguished from other students who may have equally high academic results by virtue of their breadth of interest, intellectual energy and impact on the life of their school and community.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply to the Pearson International Scholarship, you must be:

• an international student (i.e. a non-Canadian requiring a study permit);
• enrolled in your final year of senior secondary school in 2025/2026 or have graduated no earlier than June 2025
• beginning your studies at the University of Toronto in September 2026 (students already attending post-secondary studies cannot be considered; students starting their post-secondary studies in January 2026 at another post-secondary institution cannot be considered).

Application Process

The 2026 Competition opens on July 1, 2025. To apply, you will need to:

1. Receive a nomination from your school. High schools not already contacted/verified are asked to submit an application to participate in our program, available here.(external link) High schools who have participated in a previous year will receive their nomination access starting July 1, 2025.
2. Apply to study at the University of Toronto(external link) by October 17, 2025 in order to begin your studies in September 2026 .  Please be advised that you will be considered for the Pearson Scholarship for your first choice of program at U of T.  You may apply for several programs and may receive admission to them all; however, the Pearson Scholarship, if awarded to you, would be restricted to your first choice of program at U of T at the time our scholarship decisions are made.
3. Once we’ve received a nomination and you’ve applied to the university, you can complete the online Lester B. Pearson Scholarship application by November 6, 2025.  You will receive a private link to the scholarship application when you are successfully nominated by your school.
4. Submit all necessary documentation online by November 6, 2025.

Pearson Scholarship Deadlines

• School nomination deadline: October 10, 2025
• Student OUAC admission application deadline: October 17, 2025 
• Student scholarship application deadline and documentation submission deadline: November 6, 2025

Academic Integrity Notice

The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT and other AI applications, is prohibited when creating content for any University of Toronto undergraduate award application.  Students and applicants found to have used generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT) to create content that is presented as their own ideas will be disqualified from award eligibility. This prohibited use of generative AI for content creation will be considered an academic offence. For information on academic integrity at the University of Toronto, visit academicintegrity.utoronto.ca(external link).

Fraud Notice

Please note the Lester B. Pearson Scholarship Program at the University of Toronto does not interact with agencies or educational “agents” in order to recruit students or offer scholarships.  Please be cautioned against any agents providing false acceptances or requiring fees for unaffiliated third parties.  Pearson Scholarship recipients can only be nominated by their current secondary school through our online process and the scholarship is available only to undergraduate degree applicants.  If you have any questions, please contact us through our inquiry form(external link).

Privacy Notice

For donor-funded awards, University advancement may share the names, programs and year of study of award recipients with donors. If you have any questions about the University advancement’s collection or use of your personal information, please contact the University’s Stewardship Programs and Services Officer at donor.reports@utoronto.ca

The Lester B. Pearson International Scholarships

The Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy was established in the United States in 1997 as a not-for-profit organisation to advance research and understanding in the major fields of the social sciences: psychology, anthropology, sociology, economics, urban affairs, area studies, political science and other disciplines.

The Foundation provides grants to support doctoral researchers in all areas of the social sciences. It makes targeted grants for work in disciplines such as anthropology, area studies, economics, political science, psychology, sociology and urban studies, as well as newer areas such as evaluation research. The ultimate aim of the funding is to encourage the emergence of new scholars working on projects with a social policy application on either a global or a local level.

Grants are available to current PhD or DrPH students anywhere in the world working on their dissertation whose project has received approval from their department. Neither US citizenship nor US residency are required.

Each grant is worth $10,000. $7,500 is given initially and an additional $2,500 is awarded upon completion of the project, which must be within five years of the announcement of the award. A Trustees’ Award of an additional $3,000 will be awarded to the project judged to have the most innovative approach in terms of theory and/or methodology. An additional $5,000 will be awarded to the most outstanding overall project (Irving Louis Horowitz award). The Foundation will award approximately 25 grants in 2025.

https://www.horowitz-foundation.org/apply

The application deadline is 1 December 2025.

1. Background

The Food System Resilience Program (FSRP) is a flagship regional investment program aimed at strengthening the resilience of the food system in West Africa, through a strategic regional approach. The program invests in three mutually reinforcing thematic areas: (1) Digital Advisory Services for Agriculture and Food Crisis Prevention and Management; (2) Sustainability and adaptability of the productive base of the food system (sustainable land and watershed management, agroecological approaches); and (3) Integration of regional food markets and trade (development of the regional staple food value chain). Each domain will be led by a mandated regional institution to ensure coordination and build sustainable capacity: Permanent Interstates Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS/AGRHYMET), West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The Program Development Objective (PDO) is to “increase preparedness against food insecurity and improve the resilience of food systems.”

Specifically, the program will contribute to increasing the resilience of food systems in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Togo (Phase 1); in Ghana, Chad and Sierra Leone (Phase 2) and in Senegal (Phase 3) through investments in regional risk management, trade in basic foodstuffs and the sustainability of the production base. 

FSRP is organized around five components: (i) strengthening digital advisory services for the prevention and management of regional agricultural and food crises; (ii) sustainability and adaptability of the food system’s productive base; (iii) regional food market integration and trade; (iv) an emergency response component; and (v) program management.

Component 2 includes two mutually supportive sub-components: Sub-component 2.1 consolidating regional agricultural innovation systems and Sub-component 2.2 strengthening regional food security through integrated landscape management.

