Graduate Program Procedures. Fall 2015 Doctoral Tri-Agency / Affiliated Fellowship competition

Transcription

1 Graduate Program Procedures Fall 2015 Doctoral Tri-Agency / Affiliated Fellowship competition Contents Overview Prepare for Competition Students Required to Apply Review Applications for Completeness List of Affiliated Fellowship Affiliated Awards Review Eligibility Exceptional Cases Rank Applicants Application Allocations / Quotas Adjudication Committees SSHRC Department Appraisal Nomination Data Sheet (Excel spreadsheet) Rank List Nomination Cover Sheet Departmental Memo Submit Recommended Applications to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Notification of Applicants Description of application roles and procedures 1

2 Overview This guide describes procedures for the fall 2015 competition for doctoral-level funding from NSERC, SSHRC, and UBC s Affiliated Fellowships, with a deadline for nominations to be submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (G+PS) of 4:00pm on Thursday 15 October A separate guide will outline procedures for the competition for Master s-level funding, which has a nomination deadline in late January The Tri-Agencies have harmonized their Master s-level funding programs, with applications to be submitted by students for a deadline of 1 December For further information, please see the CGSM Program website. At UBC, applications for the following competitions are adjudicated together in a single competition: NSERC Doctoral PGS / CGS SSHRC Doctoral Awards UBC Affiliated Fellowships Students who submit an NSERC or SSHRC doctoral award application to their graduate program are automatically also considered for Affiliated Fellowship funding, and do not need to submit a separate Affiliated Fellowship application. Students who submit a CIHR Doctoral or other Tri-Agency application directly to the funding agency (that is, not to their graduate program) and wish to be considered for Affiliated Fellowship funding need to submit a separate Affiliated Fellowship application to their graduate program. Other application types (e.g., Vanier Scholarships, CIHR Fellowships, Trudeau Scholarships, etc.) are submitted in separate competitions and are not included in the procedures described below. Prepare for Competition Review policies and procedures for each of the application types listed above. Help students determine appropriate application forms to complete, ensuring that applicants who are eligible to do so apply for funding from CIHR, NSERC, or SSHRC. See detailed description of application roles and procedures at end of this document Set deadline by which students should submit their NSERC, SSHRC, or Affiliated Fellowship applications for doctoral-level funding to the graduate program. The graduate program deadline should be set so that there will be enough time for the graduate program to review and rank applications before the deadline for submission to G+PS. Nominations for applicants to the Fall 2015 Tri-Agency / Affiliated Fellowship competition must be submitted by graduate programs to G+PS by 4:00pm on Thursday 15 October Students Required to Apply Required to submit CIHR, NSERC, or SSHRC application: Domestic students (Canadian citizens and permanent residents) who hold a multi-year UBC fellowship with an end date after 31 August 2015 are required to apply for Tri-Agency funding (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC) in the fall 2015 competition. Please note that this requirement applies only to domestic students who are eligible to apply for Tri-Agency funding; some students are not eligible to apply for Tri- Agency funding (because they have completed too many months of study, etc.) and therefore are not required to submit a Tri-Agency application. Required to submit Affiliated Fellowship application: no students are required to apply for Affiliated Fellowship funding. 2

3 Review Applications for Completeness Please also refer to the NSERC, SSHRC and Affiliated Fellowship checklists on the Award Resources for Programs webpage. Any extraneous documents (i.e., CVs or résumés) that are not required should be removed. Incomplete applications forwarded to G+PS will not be considered. List of Affiliated Fellowship Affiliated Awards Students who submit NSERC or SSHRC applications must provide to their graduate program a list of the criteria-based Affiliated Fellowships (by award number) for which they are eligible. The award numbers are entered in the Nomination Data Sheet (see below) by the graduate program. Review Eligibility See the Overview section at the beginning of this document for links to eligibility criteria for each award type. Exceptional Cases Graduate programs may forward to G+PS applications that do not meet the first-class standing requirement. In such cases, the graduate program must provide a clear and concise justification (maximum one page) outlining the outstanding academic merits and accomplishments that justify consideration of the application though the applicant does not meet the first-class standing requirement. This justification should be included with the application as an attachment immediately after the Nomination Cover Sheet. Rank Applicants Graduate programs are responsible for organizing a faculty review committee to rank applications and select nominations. Effective the fall 2015 competition, graduate programs are asked to rank their applications within the three broad disciplines represented by CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC. Thus, graduate programs may have up to three ranking lists: 1. NSERC and Affiliated Fellowship applications in natural science and engineering (Committees 1 & 2) 2. Affiliated Fellowship applications in health sciences (Committee 3) 3. SSHRC and Affiliated Fellowship applications in social sciences and humanities (Committees 4, 5 & 6) Important Note regarding students who have completed no more than 12 months of graduate-level study as of 31 December 2015: students who (1) have not yet held CGSM funding, (2) were admitted into a doctoral program directly from a bachelor s program and (3) have completed, as of 31 December 2015, no more than the full-time equivalent of 12 months of studies in their doctoral program should consider submitting a CGSM application. Likewise, Master s students who (1) have not yet held CGSM funding and (2) have completed, as of 31 December 2015, no more than the full-time equivalent of 12 months of studies in their Master s program are strongly encouraged to submit a CGSM application. This will allow such students the possibility of receiving the full four years of funding from CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC. In such cases, students will submit their application through the Tri-Agency CGSM competition for a deadline of 1 December For further information, please see the CGSM Program website. 3

