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Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC) for students under AGS

Composition of TAC

• The TAC shall be comprised of the main thesis (or NGS) supervisor and at least two (but NOT more than three ) additional members.
• Members of the TAC shall be proposed by the main supervisor, and must be approved by NGS.
• No-one directly involved in supervising the student shall act as the Chair of the TAC. The Chair of the TAC should be nominated by the supervisor and the Chairperson has to be an NGS supervisor. NGS would review and appoint the nominee. The Chair should be appointed before the first formal meeting with the student.
• Members of the TAC shall be proposed by the main supervisor, and must be approved by NGS and A*STAR. They need not be “official” co-supervisors from A*STAR.
  1. If the supervisor is from an RI, there must be at least one TAC member from NUS.
  2. If the supervisor is from NUS, there must be at least one TAC member from an RI.
  3. At least one member (ideally two) must not be directly involved in the supervision of the students.
  4. Joint Supervision of students between NUS staff and RIs is encouraged but is not mandatory.

Roles of TAC

• The TAC is responsible for helping to monitor the student’s progress, and for contributing to the biannual progress report that is submitted by the main supervisor to the NGS Office in January and July of each academic year.
• The Chair of the TAC is required to call TAC meetings with the student on a regular basis (at least once every six months, more frequently if the student is known to be having problems).
• At least two TAC members must be present at each meeting with the student.
• Outcome of TAC meetings should be reported to NGS.
• The TAC Chair should inform the NGS or SAGE (Senior Advisory in Graduate Education) of any cases of serious project difficulties, to allow that Committee to provide additional oversight.
• Thesis Qualifying Examinations
  • If a student fails to apply for the Thesis Qualifying Exam (TQE) by 18-24 months into his/her PhD programme, a TAC meeting should be convened immediately to discover the reasons for this.
  • In cases where the student has made little or no progress with the thesis project by the 18-20 month mark, and the student appears to be at risk of not obtaining a PhD, the TAC will refer the student’s case to the NGS/SAGE.