Academic Awards

Faculty Medals

Faculty medals are awarded annually by each faculty to the student graduating from an undergraduate program who has achieved the highest cumulative GPA in the courses required for their degree, as approved by the dean of the faculty. To be considered, students must have completed at least half the course requirements at Ontario Tech and have achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher.

Outstanding Thesis Awards

Outstanding Thesis Awards recognize a student graduating from a thesis-based master's program and a student from a thesis-based doctoral program whose thesis has made, or is expected to make, a significant contribution to their field of study. To be considered, students must meet the following criteria:

• Cumulative GPA of 3.7 or higher.
• Received an outcome of Acceptable without Required Revisions or Acceptable with Minor Revisions at their thesis defense.
• No academic offenses on their record.

Governor General's Academic Medals

The Governor General's Academic Medal was first awarded in 1873 by the Earl of Dufferin, and has since become one of the most prestigious awards a student in a Canadian educational institution can receive. The Governor General of Canada continues the tradition of encouraging scholarship across the nation and recognizing outstanding students. The medals are known as the Governor General's Academic Medals and are awarded only for academic excellence at four levels: 

• Bronze at the secondary school level.
• Collegiate Bronze at the post-secondary, diploma level.
• Silver at the undergraduate level.
• Gold at the graduate level.

To maintain a spirit of universality across the country, the directives were designed to ensure the medals are awarded on academic marks only, regardless of the more intangible qualities of students' lives, such as good citizenship, moral behaviour or popularity. Students cannot jointly be awarded one medal.

Gold Medal

The Gold Medal is awarded annually to the student graduating from a graduate-level program who has achieved the highest cumulative grade point average (GPA) in the courses required for the degree. To be considered, students must have a cumulative GPA of 3.8 or higher. No application is required; eligible students will automatically be considered upon successful conferral of degree and the final decision will be approved by the University Registrar.

Silver Medal

The Silver Medal is awarded annually to the student graduating from an undergraduate program who has achieved the highest cumulative grade point average (GPA) in the courses required for the degree. To be considered, students must have completed a minimum of 60 credit hours at the university and achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.8 or higher. No application is required; eligible students will automatically be considered upon successful conferral of degree and the final decision will be approved by the University Registrar.