Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Requirements:

• Between three and eight approved technical graduate courses
• JDE1000H ‘Ethics in Research Seminar’
• ECE Colloquium: Distinguished Lecture Series
  • Attendance at the DLS is mandatory for all PhD students.
• PhD Background Statement
• PhD Qualifying Examination
• PhD Thesis Proposal
• Annual Meetings of PhD Supervisory Committee
• Department Oral Examination (DOE) of PhD Thesis
• Final Oral Examination (FOE) of PhD Thesis

Schedule for Timely Completion

ECE’s expectations for the timely completion of the PhD degree requirements are outlined below. Timely completion is a condition of financial support and continued registration.

SGS policy requires that the supervisory committee be formed and meet within the first 16 months of registration; in ECE this requirement is met through the thesis proposal (i.e. the thesis proposal presentation is the 1st annual supervisory committee meeting).

Thereafter, the student must meet with their supervisory committee at least once per year. As per Section 7.5.2 of the SGS General Regulations:

• “A student is expected to meet with this committee at least once a year, and more often if the committee so requires. At each meeting, the supervisory committee will assess the student’s progress in the program and provide advice on future work.”
• “A student who, through their own neglect, fails to meet with the supervisory committee in a given year will be considered to have received an unsatisfactory progress report from the committee.”

The Department Oral Examination (DOE) is the student’s final annual supervisory committee meeting. The DOE can replace the requirement of a supervisory committee meeting in the student’s final year if the DOE takes place within 12 months of the student’s previous supervisory committee meeting.