21.1.1. SPECIAL TOPICS COURSES

A Special Topics or Selected Readings course is a course for one or a few graduate students that focuses on areas for which there is no regular graduate course, or, that fills deficiencies in the research program. Such courses must be pertinent to the candidates’ goals.

The Head of the Academic unit or Graduate Chair has the authority to approve Special Topics Courses unless additional requirements exist within the teaching college/school. The academic unit must indicate if the the course includes an undergraduate course component. CGPS must confirm that the course meets the special topics course criteria prior to being offered. 

A Special Topics course can be taught a maximum of two (2) times. For further offerings, a new course proposal must be submitted to CGPS. 

New graduate program proposals must be submitted to CGPS for review and approval. Proposals must be approved by the academic unit and teaching College or School, prior to submission to CGPS. Academic units must use the guidelines and templates provided by the Governance Office for new program approvals. 

Following approval of the new program by CGPS, the proposal will be put forward through the required curricular approvals by CGPS on behalf of the academic unit. 

Proposals for graduate program revisions must be submitted to CGPS for review and approval. Proposals must be approved by the academic unit and teaching College or School (if applicable),  prior to submission to CGPS.  Academic units must use the guidelines and templates provided by the Governance Office for curricular changes. 

The approval pathway is dependent on the type of change being proposed.

For the completion of their degree, students who have been admitted to a Ph.D. program without completing a Master's degree must:

• Complete at least 9 credit units of course work at the graduate level in the first year of their  program, with no final grade in any course below 70%;
• The minimum number of credit units required for the degree must be equal to the minimum that would be required for a student in the same program who was promoted to a Ph.D. from a Master’s program;
• Satisfy the doctoral candidacy assessment requirement;
• Prepare and successfully defend a dissertation based on original investigation.

Dual degrees shall exist through an agreement, or memorandum of understanding, with the partner institution that has been approved by the appropriate authorities. Only existing approved programs can be offered as dual degree programs. New programs, or existing programs where the degree requirements are being changed, must first complete the appropriate academic approval process before being offered as a dual degree program.

Academic units will use the standard template for a dual degree agreement when developing the agreement, and, the template must contain all of the mandatory articles as identified in the associated procedures. These include, but are not limited to:

• Statement of admission requirements, or indication that CGPS standard admission requirements apply;
• Listing of course requirements;
• Listing of each institution’s courses eligible for transfer credit by the partner institution;
• Statement indicating that the thesis must be written and defended in English;
• List of faculty at partner institution that meet the requirements for membership as an adjunct professor in CGPS and thus are eligible to supervise graduate students;
• If applicable, a statement indicating students will be jointly supervised by a faculty member from each institution, and, that the supervisory committee will have four members, two from each institution.

The transcript from the University of Saskatchewan will state “Dual XX Degree in XX Awarded in Partnership with XX University (Country)".

The agreement with the partner institution will require that the partner institution include a similar notation on their transcript and/or parchment.

A decision to award, or not award, the degree to the student by the partner university will not be binding upon the U of S decision to award the degree. In the event of a veto by the partner university to award the degree, and if the student has completed all of the U of S degree requirements, a U of S degree may be awarded.

A cotutelle program is a type of dual degree program, in which a doctoral student is co-supervised by two supervisors, each from a different university, and the student spends approximately 50% of their time at each institution. The student writes one dissertation, under the supervision of an advisory committee comprised of members from both universities. Upon completion, the student receives two degrees, each acknowledging that the degree was completed as a dual degree program, noting the partner institution. While a dual degree program is an agreement between two programs at two institutions, a cotutelle program is an agreement tailored to an individual student studying at two institutions.

Cotutelle programs are typically established between USask and non-Canadian institutions and will exist through an approved Cotutelle Ph.D. Program Agreement. Cotutelle agreements with Canadian intuitions may be considered on a case-by-case basis and require prior approval from the Associate Dean, CGPS.

Application and Eligibility

Following CGPS approval of the cotutelle agreement:

Inbound students must apply to their program of choice at Usask and must meet the program’s academic and language proficiency admission requirements at the time of application. The student must have a minimum of one year in a Ph.D. program or a combined master’s/doctoral program, prior to the intended start date at USask.

Outbound students must apply to their program of choice at the partner university and must meet the program’s academic and language proficiency admission requirements at the time of application, and should have a minimum of one year in the Ph.D. program at USask, prior to the intended start date at the partner university.

The maximum agreement duration for an individual student is six years. Extensions beyond six years must be requested in writing and approved by CGPS.

Registration

The student initially registers with their home institution. Following approval of the cotutelle agreement, the student is required to maintain full-time registration at both institutions, until the completion of the program.

Cotutelle students who are not actively pursuing their studies at USask in a given term and who are registered at the partner institution must register in a place holder class to maintain full-time status at USask. This placeholder class does not assess full tuition but does assess some student fees.

Advisory Committee

The advisory committee will consist of two co-supervisors and at least one additional faculty member from each institution. Each university will appoint its members by its own rules. In approving the Cotutelle agreement the Associate Dean, CGPS is granting permission for the non-CGPS faculty to co-supervise as per Policy 3.1, and, to be a member of the advising committee.

Defence Committee

The defence committee will consist of the advisory committee members, a university examiner, plus an external examiner unrelated to either partner university. For USask, where co-supervisors also sit on the defence committee, they share one vote. The appointment of the external examiner is subject to both institutions’ policies.

Dissertation and Defence

The dissertation must be written and defended in English. The dissertation will be submitted to the home university with a copy to the partner university simultaneously. For USask, the recommendation for defence will constitute Permission to Submit the Thesis for Defence under CGPS Policy 8.1.

A single oral defence, at the home institution, recognized by both participating universities will be scheduled. Examiners are expected to participate in the oral defence and may participate virtually. Additional expenses related to the dissertation defense will be shared among the participating institutions as stipulated in the Cotutelle agreement.

The submission, description, and reproduction of the dissertation must be conducted according to the regulations in effect at each institution.

Dissolution of the Agreement

In the event of premature dissolution of the Cotutelle agreement, the student may remain enrolled in one of the partner institutions. To dissolve the agreement of Cotutelle, the student must petition for dissolution of the Cotutelle in writing to both institutions by submitting a letter of request to revoke the agreement, which must:

• Indicate where they choose to pursue their doctoral studies;
• Indicate the research projects and/or scholarly activities in progress and completed including the status of gathered data and analysis thereof.
• Confirm the list of inventions and creations to date in the research, and the holder(s) of intellectual property rights

This letter should be sent to the head of programs, supervisors, and authorities governing the Cotutelle agreement in each partner institution as well as the Associate Dean CGPS. The Cotutelle will only be dissolved following an agreement stipulating the respective contributions of stakeholders (supervisors and student) to intellectual property created during the project.

In the event that a student chooses to not continue their studies at USask, all scholarships and funding received by the student from USask will stop at the date of the dissolution of the Cotutelle agreement.