Department of Chemistry

Program requirements for an MSc degree in chemistry

Graduate

Course Requirements

Candidates for the MSc degree are required to complete at least 6 units of graduate courses in Chemistry. Substitution of appropriate courses from other departments may be made with the permission of the Chair, Supervisor, Graduate Advisor and Faculty of Graduate Studies. In addition to graduate coursework, candidates are required to complete an MSc Thesis (Chem 599). The normal course structure for a MSc program is:

Summary of Course Requirements1 Units
Seminar (Chem 509)2 1
Discussion (Chem 670 or 680)3 3
Graduate lecture courses4 3
Thesis (Chem 599)2 12
Total 19

1. B- is the minimum passing grade in a graduate course.

2. Students are required to register in Chem 509 and 599 throughout their degree. The requirements for Chem 509 are regular attendance at departmental seminars and presentation of a research seminar in the final year of the degree.

3. A graduate lecture course may be substituted for Chem 670 or 680 when the latter are not offered.

4. Substitution of an equivalent unit value course from another department or institution may be permitted with the permission of Chair, Supervisor, Graduate Advisor and Faculty of Graduate Studies.

Research

If they have made prior arrangements, graduate students may start a program of research immediately upon arrival at the University. The program must be established in consultation with the professor with whom the student has chosen to study. If prior arrangements have not been made, the student should interview all interested faculty members with sufficient space and funding as soon as possible after arrival. During these interviews, each faculty member will inform the student of projects that are available. The student is advised to consider these project proposals thoroughly before making a choice, and should inform the Graduate Advisor and the faculty member concerned of the decision.

Supervisory Committee

The research supervisor must name a Supervisory Committee and complete a PADRE (program) form for the student as soon as a choice of project has been made. For the MSc degree the Supervisory Committee shall consist of three members including the supervisor. It is recommended that one member should be from outside the department.

Assessment of Progress

Graduate students are required to present a poster summarizing their research progress to their Supervisory Committee during the second week of November each year. All posters will be displayed in a common area for two days, to allow general viewing by the Department and the University community. Students will formally present the poster to their Committee in a brief meeting before the end of November, and will submit to the Committee a hard copy of the poster presentation in handout format. This report forms the basis for an annual review of the student's progress towards the degree. In the event that the student's research or coursework are judged unsatisfactory, the student is required to pass such oral or written examinations as specified by the Department before proceeding further towards the degree.

Transfer from MSc to PhD

Graduate students in a Master's program who wish to transfer from the MSc to PhD program should first discuss this with their supervisor toward the end of their first year of study, after their first year's grades are available. Students who do not transfer within 16 month of first registering will be expected to complete a Master's degree.

A student proceeding to transfer should prepare for distribution to the Supervisory Committee a short, typed Transfer Report (10-15 pages including figures and text, references can be included in additional pages) which describes the research thus far, and presents what is expected to be achieved in the PhD program. The report is due to the supervisory committee two weeks prior to the scheduled date of the exam.

Format of the exam

The student will be invited to make an oral presentation (~ 20 minutes) on the Transfer Report. The Supervisory Committee will question the student (20 - 40 minutes) to ensure the student reasonably understands what is to be done in the program. The transfer examination is open only to faculty members and the Supervisory Committee. The Supervisory Committee will discuss the student's academic and research progress and immediately reach a decision regarding transfer.

If the Supervisory Committee decides that this is successfully completed, it will advise the Graduate Adviser who will recommend to the Faculty of Graduate Studies that the transfer take place. The student and supervisor must submit an "Application to Re-register" form to the Faculty of Graduate Studies. The transfer takes effect from the start of the next academic term.

Content of the Transfer Report

The transfer exam is a document, presented to your committee in the 4th semester of the program, for transfer from the Master's to PhD level of the program. The document is meant to inform your Supervisory committee on the level of progress thus far in your research, and to convince them of your capability of succeeding in completing sufficient research for a PhD thesis if transferred into the doctoral program. Success is evaluated based on (i) are you capable of performing the necessary research to complete a degree, (primarily based on research accomplished thus far) (ii) is the thesis project of the proper scope for a PhD thesis, and (iii) have you thought through the plan of your future research in enough detail to predict what studies will need to be conducted, why, and to foresee any challenges that may arise. As the information being conveyed has more emphasis on what you are planning on doing, rather than what you have already accomplished, a proposal format is the most appropriate.

Thesis and Oral Defence

The MSc thesis represents the most important requirement for obtaining the degree. It is a permanent record of the work that has been carried out and must be prepared with great care and diligence. Since the thesis represents a University publication in that it is available to other scientists, it must meet the same literary and scientific standards as are required for a publication in a scientific journal. The thesis should meet all the requirements set out in the University of Victoria publication, ‘ Instructions for the Preparation of Graduate Theses and Dissertations’.

Prior to scheduling of the oral examination, copies of the thesis are to be distributed to members of the student's Supervisory Committee. Before a final oral date is set and the thesis is forwarded to the external examiner, the Supervisory Committee must be reasonably satisfied that no substantial amount of rewriting will be required, and must so signify by signing the form ‘Request for Oral Examination’. Once this form has been signed by all committee members, the signature of the Graduate Advisor should be obtained. The Faculty of Graduate Studies requires at least 30 business days between submission of this form and the date of the oral examination. If the Supervisor or a member of the committee indicates that, in his or her opinion, the thesis is unacceptable, the oral will not be scheduled. The committee will then make recommendations for the major revision of the thesis. In this event the candidate must submit a date for the presentation of the revised work.

After the written thesis is submitted, the student must defend it orally before the examining committee, consisting of the Supervisory Committee and an external examiner. Since the setting up of the committee and the time for the oral examination must be arranged well in advance, the student is advised to notify the Supervisor at least two months in advance of the date on which it is intended to submit the final copies of the thesis or dissertation so that the Dean of Graduate Studies can be informed of the pending examination and a suitable external examiner can be selected. The Supervisor should suggest the name (or names) of suitable examiners to the Dean. The Dean of Graduate Studies will inform the Department of the name of the external examiner and the chair of the examining committee. The oral examination must be arranged at a time convenient to all members of the examining committee, including external members and the Chair. Once the external examiner has been identified, the candidate will send final copies of the thesis to the office of the Dean of Graduate Studies who will send them to the examiners. A copy of the thesis also must be placed in the departmental office.

The oral examination is chaired by the Dean of Graduate Studies or a delegate, who normally asks the candidate to give a brief review of the main points of the dissertation. The Dean or a delegate also chairs the oral examination by the examining committee and by other members of the faculty, who are invited to attend. The Departmental Chair and/or the Graduate Advisor are ex officio member(s) of all examining committees. After the examination, the candidate is asked to withdraw while committee members consider the case. The candidate is notified of the result immediately after this meeting.

Finally, corrected copies of the thesis are required as follows: Graduate Studies - original plus one copy (these are bound at the University's expense); Department - one (bound at the Department's expense); Supervisor - the number of copies is up to the Supervisor (these are usually bound at the Supervisor's expense); and the student - number of copies is up to the student (usually bound at the student's expense). Holders of fellowships other than those awarded by the University of Victoria or N.S.E.R.C. usually provide a further copy for the donor.

Deadlines have been established by the Faculty of Graduate Studies to permit students to meet convocation requirements. It is an individual student's responsibility to be aware of these deadlines by checking with the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

Program Length

Normally, completion of a MSc degree in chemistry requires 24 to 30 months.