Success plan

At a meeting of the Graduate Studies Committee (CCS) in the winter of 2020, personnel from the Bureau du respect de la personne (BRP) and the Office of Student Life (SVE) as well as the PhD representative at the ÉTS Student Association (AEETS) shared their insights on the topic of student success. The CCS thus decided to directly address the matter of supporting graduate students in the course of their program.

We can see a surge in the proportion of graduate students who contact the BRP for assistance or guidance*. From the professors’ point of view, a survey conducted by the Université du Québec showed that 36.7% of ÉTS’ professors who participated had answered ‘yes’ to the following question:  “Are you currently in or have you already been in a conflicting relationship with a (research) student?” 

Consequently the BRP requested a work committee be created so that ÉTS can develop  tools to support the supervisor/graduate student partnership in order to « better deal with mutual expectations, prevent misunderstandings and to help figure out solutions in case of a (major) disagreement. »

The work committee assessed how other universities were addressing this issue. Some institutions have framework agreements between supervisors and graduate research students in place, and some have best practices guidelines and/or monitoring procedures and policies. After analyzing these materials, the Success plan was born, in accordance with ÉTS' standards.

With this in mind the committee prepared a tool kit that can be customized. The goals are the following:

Enhance students' chances of success in their study program;

Reach the target of the (research) project within the predefined timeframe;

Ensure a fruitful and satisfactory partnership for both parties.

This tool kit consists of the following documents:

• Success Plan, the main piece (docx);
• 10 good reasons for the Graduate (Research) Student to fill out and sign the Success Plan (pdf);
• 10 good reasons for the Supervisor to fill out and sign the Success Plan (pdf);
• Roles and responsibilities of the Supervisor (pdf);
• Roles and responsibilities of the Graduate (Research) Student (pdf);
• Overall (research) project management sheet (model) (zip-mpp frame available on the French version of this page);
• Step-by-step (research) project sheet (model) (docx).

We strongly suggest the use of this tool kit in preparation for the first official meeting between the graduate student and supervisor at ÉTS.  Additionally, some of the tools may be useful during discussions prior to admission.

On the following pages, you will find information that will be useful prior to the first graduate student/supervisor meeting:
Programs; 
Web page listing the scholarships offered at ÉTS; 
Web page listing Students loans and bursaries (Governement aid); 
​Office of Student Life website; 
NSERC website (Appendix D (pdf) - Consent form to provide personal information).​