Dean of Graduate Studies > Current Students > Managing Your Progress > Checklist

Managing Your Progress

Communication issues are the most frequent source of misunderstandings between graduate students and their supervisors. Completing a Supervisory Agreement and using this checklist will reduce misunderstandings and expedite your degree completion.

Your senior supervisor is responsible for filing your annual progress evaluation (GGR 1.8.1) within your department; having regular communication checkpoints will inform that evaluation.

Every semester

  • Establish your goals for the semester: courses, research, writing, teaching.
  • Establish a a regular meeting schedule with your senior supervisor. You should report on your progress since your last meeting and discuss where you need help or advice from your supervisor.
  • Discuss your plans for professional development: conferences, learning new techniques. Allot enough time to request financial support for travel or acquiring equipment, if needed.
  • Discuss your plan and requirements for financial support.
  • If you need ethics or safety approvals for your research, discuss the application process with your supervisor and allot enough time to get the approvals.
  • Discuss your post-graduation career plans.

At least once a year

  • Write down your goals and your timeline for achieving them
  • Meet and discuss your annual plans with your entire supervisory committee
  • If applicable, get an assessment in writing of your progress from the previous year
  • Discuss your requirements for financial support
  • Discuss plans for major absences, either yours or those of your committee members (this should include time for family, recreation and vacations)
  • Review your long-term plan for completion of your degree. Ensure that the current year's plan is consistent with the long-term plan. 
  • Consult the Library's thesis website to save yourself time when you're ready to begin writing
  • Discuss your plan for publishing research results. Discuss co-authorship of papers. See Research for more information and guidelines.
  • Consult with your supervisory committee about your career goals following graduation. They are a valuable part of your professional network and can help you establish realistic post-graduation goals.

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Defences and Events

  • Brian Uher-Koch, MSc Thesis Defence, Biological Sciences
    2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
    May 21, 2013
    Supervisor Dr. Ronald Ydenberg Thesis Title: Latitudinal and seasonal variation in non-breeding survival of surf and white-winged scoters
  • Joshua Newman, PhD Thesis Defence, Political Science
    5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
    May 22, 2013
    Location: SFU Harbour Centre, The Repap Policy Room (1425) Title: The Governance of Public-Private Partnerships: Success and Failure in the Transportation Sector Abstract Since the economic crises of the 1970s, the political climate in many developed countries has been reoriented from a focus on the public provision of goods and services to an emphasis on curbing government spending, reducing taxes, and limiting bureaucracy. As a consequence, alternative service delivery arrangements, in which non-government entities and private sector corporations are involved in public service delivery, have become increasingly popular in the last 30 years. The term “governance” is now commonly used to signify this shift away from a traditional hierarchical mode of government to a more horizontal environment of policy formulation and implementation. For many supporters of alternative service delivery, increased freedom for the private sector is regarded as the key to successful governance. Public-private partnerships (P3s) are a family of alternative service delivery mechanisms that allow the private sector to finance, own, and deliver goods and services to the public through long-term contractual arrangements with governments and other public sector agencies. P3s fit comfortably into the logic of alternative service delivery, which implies that by removing some – but not all – elements of the public sector and replacing them with some – but not all – aspects of the private sector, a balance between public sector accountability and private sector efficiency can be struck. However, this presents an inherent conflict, as the public sector is viewed simultaneously as the problem and as the solution to improving public service delivery. This inherent conflict in governance arrangements can sometimes lead to governance failure, a phenomenon that is not sufficiently understood. First, I show that governance failure can have negative consequences for the state and society. Then, I examine two case studies in P3 delivery of transportation infrastructure, the Canada Line in Vancouver, Canada and the Sydney Airport Link in Sydney, Australia, to determine how governance failure occurs and how it can be avoided. These two cases have similar technical parameters and political motivations, but in the Canadian case, where the public sector demonstrated policy leadership through the fostering of policy networks, through bounded-rational policy learning, and through a collaborative institutional approach to project implementation, successful governance was achieved. By contrast, the Australian case, in which the government was not substantially engaged in the partnership, resulted in governance failure. From an analysis of these two cases I conclude that public sector policy leadership is essential to the prevention of governance failure.
  • Adhi Susilo PhD Education Thesis Examination
    10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
    May 30, 2013
    No Description

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The sample Supervisory Agreement Template addresses common expectations and potential areas of misunderstanding.

* SupervisoryAgreement.doc
Agreement Template