The Merit Scholarship Program for Foreign Students (PBEEE) is run by the Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ) on behalf of Quebec’s higher-education ministry. Its goal is to attract top international students and researchers to Quebec’s universities and internationalize the province’s research.
It funds four kinds of work: a master’s research scholarship, a doctoral research scholarship, a one-year postdoctoral scholarship, and a short-term research or professional-development stay. You do not apply to the FRQ directly first — a Quebec university, the CCTT college-research network, or the China Scholarship Council must preselect you, and only then do you file with the FRQ.
Benefits & funding
- Master’s research (component VM): CA$20,000 per year, up to CA$40,000 total (max 6 sessions).
- Doctoral research (V1 and country variants): CA$25,000 per year for the first 9 sessions, then CA$12,000 for the final sessions — up to CA$87,000 over a maximum of 12 sessions.
- Postdoctoral (V2 and variants): CA$35,000 for one year (12 months).
- Short-term research / professional development (V3 and variants): CA$3,000 per month, up to CA$12,000 for a maximum of 4 months.
- Recipients are also exempted from the higher tuition fees normally charged to foreign students, and receive medical-insurance coverage.
- Country-specific streams exist alongside the open “all-countries” awards: Quebec–Brazil, Quebec–China, Quebec–India, Quebec–Israel and Quebec–Wallonia components.
Eligibility
- Open to applicants who are NOT Canadian citizens or permanent residents, and who have not applied for Canadian permanent residence.
- No nationality is barred and no single country is required — the country-specific streams are additional routes, not restrictions on the open competition.
- You must be preselected by a Quebec university, the CCTT network, or the China Scholarship Council before applying to the FRQ.
- Degree stage caps by component: master’s applicants no more than about one year (three full-time semesters) into their program; doctoral applicants within their first nine semesters; postdoctoral applicants who completed the doctorate no more than two years before the deadline; short-term applicants who completed a doctorate no more than five years before the deadline.
- No age limit is stated. Documents in a language other than French or English must include a basic translation.
Can you apply?
Here's who can apply
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Education required
Bachelor · Master · PhD
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Application process
- 1Secure preselection from a Quebec university, the CCTT network, or the China Scholarship Council (each sets its own internal deadline, earlier than the FRQ deadline).
- 2Create an account in the FRQnet portal.
- 3Complete the online application form and attach the required supporting documents.
- 4Submit to the FRQ by the competition deadline (the 2026-2027 cycle closed December 2, 2025 at 16:00 EST).
- 5The FRQ verifies eligibility, then multidisciplinary committees of professors and researchers evaluate applications; results are announced at the end of April, and recipients confirm within 30 days.
Program timeline
Institutional preselection deadline (general streams) for the 2026-2027 cycle
Oct 23, 2025
FRQ application deadline, 16:00 EST (2026-2027 cycle)
Dec 2, 2025
Preselection deadline for the China Scholarship Council stream
Mar 31, 2026
Results announced
2026-04 (end of April)
Window within which the scholarship period must begin
May 1, 2026 to Jan 15, 2027