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1. Research Progress Reporting for Doctoral Students

   1.1. At least annually, there must be a progress tracking meeting at which objectives for the upcoming year are established and prior progress recorded and evaluated. For doctoral students whose committees have been formed, a member of the supervisory committee or a representative from the academic unit must also attend. Units may also use this form (available at www.mcgill.ca/gps/students/research-tracking) for master's students in thesis and non-thesis research programs if this is a unit-wide practice.

   1.2. Students should be informed of the phases through which they must pass towards the achievement of the graduate degree, the approximate amount of time each phase should take, the criteria for successful completion, and any deadlines relating to these phases.

2. Procedures

   2.1. At the first annual progress reporting meeting (to be held shortly after doctoral students begin their programs), written objectives/expectations for the year must be recorded in the objectives box on page 1 of the form. Those attending the meeting—the student, the supervisor, and, in the case of Ph.D. students whose committees have been formed, a member of the supervisory committee or a representative from the academic unit—must sign the form on page 3.

   2.2. Subsequently, the student and supervisor(s), and a member of the supervisory committee or a representative from the academic unit must meet annually to review the progress that has been achieved toward the recorded objectives. Prior to these meetings, the student should record his/her accomplishments and progress for the year by completing the progress box on page 1 of the form. This completed form is then evaluated by the committee (i.e., supervisor and the member of the supervisory committee or a representative from the academic unit) on page 2 of the form. All parties sign the form on page 3. At this same meeting, objectives for the following year should be recorded in the objectives box on page 1 of the same form.

   2.3. This form may also be supplemented with unit-specific details or documents (see page 2 of the form).

   2.4. If progress is judged unsatisfactory, a follow-up progress tracking meeting must occur not sooner than 4 months and not later than 6 months after the first report. A deadline for the follow-up meeting must be indicated on page 2 of the form.

   2.5. Two unsatisfactory reports (not necessarily successive) constitute unsatisfactory progress towards the degree and, if recommended by the academic unit, the student will be withdrawn from the University.

   2.6. A student or faculty member who refuses to sign the form must write a statement detailing his/her reasons for not signing.

   2.7. In cases where the student has missed an established progress report deadline and has not responded to the unit within 4 weeks after being contacted by the academic unit, the report may be completed in the student’s absence, and progress may be judged unsatisfactory.

   2.8. The student, supervisor(s), and academic unit must retain copies of the forms.

   2.9. The Graduate Program Director must review and sign all Progress Tracking Reports. If the Graduate Program Director is the supervisor, then the Chair will sign.

Senate, Sept. 2003; Revised Sept. 2014, Sept. 2015, and March 2016.