Department Guidelines for Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC)
- TAC is one of the University requirements to uphold the standard of graduate training
- Postgraduate students enrolled in the PhD programme must have at least 2 TAC meetings after passing the Qualifying Examination II (QE II). The final TAC meeting to be held in the last semester, before thesis submission to assess and confirm candidate’s readiness to write up the final thesis
- Supervisor is encouraged to form a Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC) within the initial 6 months from the start of the research project for the student assigned to him/her.
- Guidelines for the TAC rules:
- TAC should consist of the student’s supervisor and 2 non-supervisory members
- The TAC chair should have experience in graduate student training and strong domain expertise in the area of research undertaken by the student.
- The proposed members for TAC should have relevant and recognized expertise to assess the work and to provide the necessary guidance to the PhD student, as evident from his/her track record. If such evidence is not obvious, the supervisor should submit a brief statement of justification regarding to the suitability of the nominee(s) to serve in the TAC.
- Chair of the TAC should not be a faculty member from the teaching track.
- It is acceptable to nominate examiners of the QE II for the student as members of the TAC.
- Student’s responsibilities for arranging TAC meeting shall include the followings:
- The graduate students, in consultation with his/her supervisor(s), is fully responsible for organizing the TAC meetings, failing which the graduation may be delayed or even compromised.
- Every official TAC meeting should be duly documented in the Thesis Advisory Committee Meeting form. All attendees must sign and the form must be submitted to the Graduate Committee within 1 month from the date of the TAC meeting.
- The graduate student shall keep a copy of completed and signed TAC meeting form, and the original copy should be submitted to the department.