UBC's International Scholars awards, from SS3

This guide is for a Nigerian student in SS3, or one who finished secondary school in June 2026 or later, whose results are all As and whose family cannot pay for a university abroad. It is for her parents too, because half of this work is theirs. It walks one award programme from start to finish: the International Scholars Program of the University of British Columbia (UBC), a top Canadian university in Vancouver. It takes you from your classroom in Nigeria to your first day of classes in Canada, one stage at a time: what you do, where, what you need in your hand, what it costs, how long it takes, and what comes next.

Start with "Where the window stands today", then the part headed "UBC's steps, the November date and the nomination ask": those two parts are what you need this week. The table under them, "From today", tells you from the day you open this guide whether you can still finish this year's round or should go to the closed plan (Part 8). Then read Part 1 once with a parent, and come back to the stage you are on.

Every fee, date and rule in this guide comes from the official page that sets it: UBC's own pages, the Government of Canada's immigration pages, and the Nigerian bodies' pages. The pages were updated on 28 October 2026. Where a page has not said something yet, the guide says so. Where a line says "people who did it wrote online", it is what applicants reported from their own applications, not a rule.

Updated on 28 October 2026.

Where the window stands today

On 28 October 2026 the award form is open, and it closes in 18 days. UBC's award form for students starting in September 2027 opened on 5 October 2026 and closes on Sunday 15 November 2026 at 11:59 pm Pacific time. That is 8:59 am on Monday 16 November in Nigeria. UBC's page reads: "Applications for the September 2027 are open."

Send yours by the end of Saturday 14 November in Nigeria. UBC itself says "It's recommended to submit well in advance of November 15 in case of technical difficulties", and its page warns that "Applications started shortly before the deadline are less likely to be successful."

Your principal and your teacher have an earlier date. Their two forms must be "completed and submitted a few days before November 15", and you "cannot complete your award application until both the nominator and teacher referee form have been completed and submitted." UBC prints no exact day for "a few days". This guide gives them Monday 9 November, so that you still have five days to finish your own part after theirs is in.

UBC's general deadline is the wrong date for this award. UBC's general deadline for September 2027 is 15 January 2027. That date is for an ordinary application. For the award, UBC's dates page sets 15 November 2026 as the "Deadline to apply to UBC and submit an award application if you're an international student and you wish to be considered for the UBC International Scholars Program awards." If you work to January, you lose the award.

What is ahead after the close. Your school documents by 31 January 2027. A video interview for some applicants between January and March 2027. Award results "on a rolling basis throughout the months of February - April", and "By early- to mid-April, we will let you know if you have received an award." Then your answer to UBC's offer (by 1 May or 1 June 2027), your study permit, and your first day of classes in early September 2027.

What no page has said yet (updated on 28 October 2026). How much each of three awards pays and whether it is paid again after first year: UBC prints a value only for the Vantage One Excellence Award (Part 1). The acceptance deposit for students starting in September 2027: UBC's money calendar still shows the one for September 2026. When WAEC will release the 2027 school results.

UBC's steps, the November date and the nomination ask

These are the three things this guide promised you. Each one comes from UBC's own pages, updated on 28 October 2026.

UBC's steps

UBC lays out the work in this order. The months beside each step are UBC's suggestion. On 28 October 2026 you are doing the first five in the same two weeks.

1. Choose your degree and your campus (UBC suggests mid-September). "For the awards, you will be considered for your first choice program. You should still select a second choice program." UBC has two campuses: Vancouver, where this guide takes you, and Okanagan, its second campus.
2. Ask your school for the nomination and a teacher referee (late September). You need "one nominator (guidance counsellor, principal, administrator, etc.) and one teacher referee". They must be two different people.
3. Apply to UBC itself, the day your principal says yes (early October). "You must have completed your admissions application to UBC before starting your award application." You apply on a website called EducationPlannerBC and pay UBC's fee of CAD 173.25 (about ₦164,000 at the rate of 20 October 2026).
4. Open your award form and invite your principal and your teacher (early October). The award form is on UBC's scholarships site. Inside it you send each of them a request by email.
5. Gather your family's money papers and write four short essays (mid-October). The form asks your family's income, expenses, wealth, dependants and school fees, and four essays of about 150 to 250 words each. UBC calls this "a very in-depth process".
6. Submit by 15 November 2026. Before 11:59 pm Pacific time, which is 8:59 am on Monday 16 November in Nigeria. Send it by Saturday 14 November.
7. Send your school documents by 31 January 2027. When UBC writes to tell you what to send.
8. Watch your email for a video interview between January and March 2027. If you are invited, you have one week to record it.
9. Watch your email for the result. February to April 2027, with every decision out by mid-April.

The November date

15 November 2026, 11:59 pm Pacific time is the close for two things at once: your UBC application and your award form. In Nigeria that is 8:59 am on Monday 16 November. Your principal's and your teacher's forms are due "a few days before". This guide's dates for you: your principal and your teacher by Monday 9 November; you by Saturday 14 November.

Not 15 January 2027. That is UBC's ordinary deadline, and it is too late for this award.

The nomination ask

Your nomination comes from your own secondary school. UBC: "A high school or registered non-profit organization may nominate up to two students for UBC Vancouver (including Vantage College), and one student for UBC Okanagan." Your school can put forward at most two students for Vancouver this year, so ask this week, before your school has chosen.

Go to your principal (or your vice principal or guidance counsellor, whoever leads your school) this week, with a parent if you can. Take this guide or UBC's page on your phone. Ask in these words, or your own (say ma if your principal is a woman):

> "Good morning, sir. I am applying to the University of British Columbia in Canada for its International Scholars award, which is for top students whose families cannot pay. UBC asks my school to nominate me. A school can nominate up to two students for UBC's Vancouver campus, and one for its second campus, Okanagan. Will the school nominate me? If yes, UBC will send you a form by email from its scholarship system. It must be submitted a few days before 15 November 2026, so please can you submit it by Monday 9 November? I will also ask one of my teachers to be my teacher referee."

Then ask the teacher who teaches the subject closest to your degree: UBC wants "someone who is familiar with you and your work in your chosen area of study". The teacher and the principal must be two different people.

Before you send any invitation, UBC asks you to "Confirm that your high school is able to nominate you". When your principal says yes, write down his or her full name and the email address the form should go to, and the same for your teacher.

