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Residency and Required Courses

Residency and Time Limits

The University requires two years of residency as a full-time student and permits three (3) years for completion of Candidacy requirements and six (6) years for completion of the Ph.D. degree. Recommendations for extensions beyond this regulation period must come firstly from the Research Supervisor on behalf of the Committee, and be submitted to the Chair of the Ph.D. Program. Such recommendations must include a rationale and a reasonable schedule for completion of the student's work. Upon recommendation of the Chair, the Director will make an appropriate recommendation to the Dean of Graduate Studies or ask the student to withdraw from the program.

Course Requirements

Students typically take fifteen to twenty-four credits of course work in the first two academic years.  Required courses are:

  • PLAN 602 Advanced Planning Theory (3 credit full year course)
  • PLAN 603 Colloquium (6 credits; Colloquium is taken in both 1st and 2nd year)
  • PLAN 649 Thesis (0 credits but required throughout program to maintain active regstration status)                        Advanced Research Methods - Advanced Research Methods is not offered at SCARP; an appropriate research methods course must be selected from another department with approval from student's committee

The student selects other appropriate courses in consultation with his/her Supervisory Committee. The exact form and structure of the program-related course work is left to the discretion of Committees and depends on the candidate's background preparation and research focus. PhD candidates generally use these courses to develop their expertise in a discipline relevant to their area of research.

All Planning courses in the 500 and 600 levels are open to doctoral students and, through the Western Deans' Agreement, students may take courses offered by other universities in B.C. and Alberta under the Western Dean's Agreement. Courses taken by PhD students under the Western Deans' Agreement will not be credited to their degree programs. More information here.

Students who do not have a Masters in Planning and/or have not taken an Intro to Planning Theory will be required to audit Plan 502 in their first semester of the doctoral program.