4 Application Allocations / Quotas Each graduate program may submit a maximum number of applications to G+PS. Graduate programs allocations / quotas are posted on the staff-faculty secure site for members of the Graduate Awards and Funding group. Effective the fall 2015 competition, we are changing to a hybrid allocation / quota model, as follows: (i) Graduate programs with history, over the previous three competitions, of having a larger number of successful (funded by NSERC or SSHRC) Tri- Agency applications have been assigned an allocation. These applications would be guaranteed to go forward to the national competition, unless the applications were found to be ineligible. (ii) Graduate programs with history, over the previous three competitions, of having a smaller number of successful Tri-Agency applications (average of less than two successful applications per competition) have been assigned a quota. These applications will be adjudicated in a university-wide review, with top-ranked applications filling the remaining spots in the university quotas set by NSERC and SSHRC. (iii) All graduate programs have been assigned a quota for Affiliated Fellowship applications. (iv) Exceptions to allocation / quota: The following will not be counted against a graduate program s allocation or quota: NSERC application from aboriginal student Affiliated Fellowship application from an aboriginal student or a student with a disability The following will be counted against a graduate program s allocation or quota: SSHRC application from an aboriginal student NSERC or SSHRC application from a student with a disability The allocations / quotas have been posted at: (paste URL in web browser) Adjudication Committees Detailed listing of adjudication committees and research subject areas available at the Award Resources for Programs webpage. SSHRC Department Appraisal Required for SSHRC applicants only For applicants for SSHRC Doctoral funding: Nomination Data Sheet (Excel spreadsheet) Required for all nominees Available at the Award Resources for Programs webpage The Excel spreadsheet has three worksheets (tabs along bottom of screen) For the following applicants, enter their data in the Nominee Data worksheet: o NSERC Doctoral Award applicants o SSHRC Doctoral Award applicants o Affiliated Fellowship applicants who will be in a doctoral program in September 2016 Sort worksheet by (i) Discipline and then (ii) This nominee s rank 4

5 Enter name, student number, and application type for all applicants not being forwarded to Grad Studies in the Non-recommended Applicants worksheet Rank List Effective the fall 2015 competition, the rank list is no longer used. Nomination Cover Sheet Required for each nominee Available at the Award Resources for Programs webpage Two versions of the Nomination Cover Sheet are available: one is a form-fillable document, and one is a mail-merge document that can be set up to pull data from the Nominee Data worksheets. The grad program may use whichever version is easier for them. Effective the fall 2015 competition, the Grad Program Comments field has been removed. Complete and print off nomination cover sheet for each nominee being forwarded to G+PS No signatures are needed on nomination cover sheets Departmental Memo Required from all graduate programs The information provided in the Departmental Memo is extremely important to the university-level adjudication committees. Outline ranking rationale or criteria for excellence in specific field/discipline. The Departmental Memo provides adjudicators (who may not be familiar with particularities of your specific discipline e.g., Professor from Psychology reading applications from Economics) with a context for recognizing excellence in your discipline, especially as they compare applications from your discipline with those from other disciplines that may have somewhat different criteria for excellence. What do you want the adjudicators to know about your unique discipline that will enable them to evaluate your students' applications fairly against those from other disciplines? For example, describe the grading practices and publication expectations / conventions in your program. Do not include comments about individual applicants. If ranking rationale or criteria for excellence is different for Master's and doctoral applicants, provide a memo for each group. Each memo may be a maximum of two pages; additional pages will be removed. Submit Recommended Applications to G+PS Graduate programs are to submit application and nomination materials as electronic, rather than hard-copy, files (*see note re: SSHRC applications below). Given UBC s increased emphasis on the protection of personal privacy, G+PS will not accept electronic files via . Instead, graduate program files are to be saved to their Workspace folder ( - paste URL in web browser) as described below. Please adhere to the order and naming conventions, as this will ensure a smooth and speedy transfer of files to G+PS. 1. Scanned as a single PDF (naming convention: grad program_memo; e.g., EDST_Memo.pdf): a. Departmental Memo 2. As an Excel spreadsheet (naming convention: grad_program_data; e.g., EDST_Data.xlsx): a. Nomination Data Sheet 5