From today: what you can still finish

The work that takes longest is the work you do not control: your principal's yes and form, your teacher's form, and your parents' money papers. Your essays and your UBC application are in your own hands; each takes a few evenings. Each row below says what must be true for you to finish by 15 November 2026. Count the days from the day you read this to 15 November.

The three-day answer. If you open this guide with three days left, you cannot start anything that waits on someone else. A principal you ask today cannot be expected to submit in time, and your form cannot be completed without both forms in. You can finish only if both forms are already in, your UBC application is done, and your family's figures are in your hands. Then write your essays tonight and submit the same day if you can, and never later than Saturday 14 November.

What you need on your table. A phone or a laptop, data, an email address you check every day, your school results so far, and a parent who can sit with you for the money section. A laptop is easier for the long forms.

Part 1. Before you start

What the award is

UBC's International Scholars Program gives awards to students from outside Canada who are coming straight from secondary school, have top grades, have led or served in their communities, and need money to attend. In UBC's words, it is "for international students who have demonstrated leadership qualities, exceptional contributions to their communities, have outstanding academic performance, and require meaningful financial support to attend UBC."

There are four awards. You do not choose one. UBC: "You won't select which award you wish to receive when you submit your application"; its team considers you for each award you fit.

• The Karen McKellin International Leader of Tomorrow Award, for "superior academic achievement and exemplary leadership skills".
• The Donald A. Wehrung International Student Award, for students "from impoverished or war-torn areas ... who would be unable to attend university without significant financial assistance."
• The International Impact Award, for leadership on matters such as sustainability, social justice or health. "Priority is given to first generation learners and those from diverse lived backgrounds."
• The Vantage One Excellence Award, for strong students who do not yet meet UBC's English standard (below). Of this award only, UBC says: "The awards range in value up to the full cost of a student's academic program and living expenses."

What the award pays. UBC measures your need, not a fixed amount: "The financial need estimation is the amount that represents how much financial support you would require to live and study at UBC after all your resources have been accounted for." UBC's form works out what your family can put in (UBC calls it your family contribution) and how much help you need, on UBC's cost estimator. For the first three awards UBC's pages print no amount and no rule on what happens after first year. What each of the three pays and whether it continues: we cannot tell yet. So nobody can tell you that the award will cover everything, and you plan your family's money as Part 7 says until your award letter states the figure.

How many. UBC's page counts "680 + International Scholars since 2001" from "111 + countries". It is a small programme.

What the scholars say. "... it put an incredible financial burden off my family's shoulders and provided me with a strong support network ...", a scholar from Slovakia says on UBC's page. Scholars also get advisers, workshops and their own cohort: UBC promises "dedicated International Scholars Program advisors" and workshops and retreats.

The bodies you will deal with

UBC, the University of British Columbia, is the Canadian university you apply to. It decides your admission and your award.

Your nominator is the head or senior staff member of your secondary school who puts you forward to UBC: your principal, vice principal or guidance counsellor. UBC calls this person the nominator.

Your teacher referee is one of your teachers who writes for you on UBC's form. UBC calls this person the teacher referee.

EducationPlannerBC is the website where you fill and submit your UBC application. UBC: "To apply to UBC and most other BC post-secondary institutions, you'll use the EducationPlannerBC website."

The Applicant Service Centre is UBC's own page for your application after you submit it. UBC uses it to tell you what documents to send and to give you your offer.

UBC's scholarships site is where your award form lives (UBC Scholarships, built on a service called SurveyMonkey Apply). You register there, start the form, and send the invitations to your principal and your teacher from inside it.

IRCC, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, is the Canadian government department that decides your study permit.

The study permit is your permission to study in Canada. You apply online from Nigeria after UBC admits you. If IRCC approves it, you get a letter to show at the airport and a visa in your passport, and the permit itself is given to you when you land.

The attestation letter is a letter from the province of British Columbia, sent to you by UBC, that confirms there is a space for you. IRCC calls it the Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL). You need it for your study permit.

The visa application centre is where you give your fingerprints and photo for IRCC. In Nigeria there is one in Lagos and one in Abuja, run by a company called VFS Global.

A panel physician is a doctor on IRCC's own list who does the immigration medical exam.

Who this is for: the lines, and which one governs you

UBC's page lists the lines and says there are no exceptions. Where UBC's general admission rule and the award's rule differ, the award's stricter rule is the one you live under, and this guide gives you that one.

• You will study in Canada on a study permit, as an international student.
• You are going straight from secondary school into UBC, from "an accredited secondary school". If you finished in 2026 and have started a degree at a university since, this award is not for you: UBC's line is that you enter UBC directly from your secondary school.
• You finished secondary school in June 2026 or later. UBC: "Applicants for 2027 Winter session must have graduated from high school no earlier than June 2026." So this round is for this year's SS3 and for 2026 school leavers. If you finished in 2025, this round is not for you.
• It will be your first degree.
• Your grades are at the very top. UBC's line for the award is to "achieve all As or equivalent standard." For an ordinary place UBC says that "In past years, a combination of mainly B2 and B3 grades was required" from Nigerian students. The award asks far more than admission does, and the award's line is the one that governs you.
• Your family truly cannot pay. "It would be impossible for you to pursue a UBC degree without meaningful financial help", and "Your family is not able to afford a significant level of your educational costs and does not have access to external funding." UBC checks this with "documents outlining your family's gross income, expenses, family assets, etc."
• You meet UBC's English standard, or you go through Vantage One (below).
• Your degree is not one of the excluded ones: the Bachelor of Nursing (both campuses), Dental Hygiene, Medical Laboratory Science, the Bachelor plus Master of Management, dual degrees and joint degrees.
• If you will be under 17 on the day you travel, you must travel with a parent or have a custodian in Canada: a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who takes responsibility for you. If you will be 17 or 18, an officer can still ask for one. Decide with your parents now who that would be. A parent who travels with you needs a Canadian visitor visa of their own.

Your school's subjects. UBC's general line for Nigeria is "Graduation from a university-preparatory program at a senior secondary school: West African Senior School Certificate". Each degree adds its own subjects. Science asks "Math (SSC) (minimum grade of B2)" and "Physics and Chemistry (SSC)", with Physics waived "with grades of A1 in SSC Math and SSC Chemistry". Engineering (Applied Science) asks Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics. Commerce asks Mathematics. Arts asks no subject beyond general admission. If your first choice is Commerce at Vancouver, UBC's application also asks a video interview inside your personal profile, and some other degrees ask a supplemental application or more materials. Check your degree's line on UBC's admission page for Nigeria before you choose it.

