Student Progression

Many measures have been put forward within the Faculty of Medicine and the Molecular Biology programs to ensure your best and most harmonious progress throughout your academic course.

Please see also the Student Guide issued by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

The M.Sc. and Ph.D. plan and the Registration of the research project

This step takes place when you register for the Molecular Biology programs and aims to plan your academic path. When discussing with your researcher supervisor and the academic coordinator of the Molecular Biology programs you will define your research project and be informed of various assessment activities you are to carry out, and you will choose the courses you will attend within your training program.

Documents to download:

Registration of your research project (Enregistrement du sujet de recherche) (Except for the M.Sc. Students who are doing lab rotations)

M.Sc. Plan sheets:
Option générale(fr et en)
Option biologie des systèmes avec mémoire (fr et en)
Option biologie des systèmes avec stages(fr et en)
Option médecine cellulaire et moléculaire avec stages(fr et en)
Option médecine cellulaire et moléculaire avec mémoire (fr et en)

Ph.D. Plan sheets:
Options générale et médecine cellulaire et moléculaire (fr et en)
Option biologie des systèmes (fr et en)
Option générale, accès direct

If you want to change your choices of courses, you must fill the form “Demande de modification de cours” and send it to the programs’ TGDE.

Extension request (regular and exceptional)

For extension requests you should inform the Direction of the programs at least 2 months before the end of the last trimester.

Form “demande de prolongation régulière”

For the request of exceptional extension, you should send to the direction of the programs the following documents at the beginning of the last trimester:

• Form “Plan de cheminement final – Prolongation exceptionnelle“
• A letter from the research supervisor, explaining and justifying the request
• A letter of explanation from the student

At the same time, you must also complete the CHE_Prolongation_études, and upload the completed and signed forms, as well as the letters, form in your student center (please read the “aide mémoire”).

Suspension Request

You have to send the form Demande d’interruption des études – Cycles supérieur to the Programs direction.

At the same time, you must also complete the CHE_Interruption_Temporaire form in your student center (please read the “aide mémoire”).

Formative Evaluation

Formative evaluation is a face-to-face meeting with your research supervisor on a semestrial basis. It is intended to establish and maintain a constructive discussion with your research supervisor to foster your development, check the progress of your project and validate the skills acquired or to be improved. At these meetings, your research supervisor will highlight your strong and weak points and discuss some issues when necessary. Then, you may take the opportunity to share your expectations and raise some concerns.

Please note that it is your responsibility to ensure these meetings take place and the fiche d’évaluation formative is completed and submitted to the program to be added to your record.

M.Sc. Committee (“Comité de parrainnage”)

A mentor is assigned to each student. It should be the unit responsible or his representative. At the beginning of your study program you should fill the form for mentor nomination. Please take note of the procedure implemented by the Molecular Biology Programs. You should also contact your unit representative for more information about the organisation of these committees in your research unit.
At the end of the Committee an evaluation grid is completed and added to your file.

The Follow-up or Thesis Committee

The goal of the Follow-up Committee (for M.Sc.) or Thesis Committee (for Ph.D.) is to assess your progress throughout your academic path. You must meet the members of the committee once a year. They will give you formative recommendations that will encourage your scientific development and help you complete your studies in the time required.

Conduct of the Thesis Committee
The Thesis Committee is not an exam. This is a formal meeting during which the student presents his results in 30 minutes. This presentation is followed by a period of questions and discussion on the project.
At the beginning and end of the meeting, the student is invited to retire to allow the committee to discuss. In the end, the student meets again to receive the committee’s assessment and the supervisor is invited to retire to allow the student to discuss with his committee.

At the first committee, the student presents his project, the goals, the proposed methodology to meet the objectives and the first results if available. Subsequent committees are used to present the progress made. At the last committee, also called writing committee, the student shall submit a description of the outline of his thesis before writing it.

Two weeks before the date of your committee, you must submit to your committee, as well as your head unit, the following documents:

• CV
• Detailed description of your research project and the progress of your work (4 pages excluding the references, plus one page of figures, spacing 1.5 Font Times New Roman 12, margin 1 inch)
• Academic transcripts

In addition, two weeks before the date of your committee, you must submit to the direction of the programs, your formative evaluation completed.

The organization of monitoring committees is the responsibility of the unit. Please contact the head of your unit to be aware of the internal procedure at your institution and get the form for the composition of the jury.

As a result of committee meetings, an assessment grid will be filled in and added to your student record.

M.Sc. Research Seminar (BIM6035)

The research seminar takes place near the end of your Master’s program. Available dates for each trimester will be circulated by the program administration early in the session.

The seminar consists of an oral presentation of 20 minutes followed by a question period of 10 minutes.

For students in the Molecular and Cellular Medicine option, the research seminar takes place at the end of each rotation and consists of an oral presentation of 15 minutes followed by a 5-minute question period. The final evaluation is based on the two “mini-seminars”.

The seminar should introduce the question being addressed and place it in the context of what is known in the field (including hypotheses and objectives), discuss the experimental results and how they were obtained, and present some future questions and perspectives.

Following this seminar an evaluation grid is filled by members of the jury.

Ph.D. Research Seminar (BIM7015)

The research seminar takes place towards the end of your PhD before the writing of the thesis. Available dates for each trimester will be circulated by the program administration early in the session. The seminar consists of a 30 minute oral presentation followed by a question period of 10 minutes.

The seminar should introduce the question being addressed and place it in the context of what is known in the field (including hypotheses and objectives), present the experimental design and analysis of the results, put the results into context with an emphasis on novelty of the findings, and address future perspectives for the project.

Following this seminar an evaluation grid is filled by members of the jury.