Norshield Financial Group, a manager of fund-of-hedge funds, on Wednesday announced that it has established undergraduate scholarships, based on excellence, for third- and or fourth-year students majoring in Finance at the University of Toronto and University of Western Ontario.

In addition to these two universities, the program also includes four other Canadian institutions: HEC Montréal, Université du Québec à Montréal, McGill University and the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University.

The scholarships will be offered beginning in the 2003-2004 academic year and will carry an annual value of $5,000 each.

“We believe that this social and financial investment is vital to the continued evolution of our society as well as to the success of tomorrow’s generation of leaders. These scholarships stem directly from Norshield’s ongoing goal of investing in the education of our youth,” said John Xanthoudakis, chairman of Norshield Financial Group.

Norshield, based in Montreal, considers these scholarships as a way to contribute to the development of the alternative investment field in Canada.

Xanthoudakis also explained that Norshield is committed to establishing similar scholarships at major universities in other provinces across Canada.