English: four years of school in Nigeria, just before UBC

You do not need IELTS if you have had four years of full-time schooling in English in Nigeria just before UBC. UBC's first English option: "Complete four or more consecutive years of full-time education in English in a country other than Canada where English is the principal language. These four years must be immediately prior to attending UBC." Nigeria is on UBC's list of countries where English is the principal language. For an SS3 student that is SS1, SS2 and SS3 and the year before them.

If you finished secondary school in 2026 and are not in full-time school in English now, your four years are not immediately before UBC. Sit IELTS Academic and score 6.5 with no part below 6.0, early enough that UBC has your result by 31 January 2027. In Nigeria it costs ₦299,000 at a test centre (IDP Nigeria). You book it on IDP Nigeria's test dates page, opens in a new tab, and booking asks a scan or photo of your passport and a credit card. If you have no passport, apply for one this week: a fresh passport takes 42 days after you enrol (Stage 10). Book the earliest test date you can after your passport is in your hand.

If you have not had those four years in Nigeria or another country on the list, UBC takes a test. IELTS Academic must be "6.5, with no part less than 6.0", from a test sat on or after 1 January 2025, and the award needs your English met by 31 January 2027.

One programme or the other

If you apply for this award, UBC does not consider you for its other entrance awards, the ones that look only at grades and activities. UBC: "If you apply to the International Scholars Program, you will not be considered for merit-based awards." The other entrance awards are the International Major Entrance Scholarship (for 2026/2027 UBC valued it at CAD 10,000 to CAD 25,000 a year, about ₦9.49 million to ₦23.7 million) and the Outstanding International Student Award. Those are for families who can pay most of the cost. This guide walks the International Scholars Program, which is for a family that cannot.

Vantage One, if your English is not yet at UBC's level

Vantage One is UBC's first year with English teaching built in, for strong students who do not yet meet the English standard. It is "11-month" and leads into the second year of a degree in Arts, Science or Engineering. Its award, the Vantage One Excellence Award, is one of the four, and its form closes on the same 15 November 2026. Vantage One's own application closes on 15 January 2027, and its programme runs from September 2027 to July 2028. A Nigerian student with four years of schooling in English meets UBC's standard (above), so Vantage One is not the usual route for her.

What it costs you to apply, and who must never be paid

Applying costs your family UBC's fee of CAD 173.25 (about ₦164,000 at the rate of 20 October 2026). The award form itself has no fee on UBC's page.

Nobody needs to be paid to get you this award, and nobody can promise it. UBC's own page names no agent. For your UBC references, UBC says: "Neither referee should be a friend, family member, or paid agent." For your study permit, IRCC says: "You don't need to hire a representative!", and anyone you pay to advise you, to fill or submit your application, or to deal with IRCC for you must be authorised by Canada: "If you use an unauthorized representative, in Canada or abroad, we may return your application or refuse it." Help with scanning, uploading or translating your papers is not representing you. UBC's own international student advisers help admitted students with the study permit "free of charge". If anyone offers to "process" a UBC scholarship for money, walk away.

Part 2. The whole journey on one page

1. Check you fit, and choose your degree and campus (this week). Free.
2. Ask your principal for the nomination and a teacher to be your referee (this week). Free.
3. Apply to UBC on EducationPlannerBC, with your personal profile (the day your principal says yes). CAD 173.25, about ₦164,000.
4. Open your award form and invite your principal and your teacher (the day after step 3). Free.
5. Gather your family's money papers and write your four essays (from now to 14 November). Free.
6. Submit your award form (by Saturday 14 November in Nigeria; UBC's close is 15 November, 11:59 pm Pacific). Free.
7. Send your school documents when UBC asks (by 31 January 2027). Your school's transcript; your WAEC result when it is out.
8. The video interview, if you are invited (January to March 2027; one week to record). Free.
9. Your result, and your answer to UBC (results by mid-April 2027; answer by 1 May or 1 June 2027; residence application by 1 May 2027).
10. Your study permit (as soon as you accept: the attestation letter, the medical, the online application, biometrics in Lagos or Abuja, about 10 weeks). CAD 150 and CAD 85, about ₦142,000 and ₦81,000, plus the doctor's fee.
11. Travel to Vancouver, with the papers IRCC told you to carry (August to early September 2027).
12. Your first day: Jump Start, the orientation for students coming from secondary school, then the first day of classes in early September 2027.

Part 3. Stage by stage

Stage 1. Check you fit, and choose your degree and campus

Back to the short stages

Why. UBC says there are no exceptions to its lines, and an application from someone outside them uses up one of your school's two places for nothing. Your degree choice also decides which school subjects UBC looks for.

What you do.

1. Read "Who this is for" in Part 1 with a parent, line by line. Say yes or no to each.
2. If you finished secondary school before June 2026, stop: this round is not for you (Part 8).
3. If your family could pay a large part of the cost, this is not your award; UBC's grade-based entrance awards are the other route (Part 1).
4. Choose your first-choice degree and your second choice. Open UBC's admission page, choose Vancouver and Nigeria, and read the subjects your degree asks. Check that your SSCE subjects match.
5. Do not choose Nursing, Dental Hygiene or Medical Laboratory Science: the award does not cover them.

Where. UBC's International Scholars page, opens in a new tab and UBC's admission requirements for international high schools, opens in a new tab (choose Nigeria).

What you need in hand. Your school results so far (SS1, SS2 and SS3 first term), and a parent.

Cost and time. Free. One evening.

You are done when you have said yes to every line and written down your first and second degree choices.

What runs at the same time. Stage 2: see your principal the same week.

If it goes wrong. If one line is a no, do not go further this year: read Part 8. If you are not sure whether your family's need counts, UBC's line is that "It would be impossible for you to pursue a UBC degree without meaningful financial help." If that is true of your family, you fit it.

Stage 2. Ask your principal for the nomination, and a teacher to be your referee

Back to the short stages

Why. Without your school's nomination there is no award application. Your school can nominate at most two students for Vancouver and one for Okanagan, so ask this week, before the school has chosen.

What you do.

