PAPERWORK FOR NEW RESEARCH STUDENTS (regular graduate and visiting)

The guide below aims to streamline the arrangements that new regular graduate students have to carry out to register properly and obtain full access to all the facilities of the Faculty of Computer Science and Dalhousie University.

Procedures for visiting students are somewhat different. The links below point to relevant parts of this document.
Visiting graduate students
Visiting undergraduate students
Paying visiting students

People you will have to see:
Barbara Borden: Receptionist (front desk)
Menen Teferra: Graduate administrator (rightmost office behind front desk)
Anne Publicover: Dean's admin assistant (down the corridor to the right of front desk)
Graduate forms:
Computer Science forms
Faculty of Graduate Studies forms.

All Students:

Once you have registered (See B3 below) and you have a record on the Dalhousie student record system (Banner), you should go to the Dalcard office (http://www.dal.ca/dalcard) to obtain a Dalcard.

Regular Graduate Students (Master's and PhD)

A. Access to facilities

1. Get from Barbara or print out the desk, Card, Ped request form.
Go to your supervisor to select a desk in the appropriate graduate playground,
and get his/her signature on the form.
Take the form to Barbara to get your magnetic card for playground access.
You only need to pay the $50 fee if you get magnetic cards for the 2nd and 3rd floor playgrounds in the Goldberg building. The front entrance and the 4th floor of the Goldberg building, and the CS floor of the Mona Campbell building are accessed through your Dalcard (see #3 below)..

2. Computing facilities:
Take a look at the tech support FAQ, http://www.cs.dal.ca/services/support/faq
and the guide on how to get started http://www.cs.dal.ca/gettingstarted

3. Access to the Computer Science building.
You are entitled to access to the Computer Science building evenings and weekends.You need to activate your Banner card so that you can enter the building. The hours when the Goldberg Computer Science Building is open is from 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The front door of the Goldberg Computer Science building now has a card reader installed. In order to access the building after hours, and on weekends, a person will first require two things:
1. a proximity card and
2. a pin number.
Proximity card - this is your regular Dalhousie ID card.
Pin number - Once you receive your proximity card, please go to the Dalcard web page to set one up. Your NetID and password will be required. The link is: https://dalcard.dal.ca/dalcardonline/resetpin.asp
Once you have have obtained the two items above, please come see Barbara in order to obtain access for the Goldberg Computer Science building. Note that the Dalcard office does *not* provide you with access to the building. Different levels of access are available depending on whether your are a faculty member, staff member, a student enrolled in one of the programs offered by the Faculty of Computer Science or a non-Computer Science student who is enrolled in a course.
One thing to especially note is that access can only be provided to those with a valid ID card. Once your card expires, access automatically expires until a valid card is re-issued.
Note: When you reset your PIN on the website, a message pops up stating that it will be activated within 20 minutes. This is *not correct*. What is actually happening in the system is that the website sends a message to the Dalcard office. Given that this appears to be a manual process on the Dalcard end, after resetting your pin, please give them at least two business days After two days, if it still doesn't work, then please go to the DalCard office.

B. Registrations

1. Fill out, have your supervisor or co-supervisors sign, and give to Menen the Supervisor Selection Form
by September 30.

2. If you are an international student, for MSI (health insurance) and SIN (social insurance number), make a copy of your study permit and give it to Menen. She will prepare a letter for you to present to the MSI and SIN offices.
It is important to register for MSI (the provincial health insurance system) and opt out of the expensive Dalhousie international health insurance fee within about the first two weeks of the term (Sep. 23 for 2011).
You should also get a Nova Scotia ID card, unless you have a Nova Scotia Driver's License.

3. You need to register for dummy course REGN999 plus your regular courses.
See http://www.cs.dal.ca/graduate/faq
REGN 9999 is the Registration Course that students in programme fee degrees are required to register for each term (in addition to all required courses including their thesis). Scholarship funds can not be processed unless you have registered for REGN 9999. The Course Registration Numbers (CRN) for REGN 9999 for the 2011-2012 academic year are:
Fall term - 10902, Winter term - 20849, Summer term 30068

4. You need to fill out your graduate programme form by October 7 (in 2011) and give it to Menen.
The form needs to be signed by you and your supervisor.
http://dalgrad.dal.ca/docs/Graduate_Student_Program_Form.doc

Visiting Graduate Students:

- Fill out and submit the Graduate Studies application form, Part A in http://www.registrar.dal.ca/prospective/graduateapp.html
This is required for you to get registered on Banner (see above) and get a Dalcard.
- Perform steps A for regular students (Access to facilities).
- Perform step B3, register in dummy course REGN9999, before you obtain your Dalcard.
- If you are an international student, you need to obtain your own health insurance and opt-out of the Dalhousie international health insurance fee. Or purchase the GlobalGuard health insurance from the International Centre. If you buy your own health insurance, you need to ensure that the level of coverage is sufficient for the health costs in Canada. Dalhousie recommends purchasing the GlobalGuard health insurance.

