You are now in the main content area

Ensciman Program Information for Current Students

***IMPORTANT: This page is under construction, if you have any questions, please email ensciman@ryerson.ca***

Significant Dates for Enrolment, Fees and Completing Requirements

It is your responsibility to be aware of all important dates and deadlines for enrolment and graduation activites. Please continue to refer to the YSGS Significant Dates (opens in new window)  to ensure you maintain enrolment and good standing throughout your studies.

Students should note the Continuous Program Registration requirement stated in section 2.5 of this document (page 7) and in the Graduate Student Guide.

Part 1: General Notes on Course Selection and Enrollment

  • Before open enrolment for the new academic year in August: Review information in “Part 2” of this document for an overview of the degree requirements and the timeline of degree completion.
  • New students are encouraged to spend time reviewing the RAMSS Support “How To Enrol” (opens in new window)  before the system is open for online course enrollment in August. New students must be ‘matriculated’ successfully by the Graduate Studies Admissions before open enrolment in order to self enrol in any courses.
  • Ensciman students are guaranteed enrollment to "ES" (Environemental Studies).  Students are strongly encouraged to self-enrol in courses as soon as the self-enrollment period starts. Guaranteed enrolment to ES courses will end once open enrolment starts for all non-esciman program graduate students (subject to space availability until the last day to add a course for the term).
  • Winter course enrollment: Winter term self-enrollment period and tentative schedules will be available later in the Fall 2020 term. Students will be informed by email when such information is released by the university.
  • Enrolling and De-registering Courses: Refer to the significant dates each term in the table above (when the “tba” dates are released by the Registrar’s Office, students will be informed by email).
  • Course schedules will vary each time when they are offered. Schedules published online in RAMSS are confirmed class schedules when the student self-enrollment period begins each term.
  • Course Selection: Students should always inform the faculty supervisor their course selections as well as any course registration changes later. Full-time students may enrol in any number of courses; to properly balance the time between classes and research activities, students may seek course selection advice from the faculty supervisor. Part-time students may enrol in up to a maximum of 2 courses in a term. Information below in Part 2 help students to establish a timeline to complete the course and research requirements.
  • ES elective courses are typically offered in the Fall or Winter term only. Students will participate in research related activities in the term(s) when they are not attending classes.
  • Part-time master’s students should anticipate that they may need to take courses before 6 p.m. in some of the terms in which there is not any suitable evening course option.
  • ES8901, ES8921 and ES8930 are typically offered once each academic year. ES8901 and ES8921 are scheduled to the Day or Evening schedule on a rotating basis. For example if ES8901 is scheduled at 6-9 p.m. in an academic year, it will likely be offered before 6 p.m. in the next academic year.
  • ES8920 and ES8921 Students, who have completed both ES8920 and ES8921, may use one of these two course credits as a master’s required course credit and the other course as a Group B elective credit.
  • ES8930 Seminar – This is a MASc required course and is offered once in an academic year.
  • Elective Groups A and B courses: As a general rule electives are offered every other academic year on a rotating basis. The program reserves the right of changing the elective course offering pattern due to unforeseeable circumstances.
  • Electives Group C courses (self-course enrollment not available): Students who have completed both ES8950 and ES8951 may only use one of these two course credits to fulfill the degree requirements as a Group C elective.
    • ES8950 Independent Study, MASc
    • ES8951 International Field Research
    • ES9950 Independent Study, PhD
  • D2L Brightspace is an online learning management system which a course instructor may or may not use in course delivery.  Students should not assume all the courses they are enrolled in have D2L access.  The course instructor will inform the class whether or not D2L is used.  Students should note that it may take up to 72 hours after course enrollment for the system to give access to course materials in D2L.  For D2L technical assistance, visit: http://www.ryerson.ca/courses/  
  • GD1000 is a ‘place-holder’ course.  All graduate students are enrolled in GD1000 in every term while they are actively studying in a graduate program.  It is not a real course; there is no credit or grade attached to GD1000.
  • Dropping Courses:
    • Students are responsible academically for the enrolled/registered courses.  If you are not going to attend or complete any of the registered courses, you must drop the course (de-register) online before the last date to drop a course in good academic standing in a term.  
    • A FNA grade (failure due to non-attendance) will be assigned in the end of the term if a student stops going to classes and does not formally drop the course registration.  FNA with zero grade point will be included in the cumulative GPA calculation thus will pull down the student CGPA significantly.

PhD Milestones

PhD Seminar: First year PhD students put together a PhD symposium in year 1 to fulfill the requirements of the seminar milestone.  The Program Director will meet with the 1st year PhD students in the first term in the Fall to provide information.  For information about the recent/past symposia, visit the EnSciMan News online.

