Secretariat Policies

Student Awards Categories, Guidelines and Procedures

Posted on 12 July 2012

Student Awards Categories, Guidelines and Procedures

Posted on 12 July 2012

Legislative History:

Approved by Senate June 24, 2004; amended March 2009; edited June 2012

Approval Authority: Senate

Signature: Harriet Lewis

Responsible Committee: Awards

Categories

The following award terms and definitions were approved by the Senate in June 2004 and revised in March 2009. These classifications are followed when naming an award.

Award: Combines academic criteria (minimum grade of 70% for students entering from secondary school, undergraduate grade point average of 6.0, or graduate average of B) and non-academic criteria (e.g. talent, promise, community service, leadership, financial need). Awards appear on a student’s transcript.

Bursary: Primarily designed to assist students with financial need. Recipients must be in good academic standing. Bursaries do not appear on the student's transcript.

Fellowship: Primarily designed to support research by outstanding graduate students with an A average or the top academic performance when an award evaluates students’ marks in comparison to their peers (although financial need may be taken into account). Fellowships appear on a student's transcript.

Scholarship: Recognizes exceptional talent/promise or academic excellence, as defined by:

  • A minimum grade of 80% for students entering from secondary school; or
  • A minimum undergraduate grade point average of 7.5; or
  • A minimum A average for graduate studies; or
  • Top academic performance, when an award evaluates students’ marks in comparison to their peers. In some cases scholarships may also include non-academic criteria (e.g. financial need, residency, etc.). All scholarships appear on a student’s transcript.

Prize: A prestigious recognition, often a book or nominal financial award, which recognizes academic achievement in a course, cluster of courses (no more than 3), program/field of study, or an academic piece of work, as defined by:

  • A minimum undergraduate grade point average of 7.5; or
  • A minimum A average for graduate studies; or
  • Top academic performance, when an award evaluates students’ marks in comparison to their peers; or
  • Talent or promise.
  • All prizes appear on a student’s transcript.

Medal: A medal recognizes academic achievement in a program and may include non-academic criteria such as contribution to student life. All medals appear on a student’s transcript.

Authority for Approval

Senate has delegated to the Office of Student Financial Services (OSFS) of the responsibility to approve all newly-created fellowships, scholarships, medals, prizes and other awards.

Guidelines for the Approval of New Awards

  1. Fellowships, scholarships, medals and prizes and other awards shall conform to the Ontario Human Rights Commission Policy on Scholarships and Awards and other legislative requirements, as they exist from time to time;
  2. Awards shall conform to the University Policy: Guidelines for the Acceptance of Gifts;
  3. The integrity of the University shall be protected through thorough review of the donor’s background;
  4. Awards which are specific to Faculties shall be approved by the Dean of that Faculty and any other approving body where relevant;
  5. Award criteria shall be constructed so as to encourage distribution of awards to a wide-range of qualified and eligible students, rather than limiting that range;
  6. Award criteria should be amenable to administration and not so restrictive as to make finding a qualified applicant difficult;
  7. Awards should be encouraged that have criteria reflecting York’s history, community context and long-standing commitments to equity and interdisciplinarity.

Procedure for Reporting

To fulfill its policy mandate, AWARDS will report to Senate twice a year, normally in December and June on the new awards. More comprehensive reports, including analysis such as award types, amounts, distribution by Faculty/program, trends over time, etc., shall be made to Senate at a minimum once a year. A sample of this type of report is attached to this Appendix. Faculty awards committees will be requested to report annually to AWARDS.

Procedures for the Awarding of Prestigious Scholarships and Merit-Based Awards

AWARDS will work with the Office of Student Financial Services to establish sub-committees for the selection of recipients of University-wide undergraduate prestigious scholarships. These sub-committees will have at least 50% of the membership drawn from AWARDS, preferably including both faculty and student members. In addition, at least 50% of the membership in total will be faculty members, and normally there will be one student representative. These sub-committees will report back to AWARDS on the process and its results. Selection of merit-based awards administered by individual Faculties and other units shall be carried out by Faculty committees including at least one faculty member at the associate or full professor level. These Faculty committees will report back to AWARDS annually on the process and its results.