1. See your principal (or vice principal or guidance counsellor) this week, with a parent if you can. Use the words in "The nomination ask" above.
2. Ask one teacher of the subject closest to your degree to be your teacher referee. It must be a different person from your principal.
3. Write down each one's full name and email address. The forms come to them by email from UBC's scholarships site.
4. Tell both: your first-choice campus and degree, that UBC limits each school's nominations, and the date this guide gives them, Monday 9 November 2026.

UBC tells you to give them exactly these things: "You will send them an email asking for them to provide their recommendation (you'll need their contact information)", "Your first choice campus and program", "There is a limit of nominations for each campus", and that their forms "need to be completed and submitted a few days before November 15".

Where. Your school.

What you need in hand. UBC's page on your phone or printed; your results; your first-choice degree.

Cost and time. Free. A day or two for the principal's answer.

You are done when your principal and your teacher have both said yes and you have both email addresses.

What runs at the same time. Stage 3: start your UBC application and write your profile while you wait, but submit it and pay the fee only after your principal says yes. The fee is not refunded, so do not pay it before your school agrees to nominate you.

What opens next. Stage 4: once your UBC application is in, you send them the invitations.

If it goes wrong.

• Your school has already put forward two students for Vancouver. Ask whether it will nominate you for Okanagan (one place). Before you switch, check on UBC's admission page that your degree is taught at Okanagan; this guide's costs are for Vancouver. If not, this round is closed to you through your school: go to Part 8.
• Your principal has never heard of it. Show UBC's page. The school does not pay anything and does not write anything until UBC's email reaches it.
• Your school will not nominate anybody. UBC also takes a nomination from a registered non-profit, but only one that "acts as an educational institution in place of a high school" or runs a programme for school leavers "from less fortunate backgrounds", and UBC says this is "typically reserved for applicants applying from war-torn, politically unstable, or economically disadvantaged areas of the world where no other option for education exists." For most Nigerian students in school, the nomination is the school's.

Stage 3. Apply to UBC on EducationPlannerBC

Back to the short stages

Why. "You must have completed your admissions application to UBC before starting your award application. The award application will request confirmation of UBC application submission." This step must come before Stage 4.

What you do.

1. Open UBC's application on EducationPlannerBC and create your account.
2. Enter your first-choice and second-choice degrees. If you chose Commerce, record the video interview the profile asks; if your degree asks a supplemental application, do it too.
3. Enter every school you have attended. UBC: "Tell us your full academic history."
4. Write your personal profile (below). Write it in a document first, then paste it in: UBC warns the online application "can sometimes time out if left open for too long".
5. Give the names of two referees for your profile. One must be a school official, and one must be able to speak to the activity you wrote most about. Your principal and your teacher can be these two if that is true of them. Neither may be a friend, a family member or a paid agent. They do nothing now: UBC writes to them itself, after offers of admission have gone out.
6. Use an email address you check every day. "Once you have submitted your application, UBC will communicate with you primarily by email."
7. Submit and pay the fee. "Once you have submitted your application to UBC, you will not be able to edit it."
8. Write down your UBC student number. You need it for every message to UBC.

Your personal profile. UBC asks school leavers short answers of "500 - 2100 characters, approximately 50 - 500 words" each: who you are, what is important to you and why, up to five activities (clubs, family or community duties, arts, work, sports, volunteering, service), more on one or two of them, and anything about your school record. UBC reads them for "Engagement and accomplishment", "Leadership", "Substance" and "Voice". Your duties at home count: UBC's own example is "taking care of a younger sibling". Mind each question's character limit; an answer over it "will get cut off".

Where. UBC's online application, opens in a new tab (it opens EducationPlannerBC). UBC's page on the application, opens in a new tab and on the personal profile, opens in a new tab.

What you need in hand. Your passport details if you have a passport (you need one later, see Stage 10; if you finished school in 2026 and are not in school now, you need it now for the English test), your school's name and address, your results so far, your two referees' names and contacts, your profile answers, and a card that can pay CAD 173.25 online.

Paying the fee. You pay UBC's fee on EducationPlannerBC by card, at the very end, when you submit. EducationPlannerBC says all schools take a Visa or Mastercard credit card, and very few take a debit card. If your family has no credit card, a prepaid credit card that holds the fee and its own charges can work. Before the day, ask your parents' bank whether the card can pay a school in Canada online. Type the billing address exactly as your bank holds it, and finish the payment within 5 minutes of opening the page. Your application is not submitted until you see the confirmation.

Cost. CAD 173.25, about ₦164,000 at the rate of 20 October 2026. UBC: "pay the non-refundable fee." UBC's application page names no fee waiver.

How long. Two or three evenings, most of it the profile.

You are done when UBC's application shows submitted and paid, and you have your UBC student number.

What runs at the same time. Stage 5: your parents gather their papers.

What opens next. Stage 4, the award form, the same or the next day.

If it goes wrong. If the card fails, try a credit card or a prepaid card. If your bank shows the money taken but your application is not submitted, that is a hold, and an international card's hold can last 30 days or more; do not pay twice before you check. If no card works by Friday 6 November, write to UBC at international.awards@ubc.ca with your full name the same day, so the fee does not stop your award form. If you spot a mistake after submitting, you cannot edit the application; write to UBC with your student number.

What Nigerian students ask. Nigerian students asking about this award online in 2025 and 2026 asked whether it is for a master's too, whether the fee can be waived, and whether UBC or their own school nominates them. It is for a first degree, the fee is paid, and the nomination is your school's.

Stage 4. Open your award form and invite your principal and your teacher

Back to the short stages

Why. Your principal and your teacher fill their forms inside UBC's scholarships site, and they get them only through your invitation. "The applicant is responsible for initiating the award application, requesting a nomination from your institution, requesting a teacher referee, collecting the required information, and submitting your completed application by the deadline."

What you do.

1. Open the 2027 International Scholars Program Application on UBC's scholarships site and register.
2. Before anything else, set the time zone in your settings to Pacific time. UBC: "make sure the time zone in your application setting is set up as Pacific Time (PCT)." Once you set the form to Pacific time, add nine hours to any November time it shows.
3. Go to your tasks, click "Nomination form", then "Request a Recommendation", enter your principal's name and email, and send the request. Do the same for your teacher.
4. Tell both that the email has gone, and ask them to check their spam folder. UBC: "Follow up with them to make sure they've received the invitation."
5. Start your own sections under "Application form".

