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M.Sc. / M.A.Sc.
Students are expected to
complete their degree within two years,
unless they make a direct transfer to the Ph.D. program. Upon arrival
at UBC, you will have up to 4 months to select a supervisor. You should
use this time to investigate the wide range of research opportunities
within the department, meet with individual faculty members, and choose
a supervisor. The supervisor must be a full-time Member
of the Faculty of Graduate Studies
(FoGS), or be approved by the
Dean to co-supervise graduate students. In the latter case an academic
co-supervisor is also required, who is a full-time member of
FoGS.
Full-time Professors, Associate Professors and Assistant Professors are
members of FoGS. Adjunct Professors, Associate Members, Research
Scientists, and others are not and therefore require
approval. Please
consult with the Graduate
Advisor if you are uncertain
about the status of your proposed
supervisor.
Normally, at least 12 credits
of coursework are completed during the
first year, with the remaining courses and thesis being completed
during the second year.
Masters students must give a
public presentation of the results of
their research. Normally this is done at a department seminar, but a
conference presentation may also be acceptable.
The thesis
is reviewed by the supervisor and a Second Reader (who has not been
involved in the student's supervision). When satisfactory, it is submitted
to the Faculty of Graduate Studies along with an application
to graduate.
DIRECT TRANSFER TO Ph.D.
If a masters student completes
12 credits of 500-level coursework
and obtains at least an 85% average in these courses, and the
supervisor agrees, he or she may request a direct transfer to the Ph.D.
program. This transfer can only be done after the first year, and no
later than the end of the second year, of the masters program. To
request a direct transfer, the student should first obtain the approval
of the supervisor, and then complete a "Recommendation
for Direct
Transfer to the PhD Program" and
contact the Graduate Advisor.
Ph.D.
Supervisory Committee
Students admitted to the Ph.D.
program will normally have a
supervisor selected. The next step is to form a supervisory
committee. This
should be done as soon as possible, and not later than one year after
the start of the program.
The committee should have a
minimum of three members in
addition to the supervisor, including at least one theorist one
experimentalist and a member who works in a field that is removed from
that of the student's research (eg. an astronomer for a physics
student). Members of the supervisory committee must be full-time Members
of the Faculty of Graduate Studes,
or be approved by the Dean.
Full-time Professors, Associate Professors and Assistant Professors are
members of FoGS. Adjunct Professors, Associate Members, Research
Scientists, and others are not and therefore require approval. Please
consult with your supervisor, and the Graduate
Advisor when selecting a
committee, and complete an "Approval
of PhD Committee Membership"
form.
The
student
meets formally with the supervisory committee at least
once per year. In these
meetings, the student reports on
progress with
courses and research work, and receives advice from the committee. The
committee may question the student on areas pertinent to the research
area, and in some cases may require that specific courses be taken or
specific research tasks be completed. The results of the meeting, and
the committee's recommendations, are recorded by the supervisor on a "PhD
Progress Report" form, which
is submitted to the
Graduate Advisor. A copy of this
form will be given to the student.
Comprehensive
Examination
The university requires that
every Ph.D. student pass a comprehensive
examination. In our department,
students have the option of either
a written or oral exam. The exam can be taken more than once, and the
student can switch from written to oral and vice versa. The written
exams is currently offered once per year. Oral exams can be arranged at
any time by consulting the Chair of
the Comprehensive Examination Committee.
When an oral comprehensive
exam is conducted, a
"Report on Oral Comprehensive Examination"
form
is submitted by the Chair of the examining committee.
Students
are
required to take a comprehensive exam within the first 12 months of
the Ph.D. program. If the exam is not passed, it must be retaken at
least once before the end of the second year of the program.
Candidacy
Within
two
years of entry into the Ph.D. program,
students are
expected to advance
to candidacy. Candidacy is
granted when:
The supervisor then completes and submits a
"Recommendation for Advancement to Candidacy"
form.
Thesis
Preparation
The thesis should be completed
in the third or fourth year of the
Ph.D. program. Requirements for the preparation and submission of the
thesis can be found here.
