9.3 Supervisory Committees

Graduate students in thesis programs must have a supervisory committee. All members of supervisory committees are Regular, Adjunct (Retired), Adjunct (FGS), or Adjunct (Scholar) members of the Faculty of Graduate Studies. Thesis candidates should have one supervisor or two co-supervisors and at least two additional members, at least one of whom is from the student’s graduate academic unit. Regular members should constitute no less than 50% of the membership of a supervisory committee. The tables given in section 9.1, define explicitly the permission to serve on supervisory committees. Supervisory committees are selected by the supervisor in consultation with the student. A supervisory committee should complement the expertise available to the student in completing their research program. The membership of all supervisory committees must be recorded in the Graduate Student Informatin System (GSIS), and changes to membership must be submitted on the student’s program update form and recorded by the department in GSIS.

Supervisory committees should meet at least twice a year during the thesis research period and more often in the writing stages of a student's program. Before an academic unit brings forward a thesis for examination, the work must be reviewed in detail and, in the opinion of the supervisor(s) and the committee, has reached the stage at which it is appropriate that it be put forward for examination. Agreement that a thesis may be submitted should not be viewed as a prejudgment on the outcome of the defence.