Where. UBC Scholarships, 2027 International Scholars Program Application, opens in a new tab.

What you need in hand. Your UBC application submitted (Stage 3), and your principal's and teacher's emails.

Cost and time. Free. One sitting to register and send the two requests.

You are done when both invitations are sent and both have told you they received them.

What runs at the same time. Stage 5.

What opens next. Their two forms, which must be in before you can finish yours. Remind them on Thursday 5 November and again on Monday 9 November.

If it goes wrong. If a request does not arrive, check the email address and send it again from your tasks. If your principal or teacher cannot use the form, the technical help is through SurveyMonkey Apply's help page, linked on the form. For a question about the programme or the nomination, write to UBC at international.awards@ubc.ca with your full name.

Stage 5. Gather your family's money papers, and write your four essays

Back to the short stages

Why. The award follows your family's need, so the form asks the money in detail, and UBC checks it: "As part of our evaluation process, we do a financial assessment. This includes reviewing documents outlining your family's gross income, expenses, family assets, etc." The essays are where UBC meets you as a person.

What the form asks (UBC's list): "Annual income and expenses"; "Family wealth and assets"; "Dependents and annual school fees" (your brothers' and sisters' school fees count); "Sources of financial support"; your family contribution and need, worked out on UBC's cost estimator; your activities; your awards; and "4 essay questions (approximately 150-250 words)".

What your parents do.

1. List the family's yearly income: salaries, business income, rent, anything that comes in.
2. List the yearly costs: rent, food, transport, school fees for every child, support for relatives.
3. List what the family owns: land, a house, a car, savings.
4. Gather the papers behind each figure: payslips or an employer's letter, business records, tax papers, bank statements that print clearly.
5. Open UBC's cost estimator together and enter your degree and the costs (Part 7). The figure the estimator gives is what UBC compares with what your family can pay.

What you do. Write four short essays, one story each. People who did it wrote online in 2025 that the best answers do not list activities again but "focus on one meaningful experience and reflect on how it helped shape who you are", and that "It's not about how prestigious your activities are, it's about the impact you've made."

Where. Inside your award form; UBC's cost estimator, opens in a new tab.

What you need in hand. Your parents' figures and papers; your essays drafted in a document.

Cost and time. Free. The papers take your parents most of a week; the essays a few evenings. Start both today.

You are done when every money question has a figure your parents can prove, and your four essays are written.

What runs at the same time. Stages 3 and 4.

If it goes wrong. If a figure is not on paper (cash income from a shop or a farm), write the best figure your parents can stand behind, and gather what proof exists. UBC asks for official documents, so for cash income gather the most formal proof there is: the business's registration, a bank account the takings pass through, the shop's receipts and tax papers. Never make a paper up. The Canadian government refuses false documents with "possible ban from Canada for 5-years", and UBC may "withdraw an offer of admission" over untrue information.

People who did it wrote online. Nigerian families whose Canadian study permits were refused in 2025 and 2026 wrote that the officer could not read or trace their papers: a father's "bank statement is illegible", a mother's statement whose "provenance has not been well documented" (2026), "I didn't properly show the source of funds" (2025). Those were study permit files, not this award, but the lesson is the same: clear papers, and a source for every naira.

Stage 6. Submit your award form by 15 November

Back to the short stages

What you do.

1. Check that both your principal's and your teacher's forms show as submitted. Until they do, your form cannot be completed.
2. Read every section once with a parent.
3. Submit by Saturday 14 November in Nigeria.

The hour. UBC's close is "Nov 15 2026 11:59 PM (PST)": Sunday 15 November at 11:59 pm Pacific time, which is 8:59 am on Monday 16 November in Nigeria. In November, Vancouver's clock is nine hours behind Nigeria's.

You are done when the form shows submitted. Keep a screenshot.

What opens next. Waiting for UBC's "Next Steps" email (Stage 7).

Stage 7. Send your school documents by 31 January 2027

Back to the short stages

Why. UBC must admit you before it can give you an award, and it cannot judge your admission without your documents. "We cannot proceed with your International Scholars Program application if documents or other requirements needed for admission to UBC are missing."

What you do.

1. Look for UBC's email titled "Your UBC Application - Next Steps", "Several weeks after you apply". It says which documents to send and how. Do not send anything before it: "UBC will only review requested documents."
2. Your date is 31 January 2027, not the date in that email: "As a UBC International Scholars Program applicant, your document deadline is January 31 and not the date listed in the "Your UBC Application - Next Steps" email."
3. Ask your school now for its transcript of your results so far (SS1, SS2 and SS3 to date), signed and stamped. UBC reads "your grades in all Grade 11 (junior level) and Grade 12 (senior level) classes", and asks international students still in school for "transcripts which show courses in progress".
4. Send what UBC asks for as it asks. You upload a copy yourself. An official copy must go from your school straight to UBC (by email, through a delivery service, or by post to UBC's Undergraduate Admissions), never through you.
5. If you are a 2026 leaver, your WAEC result is out: send it as UBC asks. If UBC asks for WAEC to confirm your result to it directly, WAEC charges ₦39,000 per result for an overseas institution plus a ₦13,000 scratch card and the courier's charge (the courier sets it; the approved couriers have agents inside the WAEC office), and sends it straight to the university. WAEC also asks a copy of your result, a sworn affidavit from a court, two passport photographs and two 9x4 envelopes.

Your WAEC result, if you are in SS3 now. You will sit WASSCE in 2027, after this date. UBC's page answers this: "If your required transcripts/ high school academic certificates are not available by January 31, submit them as soon as they are available." Your offer, if one comes, will name the date for your final result. UBC's pages give two dates for students like you: its documents page says final transcripts by 30 June 2027 for a student still in school, and its dates page says 25 July 2027 for applicants outside Canada, "Please check your letter of admission for curriculum-specific deadlines." By 30 June 2027, send UBC whatever final papers your school can give, as UBC's email says. When your offer comes, read its date for your final result. When WAEC will release the 2027 school results: we cannot tell yet. If your letter's date may come before WAEC's release, write to UBC the day you read it, with your student number, and ask: may I send my WAEC result the day it is released? The answer tells you whether your offer waits for it.

Your English. It must be met by 31 January 2027. If you are in SS3 now, your school transcript shows your four years. If you finished school in 2026 and are not in full-time school in English now, your transcript does not meet it: your IELTS Academic result must be with UBC by 31 January 2027, sent as UBC's email asks. If UBC's email asks for more proof, send it as asked.

