For the Master’s degree there is the requirement for defence of the thesis. The Examining Committee will consist of the candidate’s committee and is open to all students and Faculty. An external examiner is appointed to the Examination Committee. This examination may serve as the Preliminary Examination for candidates contemplating continuing on a PhD program and, in this case, would be more comprehensive in nature similar to the PhD Preliminary Examination.
Committee composition:
The master’s thesis examination committee should be comprised of the members of the pre-approved RES supervisory committee plus one external examiner who has had no involvement in the thesis supervision. G+PS requires that the examination committee include, at minimum, the supervisor and one person not involved in the thesis supervision.
External (non-committee) member:
An external (non-committee) examiner should be someone who was not involved in the thesis supervisory committee or research. In cases where the supervisory committee did not include an IRES core faculty member or core associate, the external (non-committee) member should be an IRES core or CA faculty member. Supervisors should endeavour to avoid calling upon an individual for service as an external examiner more than once per 12 months. (G+PS recommends that at least 1 member of the examining committee be from another graduate program.)
Examination chair:
The chair of master’s thesis defence should be a member of the examination committee who is also an IRES core or CA faculty member. G+PS permits the thesis supervisor to also serve as Chair of the Master’s examination.