PhD Candidacy Examination Milestone: refer to 2.3 Doctoral program of this document and  Ensciman program  (PDF file) Candidacy Examination Procedural Guide.

PhD Dissertation Milestone:  refer to 2.3 Doctoral Program of this document.

Part 2 Degree Requirements & Timelines, Program of Study, Progress Report

Part 2 Degree Requirements & Timelines, Program of Study, Progress Report,

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT ES8930 Seminar Course Enrolment for second year MASc students.

  • Second year MASc students who have submitted an approved thesis or project proposal by the end of July will see their ES8930 Seminar enrollment in RAMSS at the end of August.  
  • ES8930 is offered only once in an academic year. If a student misses the opportunity to enrol in the Seminar course in Fall of their second year, they will have to delay taking this course until the following Fall.  
  • To learn more about the requirements of the master’s thesis and/or the master’s professional project, pease refer to the appropriate program guides.  See section 2.2 Master’s Program for the timeline for the research proposal approval.

 

2.1 The ensciman curriculum is available online in the Graduate Academic Calendar website (opens in new window) 

 

2.2 Master’s Program 

For information on the MASc Thesis Option or MASc Project Options, please refer to Required Courses (opens in new window) .

Students will be enrolled in the Master’s Thesis or Master’s Project Paper milestone when the research proposal is approved by both the faculty supervisor and the program director.

Proposal approval deadline:

Full-time master’s students: In the end of the 2nd term of study in year 1 (end of April or early May), and before ES8930 seminar enrollment.

Part-time master’s students: Before taking the last course and enrolling in ES8930.  

Refer to the ensciman program MASc Forms & Guidelines for the “Master’s Research Proposal Approval Form” and related research guidelines.

- Supervisory Relationship (Senate Policy #164, section 16.2)

- Readiness for Examination (Senate Policy #164, section 19)

- Master’s Thesis Requirements (Senate Policy #164, section 21)

2.3 Doctoral Program
  • Supervisory Committee for Doctoral Students (Senate Policy #164, section 16.3) 
  • Readiness for Examination (Senate Policy #164, section 19)
  • Doctoral Preparation Phase (Senate Policy #164, section 22)
  • Doctoral Dissertation Phase (Senate Policy #164, section 23)

Year 1 (and 2 in some cases)

Year 2

Years 3 and 4 

  • ES9001 Advanced Envio. Studies in Policy & Mgmt
  • ES9002 Research Methods 
  • Minimum One Elective Group A
  • Minimum One Elective Group B
  • PhD Seminar Milestone
  • Candidacy examination Milestone
  • Prepare & defend dissertation proposal
  • Prepare papers for publication etc.
  • Draft & defend the dissertation
  • Prepare papers for publication etc.
2.4 Minimum and Maximum Terms of Program Enrollment (MASc and PhD)
 
Minimum Terms of Program Enrollment
Maximum Terms of Program Enrollment
Masters Full-time

5 terms (or 1 academic year plus 2 terms)

9 terms  (or 3 academic years)

Masters Part-time

10 terms (or 3 academic years plus 1 term)

15 terms (or 5 academic years)

PhD

 

The minimum residency requirement of the doctoral program is two years (or six consecutive terms).  Normal degree completion time is within three to four years (9-12 terms) for doctoral students.

 

18 terms  (or 6 academic years)

Any student who completes the degree requirements in less time than the applicable minimum terms of program registration indicated in the table above, the minimum degree fees will be assessed and the student will be asked to pay the balance before graduation.  Refer to the YSGS Balance of Degree Fees website for details.

2.5 Continuous Program Registration. 

Both full-time and part-time graduate students are required to maintain continuous program registration every term until degree completion or until the maximum term of program registration unless a student is approved to take Leave of Absence due to illness, maternal/paternal or compassionate reasons.  Part-time study option is available in the master’s program only.  Refer to Graduate Student Guides “Financial Matters” for more information.

2.6 Program Fees. 

Graduate students may devote the time solely in research activities and not attending any classes in some of the terms.  They will pay program fees based on the status as full- or part-time, and not based on number of course enrollment. Graduate Program fees are published online in the Registrar’s web site.

A MASc Part-time student pays approximately 50% of the MASc full-time program fees in a term.  Two master’s part-time terms are equivalent to one master’s full-time term.  A MASc part-time student must enroll in the program for a minimum of ten terms to equate the minimum program fees paid by a full-time student.  

The Program of Study form is emailed to new students by the program administrator before the first Fall term begins.  Students should discuss their course selection and research plan with the faculty supervisor.  The completed and signed Program of Study may be returned as a pdf file attached to an email to ensciman@ryerson.ca or dropped off at the YSGS Office (see page 1 bottom).

