Winnipeg President’s Scholarship for World Leaders

Read one rule before anything else, because it decides whether this application is worth your weeks.

You cannot hold the President’s Scholarship for World Leaders at the same time as the International Special Entrance Scholarship. The University of Winnipeg states this outright. The Special Entrance Scholarship arrives automatically through the ordinary admissions process, with no essay, no reference letters and no separate form. The President’s Scholarship demands all three.

So a student who already qualifies for the automatic award may spend a month assembling an application for a scholarship that replaces it rather than adding to it. Before you start, ask Winnipeg’s admissions office what the Special Entrance Scholarship would pay in your case. If the answer is close to CAD 5,000, your weeks are better spent on the larger Canadian awards we cover elsewhere.

That said, for many applicants the President’s Scholarship is worth the work. Here is everything, accurately.

What it pays, by division

The award splits across the University’s divisions, and the value depends on where you enter.

Undergraduate CAD 5,000, six awards. The largest pool, and the one most readers of this guide need.

Graduate CAD 5,000, three awards. For international students starting a master’s programme.

Collegiate CAD 3,500, three awards. Winnipeg’s high school division.

PACE CAD 3,500, three awards. The Professional, Applied and Continuing Education division.

English Language Programme CAD 3,500, three awards. For students entering the ELP.

Twenty-one awards in total across every division and every country. Six of them go to undergraduates. Treat the competition accordingly, and read the rest of this guide before committing a month to it.

The honest arithmetic

Winnipeg charges international undergraduates CAD 16,690 to CAD 21,165 for a full 30-credit-hour load, and tuition with compulsory fees reaches CAD 20,900 to CAD 25,575 a year. On-campus residence adds CAD 5,982 at Balmoral Houses or CAD 11,735 at McFeetors Hall.

A one-time CAD 5,000 award covers roughly a fifth to a quarter of one year. It helps. It does not fund a degree, and no honest page should suggest otherwise.

There is a genuine advantage here, though, and it has nothing to do with the scholarship. Winnipeg’s tuition sits well below what UBC, Toronto or Calgary charge international students, where CAD 30,000 to CAD 66,000 a year is normal. A student weighing total cost rather than headline scholarship value often finds Manitoba the cheaper path even without an award. That comparison matters more than the CAD 5,000.

Who can apply

You are an international student entering the University of Winnipeg for the first time. Students already studying there do not qualify, though separate in-course awards exist for them.

You hold an admission average equivalent to 80 per cent in the Canadian system. Convert your own grades carefully, and ask Winnipeg’s admissions office rather than guessing, an HSSC percentage, a WAEC grade and a CBSE score each translate differently.

You demonstrate exceptional leadership. This carries real weight here, since the award is named for it.

You complete your admission application by the deadline. The scholarship application means nothing without a complete admission file behind it.

What you have to submit

Unlike most entrance awards in Canada, this one asks for a real application.

An essay describing your future goals and your reasons for choosing the University of Winnipeg. Write about Winnipeg specifically, the programme, the faculty, the city rather than about Canada in general. Committees read a hundred essays that would fit any university on earth, and those essays lose.

Evidence of your activities, community involvement, awards and honors. Depth over quantity. One project you built and sustained, with a result somebody else can confirm, outweighs six memberships.

Two letters of reference. Ask early. A teacher writing in your last week before the deadline produces a letter that reads like it.

A completed admission application.

If you are writing the essay now, our free tools help you structure it and check your own draft. They cost nothing and never ask for an account. Write the substance yourself, a committee comparing your essay with your referees’ letters notices when the two describe different people.

Deadlines

The application opens in January and closes on a date that varies by division and by the term you start. Winnipeg’s Collegiate division publishes 1 June; other divisions set their own dates around their intakes.

This vagueness is deliberate on the university’s part and dangerous for you. Do not trust a date you read on a listing site, including the one above. Open the President’s Scholarship page for your own division, find the deadline for your intended start term, and work backwards from it.

Two practical consequences. Ask your referees in February or March, not in May. And complete your admission application early, since the scholarship form assumes it exists.

What strong applications do differently

They treat leadership as evidence, not as a title. “President of the debate society” tells a committee nothing. “Started a weekend English class for forty children in my neighborhood, thirty-one of whom passed the district exam” tells them everything. Name the problem, your action, and the result.

They explain Winnipeg specifically. Say which programme, which professor’s work, which part of the city’s character fits your plan. A student who cannot name one specific reason for Winnipeg reads as someone applying everywhere.

They brief their referees. Send each referee your essay, your activity list, and the scholarship’s criteria. A referee who knows the award honors leadership writes about your leadership.

They check the Special Entrance Scholarship first. The applicants who benefit most from the President’s Scholarship are those who would receive little or nothing automatically.

How this compares

Winnipeg suits a particular student: strong grades, genuine leadership, and a preference for lower overall cost over a famous name.

your grades are strong and you want an award an order of magnitude larger, the Calgary international entrance scholarships pay CAD 20,000 and renew for four years, with a 1 December deadline and no nomination needed. it your family cannot contribute meaningfully at all, the UBC International Leader of Tomorrow Award covers tuition and living costs together, though it requires a school nomination and closes on 15 November.

If you are comparing universities with colleges, read our guide to Humber Polytechnic international scholarships, which also explains the work permit rule that applies to diploma graduates and not to degree graduates.

A sensible plan applies to several of these. The deadlines fall in different months, and only Winnipeg’s demands reference letters.

The mistakes that waste the application

Not checking the Special Entrance Scholarship first. You cannot hold both. Find out what the automatic award would give you before investing weeks in the application.

Believing it is fully funded. It pays CAD 5,000 once, against CAD 20,900 to CAD 25,575 of tuition and fees a year.

Working to a deadline from a listing site. Deadlines vary by division and by start term. Only your own division’s page is authoritative.

Asking referees in May. Two letters take time, and rushed letters read as rushed.

Writing a general essay about Canada. The essay asks why Winnipeg. Answer that question.

Listing titles instead of results. The award honors leadership. Describe what changed because you acted.

Frequently asked questions

How much is the Winnipeg President’s Scholarship?

CAD 5,000 for undergraduate and graduate entrants, and CAD 3,500 for the Collegiate, PACE and English Language divisions.

How many awards are available?

Six undergraduate, three graduate, and three each in the Collegiate, PACE and ELP divisions twenty-one in total.

Is it automatic?

No. It requires an essay, evidence of your activities, two reference letters and a completed admission application. The International Special Entrance Scholarship is the automatic one, and you cannot hold both.

Does it renew?

It is an entrance award. Budget for later years without it.

What grades do I need?

An admission average equivalent to 80 per cent in the Canadian system. Ask Winnipeg’s admissions office how your own qualification converts.

When is the deadline?

The application opens in January and closes on a date that varies by division and start term. Winnipeg’s Collegiate division publishes 1 June. Check your own division’s page for your intake.

Can master’s students apply?

Yes. Three graduate awards of CAD 5,000 exist for international students entering a master’s programme for the first time.

Is the University of Winnipeg the same as the University of Manitoba?

No. They are two separate universities in the same city, with different programmes, fees and scholarships. This award belongs to the University of Winnipeg.

Will this cover my living costs?

No. Residence alone costs CAD 5,982 to CAD 11,735 a year on campus. Plan your full budget and treat the award as a reduction.