Where. UBC's Applicant Service Centre, and UBC's page on submitting documents, opens in a new tab.

Cost and time. Your school's transcript fee, if it charges one (your school sets it). "It will take 4 to 6 weeks for us to process your documents", and UBC counts the date you sent them.

You are done when the Applicant Service Centre shows every requested document received.

If it goes wrong. If a document will be late, send it "as soon as" it exists and write to international.awards@ubc.ca with your full name. If your school is slow, ask in early December, not late January.

Stage 8. The video interview, if you are invited

Back to the short stages

What happens. "Applicants may be invited to complete a video interview. You will have one week to complete this step and record your video responses using the online application platform." It comes between January and March 2027. Not everyone is invited.

What you do.

1. Check your email and your spam folder every week from December. UBC: "Check your spam filters and ensure all UBC email addresses are marked as safe."
2. When it comes, record within the week, in a quiet room with good light and steady data. A laptop is easier than a phone.
3. Talk about yourself as your essays did: what you have done, what you learned, what you want to study and why. UBC says the interview is "the opportunity to share more about who you are as a student and reflect on past educational and leadership experiences".

Cost and time. Free. One week from the invitation.

You are done when the platform shows your video submitted.

If it goes wrong. If your data or light fails, use a school, a relative's home or a business centre with steady internet within the week. Do not wait for the last day.

Stage 9. Your result, and your answer to UBC

Back to the short stages

What happens. "Results will be released on a rolling basis throughout the months of February - April. By early- to mid-April, we will let you know if you have received an award." UBC makes admission decisions for school leavers "on a continuous basis" from November 2026 to June 2027, so your offer of admission may come before or after your award result.

If you receive an award.

1. Read the award letter with your parents: what it pays, for how long, and its conditions. You will need it for your study permit: IRCC's office for Nigeria asks that a scholarship "must be presented on official letterhead stating the full amount of the award, its duration and any governing conditions".
2. Accept your offer of admission in the Applicant Service Centre by your date: "May 1, 2027 or June 1, 2027", as your letter says. Accepting also asks a deposit. The 2027 deposit for a student on a study permit is not yet printed: we cannot tell yet. Last year UBC asked students on a study permit for CAD 3,000 (about ₦2.85 million).
3. Apply for a room in UBC's residence. UBC tells scholars to "wait until our award decisions are released before applying for residence. The deadline to apply for housing is May 1."

If you do not receive an award. You may still hold an offer of admission. Without the award your family pays the full cost (Part 7), and the study permit asks proof that you can pay it. If your family cannot, do not accept and do not pay a deposit. Read Part 8 for next year.

You are done when you have accepted your offer and the award, and applied for residence.

What opens next. Stage 10, the study permit, the same week: UBC says "apply for a study permit as soon as you accept your offer of admission."

Stage 10. Your study permit

Back to the short stages

Why. You cannot study in Canada without it. "You should not travel to Canada until your study permit is approved."

The order.

1. Check your name and details at UBC. In the Applicant Service Centre, make sure "your name matches the name on your passport" and your date of birth is right. To change a name or date of birth, write to ubc.pal@ubc.ca.
2. Get your attestation letter. A bachelor's student needs one: IRCC's list of who does not need one names master's and doctoral programmes, not a bachelor's. "In most cases, you need to accept your offer and pay your tuition fees, either in part or in full, to get your PAL/TAL." UBC sends it "in about 3 business days".
3. Download your letter of admission from the Applicant Service Centre.
4. Do your medical exam before you apply. Nigeria is on IRCC's list, so a stay of more than six months needs a medical. "You should get your medical exam before you apply. This is called an upfront medical exam." It must be done by a doctor on IRCC's list of panel physicians: "Your own doctor can't do the medical exam." The result is "valid for 12 months from the day you get it" and must still be valid the day you enter Canada.
5. Apply online. "If you're applying for a study permit, you must apply online". You need a scanner or phone camera for your papers and "a valid credit or debit card"; "The card you use does not have to be in your name."
6. Pay the fees when you apply: the study permit CAD 150 (about ₦142,000) and biometrics CAD 85 (about ₦81,000).
7. Give your fingerprints and photo at the visa application centre in Lagos or Abuja within 30 days of IRCC's letter: "You have 30 days to do this from the date on the letter."
8. Wait. IRCC's figure for a study permit from Nigeria was 10 weeks, last updated 21 October 2026.
9. Send your passport when IRCC asks. Once you are approved, IRCC asks for your original passport, and the visa goes into it.

Your papers (IRCC's lists, and the Lagos visa office's own checklist for a study permit, IMM 5832, used "in conjunction with the IMM 5483 Document Checklist for a Study Permit"):

• Your letter of acceptance and your attestation letter, each in its own space in the application. IRCC: "Only attach your LOA in the LOA-specific space".
• A passport "valid for at least 6 months", and "Previous passports showing travel history". A Nigerian passport of 32 pages and 5 years costs ₦100,000, and a fresh one takes "42 days after Successful Enrolment" (Nigeria Immigration Service). If you have none, apply as soon as your family decides you are going. If you are under 18, the passport office also asks your National Population Commission birth certificate, a letter of consent from one parent, proof that your parent is Nigerian, and your photo signed on the back by that parent. If you have no NPC birth certificate, get it first.
• "Two recent passport photographs".
• Your school results: "Present academic standing (up-to-date transcripts); WAEC,SSCE or NECO results", and "the street name and address of ALL previous educational institutions that you attended".
• Your award letter on UBC's letterhead with its full amount, duration and conditions.
• Proof of money for whatever the award does not cover (below).
• A letter in your own words of why you want to study in Canada ("Recommended").
• Your medical exam result.
• If you are under 17 when you travel, a custodian's declaration (below).

Proof of money. IRCC asks proof that you can pay "tuition fees", "living expenses" and "transportation to and from Canada", without working. For one person applying from 1 September 2026, the living figure is CAD 23,448 a year (about ₦22.3 million), on top of tuition and travel. Your award letter counts, and "If your scholarship only covers tuition, you must provide other documents proving you have sufficient funds to cover living expenses and transportation costs." Where your parents show money, the Lagos visa office asks "certified bank statements or financial investments with past six months' history including your submission month or ending one month prior", and "a reliable source of funds for the duration of your academic program". It also takes "a MyBankStatement ticket issued by your financial institution, which should contain both a ticket ID and a passcode". Money from a business needs "official business registration documents along with evidence of ownership". Money from someone other than a parent needs "proof of relationship and an explanation".

