Concordia acknowledges the need for adaptation in unprecedented times and supports expanded admissions policies for the Fall and Winter 2020 terms. Potential and current students are encouraged to contact their Graduate Program Directors (GDPs) to learn more.

Prospective students should upload documents via their Student Centre instead of sending them by mail, and unofficial copies of transcripts are accepted if mailing hard copies is impossible due to pandemic-related issues.

If you are experiencing difficulties related to sending documents because of COVID-19, please inform the university by typing up a detailed note and uploading it via your Student Centre. Under DOCUMENT TYPE, select NOTE FROM STUDENT.

In addition, Concordia now accepts the online DuoLingo English Test to meet the required proof of English language proficiency.

Students admitted in the Faculty of Arts and Science and the Faculty of Fine Arts will maintain the three-week confirmation deadline. However, students are instructed to contact their Graduate Program Assistant should they need an extension.

All other programs have extended the confirmation deadline until June 1, 2020.

Online classes will begin as scheduled in September.

Please contact the appropriate admissions consultant for individualized guidance:

• School of Graduate Studies: Lorena Marzitelli
• Faculty of Arts and Science: Ayanna Ryan
• Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science: Martine Fachena
• John Molson School of Business: Beth McKenna
• Faculty of Fine Arts: Heather Gagnon

Should you experience difficulties registering for English language proficiency tests like IELTS or TOEFL, please note that we are now accepting the Duolingo English Test, which does not require visiting a test centre. See more information.

If you have registered for an English language test, please upload your registration confirmation to your Student Centre so that we can anticipate your results. Under DOCUMENT TYPE, select NOTE FROM STUDENT.

On-line classes are expected to begin as scheduled. Should this change, you will be notified by email.

Graduate students who withdrew from any graduate program (PhD, Masters, Diploma, Certificate, Qualifying, or Independent) between March 1, 2020 and April 15, 2020 will receive a 50% refund of the tuition fees they paid for Winter 2020. It is anticipated that this discount would be received by the end of April.

Graduate students registered in Diploma, Certificate, Qualifying, Independent or Visiting (excluding incoming INTU exchange students) programs have received a 50% refund for any relevant program courses that were discontinued during the Winter 2020 term between March 1, 2020 and April 15, 2020.

Graduate students registered in a PhD or master’s program who discontinued a program course during the Winter 2020 term between March 1, 2020 and April 15, 2020 will receive a 50% financial credit adjustment on any additional charges resulting from discontinuing a course during this period. Due to the 3-credit buffer embedded in the Masters and Doctoral Programs and the fact that additional charges appear at the completion of the program the following process will apply: The financial credit adjustment will occur at the same time the additional charges will appear, which generally occurs during the last term of the program. The following scenarios clarify the additional charges and financial credits awarded. See cases below for examples.

Time Limit Extension requests will be processed per usual. Go to your Student Centre to see how to submit a service request. Waivers for TLE requests for the Winter 2020 term may also be requested via a Miscellaneous service request.

Due to the challenging conditions caused by the pandemic, Concordia allowed students to choose either to receive a PASS/FAIL or a letter grade for courses completed in the Winter 2020 semester only. In addition, students who fail a class in the Winter 2020 semester will eventually receive a DISC notation. This includes courses that spanned the Fall/Winter 2020 terms.

A student’s decision, once submitted to the university, is irrevocable.

In all cases where students select a pass or fail (DISC) over a letter grade, it will not be included in the calculation of any GPA. In addition, Concordia transcripts will highlight the particular circumstances of this semester. However, students should consider that under certain circumstances, a letter grade may be more advantageous than a pass.

If your grade was not available by the May 15 deadline, you can submit a Service Request. Be sure to state that your grade was not available by the deadline. Your request will be reviewed by your Graduate Program Director (GDP) and submitted to the School of Graduate Studies for approval.

Students are encouraged to discuss their specific circumstances with their supervisor(s) or GPDs prior to submitting their request.

As part of preventive measures, the conference and exposition award has been suspended until further notice.

For students whose conference and exposition award was approved by the School of Graduate Studies, we confirm that the reimbursement of non-refundable travel fees for the conference will be honoured.   

Please contact Jordan Carey for information regarding such reimbursement and/or if you have questions or concerns regarding your conference award.

No, your award payment will not be delayed. As long as you are registered in your graduate program, then all payments will be disbursed into your student account as planned and usual (after the DNE deadline date).

The University has not received any communication from the federal or provincial granting agencies regarding the upcoming Fall 2020 competitions. Should such details become available, we will update this information here. The Graduate Awards Office is continuing as usual with respect to the internal processes of these competitions until we hear otherwise.

• NSERC
• SSHRC
• CIHR
• FRQSC

We have not heard otherwise from FRQ concerning this competition, therefore the competition will continue as planned. The Concordia internal deadline date is July 31.

