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Supervisory Committee Guidelines and Forms

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SC Meeting – Student Preparation

The student and supervisor are responsible for calling SC meetings and arranging a time and place suitable for all members of the committee.

Compulsory Research Progress Tracking Policy and Procedures

Students are required to hold an SC meeting at least once a year. As part of these meetings, the annual Research Progress Tracking Form must be completed and signed. The form may be found at the icon to your left.

At the first SC meeting, written objectives/expectations for the year must be recorded on the Graduate Student Research Objectives Report Box (Page 1). Everyone in attendance at the SC meeting must sign Page 3 of the form. A student who does not agree to sign the form must contact the Graduate Program Coordinator and arrange to address the concerns with a member of the Graduate Training Committee.

Prior to the second meeting, the student must record his/her accomplishments and progress on Page 1, Graduate Student Research Progress Box. Information on this form will then be evaluated by the SC members on Page 2 (Graduate Student Research Progress Evaluation Box). At this same meeting, objectives for the coming year should be recorded on Page 1, as per the first meeting.

An example of the level of detail and information sought out in completion of your Progress Tracking form may be found in a completed version of a Human Genetics student's Graduate Tracking, found on your left.

In the event that progress is unsatisfactory or deferred, new objectives should be developed for the student at the meeting and recorded on Page 1. The evaluation of said new objectives shall be evaluated within a six month timeframe, at a subsequent Supervisory Committee Meeting.

IMPORTANT!: ***EXTERNAL AWARD HOLDERS: Research Progress Tracking Form, Page 3 is now to be used by external award holders (e.g., NSERC, SSHRC, and CIHR), with a copy submitted by the student (with supervisor copied) to graduatefunding.gps [at] mcgill.ca (GPS Fellowships)***

After all SC meetings, all filled-in forms should be sent to the Department of Human Genetics to be kept on file. Please scan the report and keep it for your own electronic records.

For more information on completing your SC forms click on the icon on the left or contact the Graduate Program Coordinator.

IT IS THE STUDENT'S RESPONSIBILITY TO ENSURE THE ANNUAL MEETINGS TAKE PLACE. If scheduling the meeting proves to be consistently elusive, PLEASE CONTACT THE Graduate Coordinator for assistance.

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Support for Students with Unsatisfactory Progress

If the supervisor is concerned that the student’s progress is unsatisfactory, the Graduate Program Coordinator must be alerted at least one week before the SC meeting. The GPC will convey a synopsis of the situation to all members of the SC. There should then be an open discussion of the student’s progress with respect to these concerns at that meeting. A student whose progress is determined to be unsatisfactory by the SC at two consecutive meetings may lose the right to financial support. The SC, in consultation with the GPC and GPD can recommend that support be discontinued, that research support alone be continued or any other course of action they feel will remedy the situation. Withdrawal of financial support to a graduate student will normally be delayed until the end of the current academic term to allow the student to arrange his/her affairs and complete course work. For the purposes of the Failure Policy, the Department reserves the right to have students withdrawn after two SC meeting failures. In addition, it should be known that one SC failure counts towards a failure in academic standing.Ìý

The Report

At least a week prior to the date of the meeting the student distributes report of his/her work in which the research problem is briefly defined, placed in its biological or clinical context, the hypotheses and methodological approach are outlined and the data presented. There is no fixed length requirement for this report, however a maximum length of 10 double-spaced typed pages should be adequate. The student is also required to submit a copy of this summary to the Department. The student should bring a copy of the Supervisory Committee Report to the meeting.

The Presentation

The student is required to give an oral presentation of approximately 20 minutes (PowerPoint slides, etc.). The student is responsible for ensuring that adequate equipment is available for presentation purposes. Committee members will then pose questions/comments about the direction and progress of the research. It is not appropriate for the student to be quizzed on general knowledge at SC meetings. The student may choose to have the SC ask questions during or after the presentation. The entire process usually lasts no longer than one hour.

At the end of the meeting, it is customary for the student to excuse himself from the room to permit the committee members to confer in private about any perceived strengths or weaknesses that they believe should be handled discreetly.

It should be emphasized that the SC meeting is not meant to be an exam, however if a student repeatedly fails to show either progress or efforts toward progress then the SC committee may recommend to the GTC that the student be asked to leave the program. Such occurrences are rare. Occasionally, the SC may recommend that this judgment be conditional. For example, a condition might be established that the student take additional courses in statistics if a level of analysis of data is required that exceeds the student's demonstrated capability. Or the committee may not wish to let a whole year go by before hearing the next progress report (e.g. meet within the next 6 months). The student will be expected to sign the SC report form acknowledging that he or she was required to fulfill certain conditions.

After the meeting the student sends the signed Report form back to the Graduate Coordinator. Please scan the report and keep it electronically for your own records.

Other Functions of the SC

A number of situations may arise in a student’s career in which the consultative process of the SC may be helpful.

  • Students who have entered the graduate program at the M.Sc.1 level may wish to transfer to the Ph.D. program. This should be a joint decision by the student and the supervisor. The GTC must approve the proposed switch, but first the SC must be consulted. The SC in turn, makes the recommendation to the GTC on behalf of the student.
  • The most important function of the SC is to provide both the student and supervisor with some necessary perspective on the student’s progress.
  1. Has the student or supervisor chosen a problem, which is intrinsically too difficult?
  2. Could failure of a single approach mean the end of the project?
  3. Is there a difference of opinion between the student and supervisor as to whether the student already has enough data for a thesis?
  • Members of the SC are expected to provide constructive criticism of at least one draft of the M.Sc. or Ph.D. thesis prior to initial submission.
  • The student should view the SC as a resource for dealing with any problems that may occur during their study.

The Graduate Program Coordinator and Director are willing to assist students in dealing with problems arising in their research. However, the first line of approach to resolving such problems should be the members of the student’s SC.

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