If you are under 19. In British Columbia you are a minor until 19. "Minor children under the age of 17 must either come with their parent or legal guardian or have a custodian in Canada": a custodian is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who takes responsibility for you, appointed on IRCC's Custodianship Declaration form (IMM 5646), one page signed by the custodian and notarised in Canada, the other signed by your parents and notarised in Nigeria. From 17 a custodian "is optional ... but an officer can request one". And for any minor, "A parent or legal guardian will sign for a minor child." UBC's admitted page says "Special instructions apply if: You are under 19 years of age." What UBC's own instructions for a student under 19 say: we cannot tell yet. If you will be 16 when you travel, you need either a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who agrees to be your custodian, or a parent who comes with you; a parent who comes needs a Canadian visitor visa of their own. Ask UBC's international student advisers as soon as your offer comes.

Where. IRCC's study permit: how to apply, opens in a new tab (choose Outside Canada, Apply online, Nigeria); IRCC's proof of financial support, opens in a new tab; UBC's study permit page, opens in a new tab; the Lagos visa office checklist (IMM 5832), opens in a new tab; the visa application centres in Lagos and Abuja (IRCC's where to give your biometrics, opens in a new tab). The centres' addresses and how to book: we cannot tell yet.

Free help. UBC "offers complimentary study permit concierge services", and its international student advisers "can help you through applying for study permits, free of charge."

Cost. CAD 150 (about ₦142,000) and CAD 85 (about ₦81,000) to IRCC; the panel physician's fee, paid to the doctor at the medical (the doctor sets it); your passport, if you need one (₦100,000).

How long. About 10 weeks from your biometrics on IRCC's figure. People who did it wrote online in 2026 that for some of them the wait ran past IRCC's figure, so apply in May, not August.

You are done when IRCC's letter of introduction is in your account and your passport is back with the visa in it. "This letter is not your study permit." You get the permit itself at the airport in Canada.

If it goes wrong.

• Refused. IRCC's letter gives the reason ("We may refuse your application if you don't have a valid letter of acceptance, show proof that you have enough money"). Fix that reason before you apply again. A new application may need a new attestation letter from UBC.
• The wait runs into August. Tell UBC at once. To defer, you need UBC's approval and an updated letter of acceptance, sent to IRCC.
• Never buy a paper. "False statements or submission of fraudulent documents will result in immediate refusal and possible ban from Canada for 5-years."

People who did it wrote online. In 2025 and 2026, Nigerian applicants reported files held up by a missing or wrong attestation letter (one uploaded a friend's), by a parent's consent letter put in the wrong space, and by money whose source was not shown. Put each paper in its own space, and show where every sum came from.

Stage 11. Travel to Vancouver

Back to the short stages

What you do.

1. Book your flight once the visa is in your passport. "Do not finalize travel plans unless you have received your visa."
2. Register for Jump Start, UBC's orientation for students coming straight from secondary school. UBC's registration deadline for Vancouver is late June 2027. Last year it ran over three days just before classes and cost CAD 75 plus tax (about ₦71,000), and CAD 276 plus tax (about ₦262,000) more for early move-in and meals for students in residence, charged when they accepted their room. UBC offered a CAD 200 subsidy (about ₦190,000) to students who could not take part without help. The 2027 figures are not yet printed.
3. Put these in your hand luggage, in one folder: your passport with the visa; IRCC's "port of entry letter of introduction"; "a copy of a valid letter of acceptance from your school"; your award letter, your attestation letter and the money papers you used; your medical result; "letters of reference or any other documents the visa office told you to bring".
4. Arrive before Jump Start. IRCC: "There is no set time frame for you to arrive in Canada before you begin your studies."

At the airport in Canada. A border officer checks your papers and gives you your study permit. People who did it wrote online in late 2025 that officers asked for the letter of introduction, the acceptance letter, the attestation letter and who was paying, so carry them where you can reach them.

Cost. Your flight. Read your award letter for whether the award pays it; until you know, keep the fare in your family's plan.

You are done when you hold your study permit and you are in Vancouver.

Stage 12. Your first day at UBC

Back to the short stages

What happens. In early September 2027: "Move-in day." if you live in residence, "Jump Start Vancouver orientation for all first-year students coming to UBC from high school", and the "First day of classes." The first instalment of tuition falls due in early September; read your award letter for what the award pays and how.

You have arrived when you sit in your first class at UBC, a Scholar with a cohort and advisers of your own.

The first weeks. "You are not allowed to work on or off campus until you begin your studies in Canada." Last year UBC charged students on a study permit for a temporary health plan when they registered for courses (CAD 237 plus a CAD 10.54 billing fee, about ₦235,000). British Columbia's law then required the provincial plan for a student with no other medical cover (CAD 75 a month, about ₦71,000). Ask your International Scholars Program advisers in the first week what the award covers of these.

Part 4. What can stop you

Your dates

What stops people, and what you do

• Working to 15 January. It is the general date. Yours is 15 November.
• Asking the school too late. Your school has two places for Vancouver. Ask this week.
• Starting the award form before applying to UBC. You cannot. Apply to UBC first.
• A principal or teacher who does not submit. Your form cannot be completed without both. Send the invitations early and follow up.
• Money papers that cannot be read or traced. Clear copies; a source for every figure; nothing made up.
• Applying for the wrong award. This one is for a family that cannot pay. UBC considers you for one programme or the other.
• Choosing an excluded degree. Nursing, Dental Hygiene and Medical Laboratory Science are not covered.
• Finishing school before June 2026. This round is not yours.
• Missing the 31 January documents. UBC cannot go on without them.
• Leaving the study permit to August. Apply the week you accept.
• Paying an agent. Nobody can get you this award for money, and IRCC may return or refuse an application made through an unauthorised paid representative.