In line with Concordia University's COVID-19 policy requiring the cancellation of all community events, the Graduate Community Building Fund program is temporarily suspended until further notice. The program is not accepting any new applications at this time. If you have an active application or funded project, and the scope of your project/event has changed, please communicate with Racha Cheikh-Ibrahim (GradCommunity.BuildingFund@concordia.ca).

If you have received a postdoctoral appointment and cannot enter Canada due to preventative measures relating to COVID-19, please be assured that your contract is still honoured by Concordia University.

Once we have received the next directives by the government of Canada, (if necessary) your appointment letter will be amended to reflect the length of the original appointment and the required documents will be issued to extend your visa.

Postdoctoral fellows will continue to be paid as per the terms of the postdoctoral contract.

Campuses and facilities are closed. If a postdoctoral fellow requires access to their supervisor’s lab for the maintenance of essential, critically time-sensitive research activities (e.g. research underway where results, data, materials, samples, etc. may be lost or compromised), postdoctoral fellows should communicate with their direct supervisor.

You are encouraged to contact the Postdoctoral Coordinator, who will liaise with the Office of Research to assess projects on a case by case basis.

International students who obtain(ed) their PhD from a Canadian University are eligible for the Open Work Permit, which is different from the traditional work permit. For these cases, international students may start a postdoctoral appointment using their study permit while their Open Work Permit is being processed.

Due to preventative measures relating to COVID-19, postdoctoral appointments for all foreign nationals are suspended until further notice. We encourage you to postpone your plans and connect with your prospective supervisor to discuss your next steps

For the foreseeable future, Concordia University is having oral thesis defences conducted remotely via videoconferencing using the Zoom software application. All already scheduled thesis defences will be conducted remotely at their already scheduled date and time.

Master’s defences will also proceed remotely by Zoom videoconferencing using the above procedures. For the duration of the COVID-19 situation, the oral defence requirement for Master’s degrees may be waived, subject to approval by the Graduate Program Director or Department Chair. The organization and administration of Master’s defences will still be handled by the graduate programs and not by the Thesis Office. Graduate Programs are still required to submit all pertinent documents to the Thesis Office.

If you are a PhD candidate or external examiner abroad, please do NOT travel to Montreal and cancel all travel arrangements accordingly.

Remote thesis defences will be conducted until further notice. The School of Graduate Studies will send out a clear university-wide message when normal thesis processes are to resume.

Students should make their initial thesis submissions per normal procedures. Examining committee members should submit their reports in advance per normal procedures. All participants in thesis defence will receive detailed instructions, well in advance, on how to join via teleconferencing. Travel arrangements for the external examiner should not be made to attend thesis defences in person.

Until further notice, all future defences will be continued to be scheduled per normal (along with initial submission to Thesis Office, etc.), with the defences being conducted per the new remote videoconferencing process.

Current thesis submission deadlines will be maintained. If defences are successfully conducted remotely then any revision processes should be able to be performed per normal. We are trying to maintain our timeline as much as possible with all processes.

The supervisor will invite the PhD candidate, the external examiner, the other members of the examining committee, and the defence chair. Supervisors should make sure that they have email addresses for all attendees in advance of the session in order to invite them through Zoom.

At the present time, the School of Graduate Studies strongly recommends not to invite anyone other than the active participants in the defence. This will avoid putting undue stress on the system and will ensure that the session goes smoothly.

No. Only the supervisor needs a Zoom license. A site license has been procured and individual licenses are not necessary. If a supervisor experiences difficulties, they should contact IITS directly for support.

Under these extraordinary circumstances we recommend that all examiners forward their questions via email to the chair of the defence prior to the event. We also recommend that other means of communication such as skype and phone contacts are exchanged. Every attempt should be made to resolve the situation within a reasonable period of time (e.g. 15-30 minutes). We also recommend that the defence continue without at most one examiner (other than the chair or the supervisor). In such an event the chair can act as a delegate and ask the questions on behalf of the absent examiner. If the remote defence cannot proceed because Examining Committee quorum has not been achieved, then the remote defence must be postponed and rescheduled (see above).

Please ensure that all relevant forms have been signed digitally (you can sign on behalf of all examining committee members) and then send all relevant completed documents electronically (via email) to the Thesis Office. 

Electronic signatures (i.e., scanned copies of signatures) are acceptable, and the defence chair can sign electronically on behalf of all examining committee members. For the signature page in particular, the chair can sign for all of the examiners, manually and email a scanned copy to the Thesis Office. In lieu of scanned electronic signatures, a thesis defence chair can also send a brief email attestation to the Thesis Office specifying that all examining committee members were present and in agreement with the final decision. This can also be done for the committee rankings of the thesis and of the oral defence.