6 3. Scanned as separate PDF files, one file per applicant (naming convention: grad program_committee#_last name_first name; e.g., EDST_6_Smith_Nancy.pdf): a. Nomination Cover Sheet b. Letter of Justification for Exceptional Case, as applicable c. Application file, as applicable: i. Affiliated Fellowship, NSERC or SSHRC ii. Including proposal, transcripts, reference letters iii. See application checklists for order of materials Thus, a graduate program s UBC Workspace folder might contain: *Important Note re: SSHRC Doctoral applications Graduate programs submitting SSHRC Doctoral applications must also submit to G+PS the hard-copy original of each SSHRC Doctoral Award application file (signed application form, proposal, bibliography, transcripts, reference letters, and Dept Appraisal form). We need the original, hard-copy file to submit to Ottawa. All signatures must be original (in ink). Please also keep one copy of all application and nomination materials for your records. Notification of Applicants In the week following G+PS deadline, graduate programs are to notify all their applicants whether or not their application was forwarded to G+PS. In early December the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies will notify graduate programs which of their NSERC applications were forwarded to the national NSERC competition. In turn, graduate programs are to notify their NSERC applicants of whether or not their application was forwarded. In the week after 15 January, G+PS will notify graduate programs which of their SSHRC doctoral applications were forwarded to the national SSHRC competition. In turn, graduate programs are to notify their SSHRC doctoral applicants of whether or not their application was forwarded. In early February G+PS will provide to graduate programs the final scores of their NSERC, SSHRC and Affiliated Fellowship applicants. 6

7 External funding agencies release their funding decisions in spring / early summer (late March for NSERC and mid- to late April for SSHRC). G+PS will forward the results to graduate programs as soon as they become available. In turn, graduate programs are to notify their applicants of their results. Affiliated Fellowship funding decisions are released to graduate programs in early May. In turn, graduate programs are to notify their applicants of their results. 7

8 Detailed Description of application roles and procedures Affiliated Fellowships Application forms Transcripts Reference letters Applicant Referee Grad Studies Grad Program Will complete application form available on Grad Studies website and submit signed, original hard copy to grad program Submits to graduate Prints UBC Academic program original, official Record from SISC non-ubc transcripts that Makes copies of official grad program does not non-ubc transcripts (from already have on file; does file and / or from not need to submit UBC transcripts submitted by transcripts applicant) Copies of official transcripts do not need to be stamped as certified true copies by graduate programs Sends Affiliated Fellowship reference form to referees Submits signed reference form to grad program as (i) original hard copy, (ii) fax, or (iii) scanned PDF file sent as attachment directly to grad program (not to applicant) 8

9 NSERC Doctoral Application forms Transcripts Reference letters Applicant Referee Grad Studies Grad Program Will complete using NSERC Will advise students when to online system submit application online Student should not Will notify applicants of errors submit application online and request revised application until instructed to do so by form graduate program Will notify Grad Studies of grad program application deadline Triggers invite to upload transcripts to grad program via NSERC online system Submits to graduate program original, official non-ubc transcripts that grad program doesn t already have on file Triggers invite via NSERC online system Cannot view submitted reference letters, but can delete submitted letter and re-invite or invite another referee Submits reference online via NSERC online system No hard copy submitted Will send application file and reference forms to grad program via UBC Workspace within two business days of the grad program application deadline Uploads scanned copy of all official non-ubc transcripts and UBC SISC Academic Record (including 2015W1 term) to NSERC online system in response to invitation from student (UBC SISC Academic Record is required for all students, including the ones with no prior registration to September 2015) Includes scan of transcript keys Scan as single PDF file Do not need to mark copies as certified true copy 9

10 SSHRC Doctoral Application forms Transcripts Reference letters Applicant Referee Grad Studies Grad Program Will complete application online on SSHRC website and submit signed, original hard copy to grad program Submits to graduate Stamps copies of official Makes copies of original, program: original, official transcripts received from official transcripts transcripts that grad grad programs as Certified For students with no UBC program doesn t already True Copies registration prior to have on file (SSHRC will September 2015, makes now accept certified true copies of UBC SISC copies of transcripts from Academic Record institutions within and Does not need to stamp outside North America) as certified true copies Submits new, official UBC transcript (exception: applicants with no UBC registration prior to Sep 2015 do not need to submit UBC transcript) Sends SSHRC reference form to referees Submits signed reference form to grad program as original hard copy 10