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Terminal Committee Meeting

MSc Terminal Committee Meeting

The student will receive permission to write an MSc thesis at a Terminal Supervisory Committee Meeting. All experiments should have been completed by this time. A detailed outline of the proposed thesis (generally in point form and typically longer than a page) should be included in the student’s Committee Meeting progress report and then presented at the Terminal Meeting.

‘Permission to write’ is included in the regular Supervisory Committee Meeting Evaluation Report. Note that Committee members can also post-date this form up to six weeks after the date of the Terminal Committee meeting should experiments be completed within that timeframe. If experiments have not been completed, the Evaluation Report must include a clear explanation for the delay. A concise timeline for completion must also be included. Further failure to meet the deadlines of the Committee will warrant intervention by the Graduate Coordinator.

Students may begin writing parts of their thesis at any time, but after formal ‘permission to write’ is given, the student should devote full time to writing their thesis and should not conduct additional experiments until the Request to set up an MSc Oral Examination form has been completed by all relevant parties. The Graduate Program Coordinator will record the recommendation of the Supervisory Committee that the student begin writing the thesis.

MSc Defence

After an MSc student has completed all the course requirements and their Supervisory Committee has read and approved the thesis, they may proceed to the MSc oral defence. An MSc student should conduct a thesis defence 2 to 2.5 years after first registration. The MSc oral examination is a formal defence of a thesis based on original scientific research in the Department as well as a test of the student's general scientific knowledge and abilities.

Time Limit For Writing The MSc Thesis

Students must defend within four months of receiving permission to write.

  • Within this, they are allowed three months for both writing and obtaining approval of the thesis draft from the Supervisor and Supervisory Committee.
  • The 3.5 months include time for the Supervisor and Committee Members to critique the thesis, which should take no more than four weeks in total (two weeks for the Supervisor and two weeks for Committee Members). Students must also allow enough time to make the required changes after the Supervisor has critiqued the thesis and then again after the Supervisory Committee members have critiqued the thesis. This means students have 2.5 months to write and make changes.
  • The MSc Oral Exam Request form must be submitted at least three weeks prior to the agreed-upon date of the examination. Note that final copies of the thesis are no longer required for this form, so the form can be submitted at any point after the Supervisor has approved the full thesis draft.
  • The final version of the thesis must be sent to the full Examination Committee at least two weeks prior to the examination.

PhD Terminal Committee Meeting

At the Terminal Committee Meeting, a detailed outline of the proposed thesis (generally in point form and typically longer than a page) is presented. The detailed outline should also be included in the student’s Committee Meeting progress report, which is distributed to Supervisory Committee members at least one week before the Terminal Committee Meeting. 

The student will receive permission to shift to full-time writing the PhD thesis at the Terminal Meeting via the regular committee meeting evaluation form. Note that committee members can also post-date this form up to six weeks after the date of the Terminal Committee meeting should experiments be completed within that timeframe.

After receiving permission to write, the student should devote full time to writing their thesis and not conduct additional experiments until the PhD Oral Exam Request  has been submitted. The Graduate Program Coordinator will record the recommendation of the Supervisory Committee that the student begin writing the thesis.

PhD Defence

After a PhD student has completed all the course requirements and their Supervisory Committee has read and approved the thesis, they may proceed to the PhD thesis defence exam. The Department expects that the typical PhD student will take about 5.5 years after first registration to complete the PhD-related research, coursework, and thesis writing (see Time Limits for Writing the PhD Thesis below for more details). The PhD thesis exam is a formal defence of a thesis based on original scientific research as well as a test of the student's general scientific knowledge and abilities.

Time Limits For Writing The PhD Thesis

Students must defend within six months of receiving permission to write.

  • Within this, they are allowed 4.5 months for both writing and obtaining approval of the thesis draft from the Supervisor and Supervisory Committee. The PhD Oral Exam Request must be submitted within four months of receiving permission to write via the Committee Meeting evaluation.
  • The 4.5 months include time for the Supervisor and Committee Members to critique the thesis, which should take no more than six weeks in total (three weeks for the Supervisor and three weeks for Committee Members). Students must also allow enough time to make the required changes after the Supervisor has critiqued the thesis and then again after the Supervisory Committee members have critiqued the thesis. This means students have three months to write and make changes.
  • The PhD Oral Exam Request form must be submitted at least eight weeks prior to the agreed-upon date of the examination. Failure to meet this deadline will likely result in the exam request being denied. Note that final copies of the thesis are no longer required for this form, so the form can be submitted at any point after the Supervisor has approved the full thesis draft.
  • The final version of the thesis must be sent to the External Examiner at least six weeks prior to the examination by the Supervisor. Students must not contact the External Examiner themselves.
  • The final version of the thesis must also be sent to the full Examination Committee at least four weeks prior to the examination.