Supervision

How to obtain graduate supervision approval in the Faculty of Medicine.

The Faculty of Medicine has a unique faculty appointment track structure. The following sections provide a brief overview of the approval requirements, and the supervision privileges of the three different faculty appointment tracks in the Faculty (Tenure, Partner, Clinical), as well as prospective co-supervisors who are not affiliated with UBC. Detailed information on graduate student supervision at UBC in general can be found on the central Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies website.

Supervision capabilities

Please note that different academic faculty types are associated with different supervision capabilities. For a description of these capabilities, please visit the G+PS website, or see detailed background information for Faculty of Medicine-specific procedures.

Supervision approval

The first step in obtaining supervision approval at UBC is to be approved by a given Graduate Program. Please note that final approval can only be granted by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (G+PS). An overview of the approval process for the different academic faculty types can be found below.

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Grant (Tenure-Track Faculty)

  1. NB – the information in this section applies to Tenure-track faculty members in the Research Stream only – for Tenure-track faculty who fall under the Educational Leadership Stream, please contact med.gradpostdoc@ubc.ca for more information on how to apply for supervisory privileges.
  2. Tenure-track faculty (Research Stream) need to write to the Program Director (by way of the Graduate Program Coordinator) of the Faculty of Medicine program they wish to be affiliated with to ask if they can be considered as supervisors in that program.
    • Each program has its own specific approval procedures – a program may require a CV and letter summarizing why a prospective (co)supervisor wants to join that program.
    • For administrative contacts for all FoM graduate programs, visit the GPE contact page.
  3. The Graduate Program must ensure that the faculty member is added to the program’s UBC Calendar. Please follow the instructions provided and email the document to Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at graduate.curriculum@ubc.ca. You will receive an email from G+PS confirming addition to the Calendar and the G+PS website. This also serve as a confirmation of final approval of supervisory privileges for the faculty member. Programs are requested to review their calendar entries and verify that all requested changes have been made. This step must be completed even if the faculty member already has supervisory privileges in another Graduate Program.
  4. Please note that if the tenure track faculty member is currently not a G+PS member and the graduate program is not submitting affiliation request to G+PS calendar and website, their application must be submitted to GPE office through Supervisor Approval Online Application Portal to obtain permission to supervise, co-supervise and/or join a doctoral supervisory committee. To see the full list of documents required, refer to the detailed document.
  5. Tenure-track faculty are the only faculty group with full G+PS privileges, which includes the ability to Chair PhD defense examinations, the privilege to be added to the UBC calendar, as well as the ability to vote at G+PS full faculty meetings.

Partner-Track Faculty

  1. Partner-track faculty need to write to the Program Director (by way of the Graduate Program Coordinator) of the Faculty of Medicine program they wish to be affiliated to obtain permission to supervise, co-supervise and/or join a doctoral supervisory committee in that program.
    • Each program has its own specific approval procedures – a program may require a CV and letter summarizing why a prospective (co)supervisor wants to join that program.
    • For administrative contacts for all FoM graduate programs, visit the GPE contact page.
  2. Once a partner-track faculty member has been recommended for approval (either as Supervisor/co- supervisor or for Committee Membership) at the program level, the FoM Graduate Supervisory Privileges Approval Form must be completed and emailed to the FoM’s GPE Office at med.gradpostdoc@ubc.ca. GPE office will forward this approval form to G+PS with a cc to graduate program in the email. Please note that final approval can only be granted by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. Note: This form must be completed and submitted to FoM’s GPE Office for each student, unless approval has been granted for a 5-year period. For detailed background information, please see Faculty of Medicine-specific procedures.
  3. Partner-track faculty are not UBC employees and are therefore not eligible to become members of UBC G+PS , and cannot Chair PhD defense examinations or vote at G+PS full faculty meetings. However, it is important to note that partner-track faculty DO COUNT towards the 50% G+PS member requirement for advisory commitment composition and are eligible for full graduate supervisory privileges.
  4. Note: if the faculty member wishes to be affiliated with a Graduate Program in a Faculty other than FoM, a different set of procedures needs to be followed which involves completion of the Recommendation for Supervision of Graduate student by Non-G+PS Member Form and/or Recommendation for Non-G+PS Member to Join Supervisory Committee Form and associated documentation. Please see the Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies website for further details and contact relevant individuals in that Program/Faculty.

Clinical Faculty

  1. Clinical faculty must first be approved for all supervision, co-supervision, and/or join a doctoral supervisory committee of students at the graduate program level.
  2. They may be recommended for a given student, or for all students over a 5-year period, but this latter request is at the discretion of the individual graduate program committee.
  3. For Clinical-faculty to obtain permission to supervise, co-supervise and/or join a doctoral supervisory committee, the GPE Office’s Supervisor Approval Online Application Portal must be completed. To see the full list of documents required, refer to the detailed document.
  4. The FoM GPE Office will check the documents (submitted through portal) for completion and forward the approvals to UBC G+PS with cc to graduate programs. Please note that final approval can only be granted by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

Non-UBC Affiliates and Other

  1. Non-UBC affiliates can only apply for co-supervision privileges and/or to join doctoral supervisory committee in the Faculty of Medicine. In very rare cases, they may be given primary supervisory privileges, though this is not preferred.
  2. They may be recommended for a given student, or for all students over a 5-year period, but this latter request is at the discretion of the individual graduate program committee.
  3. For non-UBC affiliates to obtain permission to co-supervise and/or join a doctoral supervisory committee, the GPE Office’s Supervisor Approval Online Application Portal must be completed. To see the full list of documents required, refer to the detailed document.
  4. The FoM GPE office will check the documents (submitted through portal) for completion and forward the approvals to Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies with cc to graduate programs. Please note that final approval can only be granted by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

Forms

Important forms associated with achieving graduate student supervision within the Faculty of Medicine:

Contact

In case of any queries or concerns, please contact us med.gradpostdoc@ubc.ca.