Graduate Program 2007 Discussion for Departmental Retreat

Graduate enrollment Currently 177 students Growing PhD component

15% Female Essentially unchanged Gender distribution

Distribution by research area Strong recent growth in Theory and CM Experiment

Time spent in the graduate program Median time in PhD program is presently 4.25 years Typically 7 years for MSc + PhD

Fraction holding external awards Currently ~ 25% NSERC fraction declined over past 3 years %

Career path of our recent graduates 50% follow academic career path (PhD or PDF) 33% have positions in industry or research institutions %

Students transferring to PhD program 40% of all second-year MSc students transferred last year Recent increase coincides with reduction in credits req’d

Countries of origin of our students 53% Canadian 16% China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan)

Discussion topics Web pages What we are doing Suggestions for improvement? Admissions Admissions now explicitly consider faculty demand Should we go to a single admission date (Sept 1)? Language proficiency Some students have poor English language skills This is an issue for teaching (TAs) What can/should be done?

Discussion topics - continued Demographic balance Can we reduce the gender imbalance? Can we attract more students from the US? Student space We are currently at (or beyond) capacity Some space is of poor quality This is an issue for recruiting and for student well being Financial support New GSI policy will provide increased flexibility How do we address declining number of NSERC awards?

Discussion topics - continued Course requirements Is the PhD course requirement appropriate? (12 credits) Are the MSc required courses appropriate? (PHYS 500 and for physics, one of 501, 504, 508, 516, 526) Should we have a comp exam study course? TA workload and training Successful TA training program - to be continued Is TA workload too high? Grad student tracking Should we introduce an “exit poll” for graduating students?