 

2.7 Program of Study, Progress Report, Student-Supervisor Discussion Checklist

 

2.7.1. Program of Study (Senate Policy #164, section 17)

All new graduate students must complete a Program of Study in the beginning of the first term enrollment.  This form is required to be filled out only once during the first term of study.  The due date of the Program of Study is published in the YSGS Significant Dates ( (PDF file) pdf format)

2.7.2. Student-Supervisor Discussion Checklist

All graduate students are required to complete this before the second term of study ends.  The completed checklist with all required signatures may be returned as a pdf file attached to an email to ensciman@ or in person to YSGS Office (see page 1 bottom).  The form is available in the YSGS Supervision and Advising website.

2.7.3. Progress Report (Senate Policy #164)

All graduate students must meet with the faculty supervisor to complete a progress report in the first month of each term to review the most recent term academic progress. The progress report form for ensciman students are available in the program website (refer to either the MASc or PhD Forms & Guidelines). 

  • The Fall progress report is due end of January (to review the progress in the recent term in September to December)
  • The Winter progress report is due end of May (to review the progress in the recent term in January to April)
  • The Summer progress report is due end of September (to review the progress in the recent term in May to August)

Part 3 Course Auditing & Course Substitution

Course Audit Form

(The form is in the YSGS Forms website.)

Audit an ensciman course formally

Form due date & notes

Before the second class.


  • Read information in the top portion of the Course Audit Form.
  • If the course instructor indicates “Yes” to the question “will course work be required” in the Course Audit form, specific information about course participation expected from the student must be included in the form.

Send to 

Ensciman program administrator (see methods of returning a form in page 1).

The form must be completed including all required signatures. 

Enrolment 

Self-enrollment by ensciman students (where applicable).


Students who intend to audit a course but do not submit a Course Audit Form in time after self-enrollment will be required to fulfill the academic requirements of the course as a regular student and a final letter grade will be required in the end of the term.

To de-register the course

Students are responsible for dropping courses online in RAMSS before the term’s deadline to drop a course published online in the YSGS Significant Dates.

Audit a non-ensciman graduate course

 

Contact the ensciman Program Administrator for information (ensciman@ryerson.ca).  The administrative process and requirements may vary from program to program that offers the course.


Audit a course informally

Students intend to sit-in a graduate class without formal enrollment are not required to follow the procedures described above. Informal course auditing will not be reflected in the student’s academic record.  As a courtesy, the students should consult the instructor of the course in advabce. 

Course Substitution Form

(The form is in the YSGS Forms website.)

Form due date

Before the first day of self-course enrollment period of the term when the course is offered.

Send to 

Ensciman program administrator (see methods of returning the form in page 1).

The form must be completed including all required signatures. Read the Special Note below.

Enrolment 

By the ensciman program administrator (or otherwise stated).  


Enrollment is subject to space availability and require permission of the program that controls the course space.  

To de-register the course

Students are responsible for dropping courses online in RAMSS before the term’s deadline to drop a course published online in the YSGS Significant Dates.

Special Note

In most cases a course substitution application may be approved as a non-specific elective credit and not directly substituting any ensciman Group A or Group B courses.  


The minimum number of ensciman elective credits required in the MASc or PhD degree cannot be replaced by non-ensciman course credits.  Refer to Part 2.2 and 2.3 for the minimum elective requirements respectively for the MASc and PhD  Degree requirements.

Part 4 Calendar Course Descriptions of 2019-2020 courses

The ensciman curriculum and a complete list of calendar course descriptions are available online in the Graduate Student Guides-Graduate Academic Calendar, Environmental Applied Science and Management (opens in new window) .

Courses Offered by Other Graduate Programs

Enrollment is subject to space availability and/or instructor’s permission

  • SS8000 Stat Analysis in Social Science Research (ensciman elective Group C)

This course introduces students to advanced quantitative methods for generating and analyzing large social science data sets such as those produced by Statistics Canada and other national and international statistics bureaus. Following a review of basic statistics and probability, the course will cover topics such as the linear probability model, logistic regression, models for categorical and count data and factor analysis. The substantive questions and particular data sets to which these tools will be applied will be driven by student interests. While students will gain knowledge of statistical theory, special attention will be paid to the practice of carrying out analysis of complex data. For example, issues related to coding, missing data and the reporting and presentation of quantitative results will be covered. 1 Credit

  • SS8001 Advanced Qualitative Methods (ensciman elective Group C)

This course is specifically targeted at students who want to learn advanced qualitative research methods related to their MRPs, theses or dissertation projects. It will provide advanced understanding and analysis of qualitative research and methods. This course offers an opportunity to customize learning on various qualitative research methods directly related to graduate research projects. 1 Credit