Part 5. If you already did some of this

• You already applied to UBC this cycle. Go to Stage 4 today: open your award form, invite your principal and teacher, and finish by 14 November.
• You applied to UBC without knowing about the award, and it is after 15 November. This round is closed for the award. Your UBC application stands, and you are considered for UBC's grade-based entrance awards instead (Part 8).
• Your school already nominated two other students for Vancouver. Ask for Okanagan's one place, or read Part 8.
• You finished SS3 in 2026 and already hold your WAEC result. You fit the date line. Your WAEC result is one of the documents UBC will ask for by 31 January (Stage 7). Unless you are in full-time school in English now, you also need IELTS Academic by 31 January 2027 (Part 1, English).
• You have an offer and an award. Go to Stage 10 the same week.
• You have an offer and no award. Read Stage 9, "If you do not receive an award".

Part 6. The time, stage by stage

• Stage 1, check you fit and choose your degree: one evening.
• Stage 2, the nomination and the teacher: a day or two for the yes; their forms by 9 November.
• Stage 3, apply to UBC: two or three evenings.
• Stage 4, the award form and the invitations: one sitting.
• Stage 5, money papers and essays: most of a week for the papers, a few evenings for the essays.
• Stage 6, submit: by 14 November in Nigeria.
• Stage 7, documents: by 31 January 2027; UBC takes 4 to 6 weeks to process them.
• Stage 8, the video interview: one week from the invitation, January to March 2027.
• Stage 9, the result and your answer: by mid-April 2027; accept by 1 May or 1 June 2027.
• Stage 10, the study permit: about 10 weeks on IRCC's figure for Nigeria, plus the medical and the attestation letter before it.
• Stage 11, travel: once the visa is in your passport.
• Stage 12, your first day: early September 2027.

Part 7. The money, all of it

Every naira figure is at ₦949 to the Canadian dollar, the rate of 20 October 2026.

Money that comes before the award pays anything. Your family may need: the application fee; the IELTS fee, if you need it; the acceptance deposit (last year CAD 3,000, about ₦2.85 million; this year's is not printed yet); any part of tuition UBC asks before it sends your attestation letter; the permit and biometrics fees; the medical; the passport; and the flight. Your award letter states the award's full amount, how long it lasts and its conditions. Read it for which of these it pays before you accept.

What your family pays to apply and to travel.

What a year at UBC costs (UBC's cost estimator for the Vancouver campus, an international student's first year; UBC prints no year beside the figures and calls them "current estimates"):

A single room in residence is CAD 7,935 for the year (about ₦7.53 million) and a shared room CAD 6,376 (about ₦6.05 million); the meal plan is CAD 7,712 (about ₦7.32 million).

One year of Arts, living in a single room in residence with the meal plan, comes to about CAD 70,757 on UBC's figures (about ₦67.1 million): tuition, student fees, books, the room and the meals. The visa officer asks for a different sum: your tuition, plus CAD 23,448 for living (about ₦22.3 million), plus your fare. Your award letter counts towards it. IRCC's living figure is its own measure, so do not add UBC's room and meals on top of it.

What the award pays. UBC works out your need "after all your resources have been accounted for". For the Vantage One Excellence Award UBC says awards "range in value up to the full cost of a student's academic program and living expenses". For the other three awards: we cannot tell yet. Your award letter states your figure; plan nothing beyond it until you hold it.

Part 8. If the window has closed: the closed plan

After 15 November 2026 at 11:59 pm Pacific time (8:59 am on 16 November in Nigeria), nothing can be added to this year's award round. If your row in "From today" sent you here before the close, this part is yours.

What is still open this year. UBC's ordinary application for September 2027 stays open to 15 January 2027. If you apply by then and are not nominated for this award, UBC considers you for its grade-based entrance awards: the International Major Entrance Scholarship (CAD 10,000 to CAD 25,000 a year for 2026/2027, about ₦9.49 million to ₦23.7 million) and the Outstanding International Student Award. They do not look at need, and UBC says they "do not cover the full cost of education", so they serve a family that can pay most of the cost. Vantage One's own application also closes on 15 January 2027.

When the next round opens. UBC's page has not printed the 2028 round's dates or its school-leaving line (updated on 28 October 2026). This year the form opened on 5 October 2026 and UBC's suggested start was mid-September. This year's line counted from June 2026; whether a student who finished in 2026 can apply next year, no page says yet.

If you are in SS3 now and missed this round. The ordinary application, open to 15 January 2027, is for a family that can pay most of the cost, so do not pay its fee unless yours can. UBC has not yet said who can apply in the next round. Watch UBC's International Scholars page from August 2027 (Stage C7). If the next round takes students who finished school in June 2027, go back to Stage C1 with your WAEC result in your hand.

Do these stages now, in this order, if you are in SS2 or will finish school in time for the next round.

Stage C1. Check your fit for the next round

Back to the short stages

Do. Read Part 1, "Who this is for", against your own results and your family's money. Look at your degree's subjects for Nigeria on UBC's admission page and make sure your SS3 subjects include them. You are done when you know your first-choice degree and that your subjects fit it.

Stage C2. Keep your grades at the top

Back to the short stages

Do. The award's line is "achieve all As or equivalent standard", and UBC reads your grades in your last two years of school. Every term counts.

Stage C3. Build your record outside class

Back to the short stages

Do. UBC looks for "leadership" and "exceptional contributions to their communities". Lead something, serve someone, and keep a note of what you did and what you learned, with dates. Duties at home count. You are done when you have five activities you can write about and one story for each.

Stage C4. Speak to your principal early

Back to the short stages

Do. In the first weeks of your final year, ask your principal whether the school will nominate you, before anyone else asks. UBC's own suggested month for this talk is late September.

Stage C5. Let your parents keep their papers

Back to the short stages

Do. Your parents keep a year of payslips or business records, tax papers and clear bank statements, and the family's costs and school fees, so the money section takes days, not weeks.

Stage C6. Get your passport

Back to the short stages

Do. A fresh Nigerian passport takes 42 days after enrolment and costs ₦100,000 for 32 pages and 5 years. You will need it for the study permit. Under 18, you also need your National Population Commission birth certificate, a letter of consent from one parent, proof that your parent is Nigerian, and your photo signed on the back by that parent.

Stage C7. Watch for the next round

Back to the short stages

Do. Open UBC's International Scholars page every month from August, and every week from September. You are done when the next round opens and you go back to "From today" with your school's yes already in your hand.

UBC's and IRCC's pages in this part were updated on 28 October 2026.

"You don't need to hire a representative!" (IRCC, updated on 28 October 2026). UBC's international student advisers help admitted students with the study permit "free of charge" (UBC, updated on 28 October 2026).