ECE Policy on Transferring from the MASc to the PhD Program

Outstanding MASc candidates who have completed their MASc course requirements (5 graduate courses), and who have been registered in the program for no more than 24 months (six sessions), may be allowed to transfer to the PhD program without completing the MASc thesis. Such transfers will be considered only after the presentation of a potential PhD thesis proposal to a transfer evaluation committee made up of two ECE graduate faculty members in addition to the supervisor(s).

On the recommendation of the committee, the supervisor(s) can request that the student be transferred to the PhD program by submitting a Transfer Proposal Report form to the ECE Graduate Office. Such requests must be endorsed by the Chair of the research group. The student must also submit an SGS Program Transfer form to the ECE Graduate Office.

All such transfers must coincide with the beginning of an academic session (September, January, or May); transfer requests must be submitted to the ECE Graduate Office at least one month prior to the start of the session.

If the transfer is approved by the Department, the student will be expected to follow the Schedule for Timely PhD Completion in step with the PhD students who start their program in the session in which the transfer takes place.

Students who transfer from the MASc to the PhD program will be required to complete three to five approved graduate courses in addition to the five graduate courses completed while registered in the MASc program. The number of required courses will be determined by the transfer evaluation committee.

In order to achieve candidacy, all PhD students must present and defend a PhD Thesis Proposal. The presentation of a potential PhD thesis proposal in order to transfer to the PhD program does not replace the requirement of a full PhD Thesis Proposal.

Students should carefully consider their options before pursuing a transfer to the PhD program. Students who transfer from the MASc to the PhD program will not be permitted to later transfer back to the MASc program.