Sub-component 2.1 provides for the consolidation of regional agricultural innovation systems by strengthening national research systems and deepening and expanding regional R&D networks. To contribute to the development of new managers, the PRSA supports the awarding of MSc and PhD scholarships at both national and regional levels. At the regional level, CORAF, through its competitive and commissioned fund mechanisms for financing research at the regional level and its student sponsorship policy, plans to recruit 4 students for doctoral studies (PhD) in 2025 on themes of regional interest covering the fields of plant production (agronomy, agroforestry, agroecology, pest control, etc.), animal production (breeding, fisheries and aquaculture, animal feed-nutrition, etc.), food quality and safety, agro-industry (processing of plant, animal and fishery products), agricultural product markets, bioinformatics, prospective analysis, etc., which will ultimately benefit West and Central Africa (WCA).
Research activities will be facilitated by the Centers of Specialization to promote collaboration between universities and these centers. These are the Centers of Specialization (i) Root and Tuber Crops in Ghana; (ii) Rainfed, Irrigated and Deep Submergence Rice in Mali; (iii) Dry Cereals in Senegal; (iv) Fruits and Vegetables in Burkina Faso; (v) Plantain Banana in Ivory Coast; (vi) Aquaculture in Nigeria; (vii) Maize in Benin; (viii) Livestock in Niger; (ix) Mangrove Rice in Sierra Leone; (x) Pests and Diseases in Togo; and (xi) Wheat in Chad.

Students must be enrolled in one of the Universities in CORAF member countries. As part of this program, CORAF recommends co-supervision of successful students. Thus, the student will be supervised by a Professor from the University where the student is enrolled, a researcher from one of the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) research centres involved, and/or researcher from the CORAF executive secretariat. 

Students will report administratively to the CORAF Executive Secretariat, and academically/technically to their supervisors (university and research centre). For their fieldwork, they will be based in one of the NARS research centres with possible travel to other CORAF countries. 

Each candidate is expected to develop, under the guidance of their supervisors, a budgeted research protocol on one of the topics/areas of regional interest (see the table in the appendix). Successful candidates are also expected to contribute through their work to the achievement of at least one of the results of CORAF’s 2018-2027 Strategic Plan, publish scientific articles and a thesis at the end of the research work. 

The research protocols will be evaluated by the CORAF scientific and technical committee to select the four best.

2. Conditions to be fulfilled 

To be eligible for this program, candidates must meet the following conditions:

• Be a national of one of the CORAF member countries;
• Be at most 40 years old
• Have a research Master’s degree related to the chosen field and theme;
• Provide written and signed agreement from an academic Supervisor(s)
• Have demonstrated capacity in applied research, willingness to learn and think across disciplines and professions 
• Have a demonstrated interest in agricultural research for development;
• Be able to speak and write either French or English fluently; a good working knowledge of the other language would be an asset 
• Have good skills to work in a multicultural environment 
• Have excellent communication skills 

3. Scholarship allocation

The scholarship allowance will include: (i) registration and laboratory fees; (ii) a monthly subsistence allowance; (iii) field expenses including travel, surveys or labor related to research activities, acquisition of small research equipment and consumables; (iv) international travel expenses (participation in conferences, scientific stays); (v) and supervision fees.

4. Composition of the application file

To apply for this program, the application file must include:

• A motivation letter from the applicant demonstrating his/her suitability and specifying his/her availability.
• Certificates and transcripts of master’s and bachelor’s degrees
• A curriculum vitae (Maximum 5 pages)
• Two letters of recommendation from supervisors (1 University and 1 Centre of Specialization or 1 National Agricultural Research Institute member of CORAF) bearing their addresses
• A budgeted thesis research proposal on one of the proposed research topics covering FSRP priority areas (appended proposals) 
• A pre-registration form from the doctoral school or university of registration, the name and full address of the supervisors

Please submit your application by email to scholarships@coraf.org no later than July 15, 2025. The subject line of the email must clearly state “ PhD Program – CORAF 2025 ”. Shortlisted students and their supervisory team will undergo an online interview with the CORAF team before a probable scholarship award. Results will be announced towards the end of August with a start date starting in September 2025. For any further information, please write to: k.ganyo@coraf.org

There are two Rhodes Scholarships available each year for Global.

The Global Scholarships allow eligible candidates from the rest of the world (i.e. not strongly connected to any other Rhodes Scholarships Constituency) to apply for a Scholarship, subject to nomination.

You can request and receive nomination through the application form itself – you will not be able to submit an application for a Global Rhodes Scholarship unless a nomination from your institution has been received. 

Opening date: 2 June 2025
Closing date: 23:59 GMT, 31 July 2025

Your eligibility for the Global Scholarship must also be confirmed by a member of the Rhodes House team. This will be done through the application form but you will only be able to submit once you have received approval. Please note, this means that 29th July 2025 is the last date that you can begin an application form. 

As the Rhodes Scholarships are place-based, the eligibility criteria, application requirements and selection process vary slightly depending on which constituency you are applying for. To ensure that you have all of the information you need to apply, please read the Information for Candidates – specific to Global – carefully. You should also check the Conditions of Tenure to ensure that your proposed course of study is covered by the Rhodes Scholarship and share the Guidance for Referees with your referees. These documents can all be accessed below.

• Information for Candidates – Global
• Guidance for Referees – Global
• Guidance for Nominating Institutions
• Courses covered by the Rhodes Scholarship
• Register to an information session – Global

If you have read all of the information above and are ready to apply for the Rhodes Scholarship, you can use the below button to to start the application process. Make sure to check the opening and closing dates above as the form won’t be available outside of these dates!

If you need any support with your application, please use the navigation bar to reach our FAQs page.

For more information to go this site https://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/scholarships/applications/global/