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Health and Parental/Familial Leave of Absence Policy
A leave of absence may be granted by Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for maternity or parenting (interpreted according to 苹果淫院's 鈥淧arental Leave Policy鈥� for non-academic staff) reasons or for health reasons.
Such a leave must be requested on a term by term basis and may be granted for a period of up to 52 weeks. Students must make a request for such a leave in writing to their department and submit a medical certificate. The department shall forward the request to GPS.
During a leave of absence for parental or familial reasons, a student will not be eligible to take courses but he/she may request and expect guidance on thesis and research work and will have free access to the University's academic facilities. Library services will continue to be available by registering at the Circulation Desk of the Humanities and Social Sciences Library (McLennan-Redpath). In special circumstances, familial leave may be considered by GPS for a student when a close family member is ill.
During a leave of absence for health reasons, a student will not be eligible to request guidance on thesis and research work or to take courses. He/she will not have access to the University's academic facilities but Library services will normally continue to be available by registering at the Circulation Desk of the Humanities and Social Sciences Library (McLennan-Redpath).
A medical certificate must accompany such leave requests.
Council of FGSR, March 1999
Please refer to University Regulations and Resources > Graduate > Regulations > Leave of Absence Status for information regarding registration of graduate students and Postdocs on such leaves.
Procedure:
All requests for a leave of absence for health reasons should be accompanied by the following:
- a duly completed Leave of Absence/Non-Resident Request Form available from www.mcgill.ca/gps/staff/registration;
- a written request from the student;
- a Minerva form to drop all courses for all relevant terms;
- a medical certificate.
To be acceptable, the medical certificate must contain a least the following items:
- the student's name, as well as complete contact information for the physician;
- a clear statement by the physician justifying the student's inability to perform his/her academic duties, with start and end dates;
- if the request is submitted during a term for which the leave is requested, a clear explanation as to why the health conditions in question did not prevent the normal performance of academic duties at the beginning of the semester.
No retroactive requests for leave of absence will be considered.
It remains the student's responsibility to verify their administrative situation, in particular, as it pertains to term and course registration.
Programs, Courses and University Regulations—2011-2012 (last updated Aug. 11, 2011) (disclaimer)
Faculty of Education—2011-2012 (last updated Aug. 11, 2011) (disclaimer)