Nomination of External
Examiner
The final steps involve
preparation for the Final
Doctoral Examination. At least
three months prior to this,
the Faculty of Graduate Studies requires the nomination of an
External Examiner. This person must be capable of judging the
acceptability of the thesis at a university comparable to UBC,
and is normally a full or associate professor, or equivalent.
Two, or preferrably three, names are submitted using an External
Examiner form. The candidate,
research supervisor, or department
head, must not make personal contact with the External Examiner.
Departmental Oral
Examination
When the thesis is complete, the candidate must schedule the
Departmental Oral Examination. It should include all members of the
supervisory committee, but at minimum at least the supervisor (or
his/her delegate) and two committee members. For students that have two
co-supervisors (research and academic), both must be present. This is a
public event, open to all interested faculty and students. The Graduate
Coordinator needs notice of the event at least a week in advance,
so that it may be properly advertised. Copies of the thesis should be
given to committee members at least two weeks in advance.
The form of the Departmental Oral Examination is similar to that of the
final doctoral examination. It is chaired by the supervisor (or
academic co-supervisor). The candidate first presents a summary of the
research, which should be about 20 minutes in length, and must not
exceed 30 minutes. This is followed by a round of questions from the
committee, with the supervisor last, a possible second round of
questions, then questions from the audience. Following this, the
candidate and audience leave and a private discussion is held by the
committee to determine whether the candidate, and the thesis, are ready
to proceed to the final examination.
Thesis
Submission
Following the Departmental Examination, the candidate makes all of the
requested changes and edits to the thesis, usually to the satisfaction
of just the Supervisor. In a case where significant changes are
warranted, the Committee may decide that the new thesis version will
need approval by one or more additional committee members, in addition
to the Supervisor. The Supervisor then sends a Report on Departmental PHD Defense
to the Graduate
Program Chair, stating that the student has passed the Departmental
Examination and the thesis is now ready to go to the External
Examiner. Include an account number for the courier
charges. Allow
a minimum of eight weeks before the final oral
examination, ten weeks if the External Examiner is outside North
America. An extra week must be added if the thesis is to be
mailed instead of couriered.
Upon receipt of this memo, the Graduate Program Chairman (writing on
behalf of the Head) will verify that all the degree requirements have
been met (coursework, oral examination Comprehensive Exam ) and write
to the Faculty of Graduate Studies, certifying that all requirements
have been met and that the student is currently
registered.
This Head's letter accompanies two bound (cerlox or coil) copies of the
thesis, one for the External Examiner and the other for the Chairman of
the Final Oral, who will be appointed by the Faculty of Graduate
Studies.
University
Examiners
The Research Supervisor must
nominate two willing University
Examiners, one from within the Department and one from another
department. They must both be of senior rank, either Full or
Associate Professor, and at arms-length from the candidate.
Their
consent and availability at the schedule time of the final oral must be
obtained by the Supervisor prior to submitting a University
Examiner
Appointment form.
Final Doctoral Examination
The Research Supervisor is responsible for arranging a mutually
convenient time for all members of the Examining Committee (although
often the candidate can be given this task and it can be done by
e-mail), and for booking a room with the Doctoral Oral's program
assistant at the Faculty of Graduate Studies.
At
least four weeks
before the
Final Doctoral Examination, the candidate is responsible for delivering
to each member of the Supervisory Committee as well as the University
Examiners a copy of the thesis in approved form.
At
least four weeks
before the
Final Doctoral Examination, a typed version of the final Examination
Program must be submitted to
the Faculty of Graduate Studies. This is the candidate's
responsibility, but it must
be approved by the Research Supervisor.
The Faculty of Graduate Studies appoints the Chairperson of the
Final Doctoral Examination (normally someone from another UBC
department), and the Chairperson will be given instructions on how to
conduct the proceedings. They are also available on the FOGS
website. Usually, the Supervisor will put the
questions
posed by the External Examiner to the candidate, if the External
Examiner is not present at the examination.
For further details, and deadlines, please refer to the "Final
Doctoral Examination Guide".
DEADLINES
The Faculty of Graduate Studies
maintains a complete list of graduate
student
deadlines.
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