The funding policy for graduate students was adopted by the departmental assembly on May 18, 2012 and became official on June 1, 2012.

The present policy applies to graduate students in the Department of Physics; any modification requires a signed agreement between professor and student. Note, however, that the policy may not apply if the financial situation of the research director changes during the period of studies. The policy is presented below in full detail, and includes the FESP scholarships.

1. MSc and PhD scholarships paid for from the professors' own research grants for students who do not have scholarships from the large funding agencies. Base annual amounts for MSc (2 years) and PhD (4 years or 5 years for direct passage): 

2. Annual supplement of $4,000 for students who already have large scholarships (from NSERC and FQRNT in particular).

3. Scholarships for excellence from the Department of Physics: admission scholarships of $10,000/year for one year at the Master's level (two years for an MSc in medical physics), and for three years at the doctoral level. The scholarships are awarded by the committee of graduate studies after studying the admission applications. Except for students in medical physics, funding will be added to these scholarships by the research advisor in the amount of $8,000 at the Master's level, and $10,000 at the doctoral level. These scholarships cannot be combined with other ''large'' scholarships (greater than $5,000).

4. End-of-studies scholarships: $1,000 at the Master's level (with thesis) for the submission of the thesis within a period of two years. This scholarship is awarded only if, following the first submission of the thesis, the jury recommends acceptance of the thesis, or requests only minor corrections.

5. FESP end-of-studies scholarships: the FESP offers end-of-studies scholarships to finishing doctoral students in the amount of $1,000/month for the last year. These scholarships are paid in three installments (35% at the beginning, 35% in the middle, and 30% at submission), if the time taken respects the submitted work plan. The first two installments contribute to the base amount defined in paragraph 1 above, and the third (to which the advisor adds $300) adds to this base amount on the condition that the thesis is submitted within a timeframe previously defined. a. Students whose first submission of their thesis is before the end of the fourth year are automatically eligible, assuming that the financial resources are available to the FESP, and that the work plan is realistic. The scholarship can be applied for at any time up until the end of the 12^th semester of doctoral studies, not including any preparatory semesters. b. Students whose first submission of their thesis occurs during their fifth year of studies must present a realistic work plan by the end of the 15th semester at the latest; the submission date must be no later than Aug. 31 of the following year. This should be done near the end of the 12^th semester of doctoral studies, not including any preparatory semesters. Note that there is only one competition per year, with the FESP deadline on June 1 (the departmental deadline is generally around May 1). These scholarships are awarded based on the competition, assuming that the financial resources are available to the FESP.

6. FESP scholarships for accelerated passage from Master's to doctorate (scholarship A): $7,000/year, renewable once, for students who have finished a maximum of three semesters at the Master's level when starting their doctoral studies. In this case, the base amount of paragraph 1 includes this amount and is increased to $21,000/year. Note that the sum of this scholarship with any other scholarships held by the student must not exceed $31,000.

7. FESP scholarships for direct passage from bachelor's degree to doctorate (scholarship B): $10,000/year, renewable twice. In this case, the base amount of paragraph 1 includes this amount and is increased to $21,000/year. Note that the sum of this scholarship with any other scholarships held by the student must not exceed $31,000. This scholarship is available to students who have obtained their bachelor's degree at a Canadian university and have not taken any courses since obtaining this degree.

8. Foreign students: the present policy applies to students from outside Canada. For holders of a large scholarship (more than $11,600 at the Master's level, or $14,000 at the doctoral level) from their country of origin, $4,000 is added to the scholarship if the total is allowed. Otherwise, the research advisor will supplement the scholarship in order to reach the base funding amount. Note also that the FESP offers scholarships which exempt foreign students from increased tuition fees (scholarship C), with a minimum of two scholarships per year for the Department of physics, depending on the financial resources available.

9. Maternity leave: any student who interrupts her studies for maternity leave can apply for a scholarship from the FESP ($4,000) for one semester on condition that neither parent receives income for parental leave (the Québec parental insurance plan, for example), or income from the large funding agencies (SSHRC, NSERC, FQRNT, FQRSC, FRSQ, IRSC) for parental leave. Independent of the type of scholarship the student receives for her maternity leave, the research advisor will increase the funding to reach the amount of $5,200 at the Master's level, or $6,000 at the doctoral level, during the semester of leave.

Committee members who worked on reaching this policy: Simon Blackburn, Rikard Blunck, René Doyon, Yves Lépine, Viktor Zacek, Carlos Silva, Luc Stafford.