Processing Timelines

The Graduate Office endeavours to process received forms within the timelines established below. Please note that processing times will vary depending on the time of year. During peak periods, forms may take longer to process but the below target timelines are the Graduaet Office's best practices. If you have not received a confirmation of processing in the time outlined below, please feel free to reach out to our office at grad-office@unbc.ca. In order to manage workload and streamline communication from our office, we ask that you wait the allotted time before making inquiries.

When a form is submitted to the office, a necessary student record audit is performed and the form is sent to the Dean's office for review and signing, if applicable. Processing times are impacted both by workload and the time it may take for the form to be reviewed and sent back from the Dean's Office. Once returned to the Graduate Office, processing for the form is completed on the student record.

Copies of signed forms are not returned: instead, you will receive a confirmation of approval/processing email. Please retain all copies of forms that you submit.

In general, you can expect to receive confirmation of processing to your record for these forms within 2-3 weeks of submission:

  • Program approval and revision
  • Supervisory committee approval and revision
  • Progress reports
  • Time extensions
  • Leaves
  • Withdrawals
  • Program transfers

Request to Schedule a Defence

The deadline to request a defence is set early to allow necessary work to be completed. You will not immediately hear back with confirmation of the defence. Defence requests can take up to 2-3 weeks to complete processing.

Western Deans and CUGTA Requests

Western Deans and CUGTA request forms must be received by our office no later than 7 weeks prior to the start of the course. The Graduate office will confirm that the form has been submitted to the host institution 6 weeks prior to the start of class, but processing times at host institutions vary greatly. You may not hear back that your enrolment in the requested course has been confirmed for some time. It is not unusual for this confirmation to be received close to the start of coursework.