FGS Visiting Graduate Research Students Guidelines
There has been increased interest from international students, enrolled in a graduate program at another university, who are interested in coming to Dalhousie to conduct research with a faculty member. The students must be accepted as a Visiting Student Graduate Studies (VSGS) – Research. The student must complete the graduate application and pay the $70 application fee (the degree should be listed as VSGS
and the department/subject should be listed as RSST). The graduate application must be sent to the Admissions Officer at the Faculty of Graduate Studies. We also require two letters/emails; one from the Dalhousie faculty member and one from the student’s supervisor in their home university. The letter/email must indicate support/approval for the student coming to Dalhousie and the length of time they are expected to be here (we do not require transcripts, references, TOEFL or other supporting documents).
In order for visiting research students to have an active, current student status at Dalhousie they must be registered each term, or part thereof, they are here. The students do not pay tuition to Dalhousie, however, they are charged incidental fees for each term they are here (approximately $100 per term), this gives them access to the libraries, internet and computer labs. They will also have an official Dalhousie
academic transcript. Registration must be done by the Admissions Officer at Grad Studies; students cannot register online.
International visiting research students are required to have Health Insurance. They are automatically enrolled in the Dalhousie Health Insurance Plan (the current rate is $491 for the academic year - September to August and will be prorated depending on the number of terms the student is here). If the student has their own health insurance plan they may be able to opt-out of the Dalhousie Plan. They must take a copy of their health insurance plan into the Dalhousie Student Union (DSU) Health Plan Office; the DSU will evaluate the plan to ensure its meets our minimum coverage.
These steps are necessitated by the increasing number of visiting research students to Dalhousie and the liability posed by the visitors in our laboratories and on campus. It is imperative that the student has the correct student status, is properly registered and has adequate health insurance coverage.

Visiting Undergraduate Students

If you are a visiting undergraduate student, and will not be taking any classes at Dalhousie, then your status is that of Visitor. You require a banner number in order to access the facilities. In order to get one, a Faculty Payroll Profile needs to be completed (instructions) at least two weeks in advance of the arrival of the student.

The key area on this form is the box for Employee Class, which in this case is AC-Access. Then the relevant portions of the form (the identification part) need to be completed and the form signed by the Dean. The form is then submitted to the payroll office where a Banner number will be assigned. This assignment can take up to two weeks, but it can be assigned right away if you go to the Payroll office in person, with your faculty supervisor.

Once the banner number is assigned, the ID card can be obtained from the Dalcard office, and access to the facilities can be arranged as follows:

Goldberg Building
- All relevant access in the Goldberg Building can be assigned by Barbara.
- If the student needs an access card or keys to a desk/ped, then a $50 fee needs to be submitted with the forms, which is returned when you return card/keys upon departure from Dalhousie.

Mona Campbell Building
- The supervisor of the student should send Anne Publicover an email, with the name and the banner number of the visiting student as well as the length of the visit. Access can take up to two business days to obtain.

If the student is a visiting undergraduate student, and will be taking classes at Dalhousie, then they will be considered a special undergraduate student. They take their letter of permission to the Registrar's office for processing. This process will provide them with a banner number and access to DalOnline. The student can then get their ID card from the Dalcard office. Access to the buildings is then as above.

Paying visiting students

Visiting students come to Canada on a work visa. Reimbursement for their expenses is administered as follows:

1. Airfare and travel expenses are paid as a travel advance. Supervisor submits a cheque req. form with the itinerary and proof of payment. The student needs to sign the cheq. req. form and the supervisor needs to enter the account number.

2. Living expenses are paid monthly by way of a cheq. req form. This can be done as an advance each month and then submit a monthly travel claim for the per diem amount. Per diem amount x 30 exceeds the monthly payment of typical graduate student support.