Welcome to Graduate Studies at McGill

August 2009

Graduate Education

1990

• Special and important time in your life

• You have an important role at McGill – an essential element of a research intensive university

• McGill and Montreal offer you a variety of fantastic opportunities for education and personal development - Take advantage of them!

• Total graduate students Fall 2008: 7,635(including graduate degree, certificate & diploma students)

Quebec: 4,686Other Canada: 1,449International: 1,500

Master’s: 3,473Doctoral: 2,827Graduate Certificate & Diploma: 1,335

• Total graduate students this September: 7,600 (approx.)

Some numbers:

Administration of Graduate Studies at McGill

Your Graduate Program Office: your first stop

• The daily administration of graduate studies and advice Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (GPS)

• Assists your Graduate Program and you with administrative aspects of your studies

Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies - Dean’s Office• Dean (Associate Provost Graduate Education) and

Associate Deans • Academic and administrative responsibility for graduate

(and Postdoc) programs • Assist graduate programs and students in academic matters• Assist students

Where is the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies?

Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies is located on the 3rd (Dean’s office) and 4th (administrative office) floors of the James Administration Building.

Hierarchy of Help

• Supervisor• (Advisory Committee)

• Graduate Program Director• (Graduate Program

Coordinator)• Department Chair• Associate Deans, GPS• Dean GPS

Other services

• Ombudsperson for Students

• Services for Students

• Dean of Students

Stay informed and deal with problems early... Don’t let them fester!

Responsibilities• McGill

• Provide the framework for you to get through your program in a timely fashion

• Provide mechanisms to support you

• Provide you with opportunities to develop your professional skills (SKILLSETS)

• Yours• Your own academic integrity

• Be informed

• Use your McGill email

• Talk to your supervisor about expectations and parameters of:

• Your work environment• Meeting frequency• Intellectual property• Travelling to conferences• Authorship

What is Academic Integrity?

Integrity website?http://www.mcgill.ca/integrity

Test your knowledge at http://www.mcgill.ca/students/srr/honest/test/

Fair Play?http://www.mcgill.ca/students/srr/honest/staff/

Library resources?http://www.mcgill.ca/library

Faculty or department guidelines? http://www.arts.mcgill.ca/programs/french/protocole_travaux.html

Program Milestones and Progress Tracking

• The key to timely and successful completion• [program insert milestones for your programs

e.g…..]– Courses– Thesis proposal– Advisory/Committee meetings (progress tracking

reports)– Comprehensives– Thesis submission

Improving the Graduate Experience at McGill

• Pan-university emphasis on graduate student recruitment and retention• communications• funding• supervision• program development and interdisciplinarity• professional skills• overall graduate student experience

Tried and True Advice:Avoid Isolation

• Become involved• Seek help• Widen your horizons• Explore the city• Meet people

How to Get Information

TO GET STARTED: your USB Key

• For policies and procedures

• For contact information

• For all graduate services at McGill

• Life in Montreal

TO STAY INFORMED – learn to navigate:

GPS website:

GPS Policies: http://www.mcgill.ca/gps/policies/

McGill Policies-Secretariat: http://www.mcgill.ca/secretariat/policies/

Your graduate program, departmental and faculty web sites

http://www.mcgill.ca/gps/

Take advantage of McGill

Branch out from the Lab and the Library

• Interdisciplinary Opportunities

• Events

• Conferences/Conventions

• Special Talks

• Gairdner lectures

• Beatty lectures

• Tomlinson talks

• Departmental seminars

• Concerts

Orientation Activities

• Web site of activities and information (http://www.mcgill.ca/firstyear/orientation1/graduate/)

• Graduate Orientation Open House & Welcome for New Graduate Students

Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009, 4:00 and 8:00 p.m. Thomson House, 3650 McTavish Street

Welcome messages: Key information

Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies' Orientation Presentation [.wmv]

Dean of Students' Graduate Orientation Presentation [.wmv]

Executive Director of Student Services Graduate Orientation Presentation [.wmv]

Welcome Message from the President of PGSS [.wmv]