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This statement of roles and relationships was prepared initially
by the Academic Projects and Policies Committee of the Graduate
Student Council and is endorsed by the Committee on Graduate
Programs.
This is an attempt to define and address the roles, relationships,
and expectations that currently exist between the graduate
student and various units of the Institute with which he/she
comes into daily contact, and identify the fundamental principles
that guide these relationships.
The statement addresses the faculty/graduate student relationship,
which is crucial to the success or failure of a graduate student's
study here at MIT. The ideal relationship is a collegial one,
in which the common goals are the completion of the student's
degree program in a reasonable time frame and the ongoing
success of the faculty member's research program. The graduate
student and faculty share responsibility for the establishment
of a relationship that achieves these goals.
The statement also considers graduate student issues on departmental
and Institute wide levels. The majority of educational, recreational,
and social opportunities are found at the departmental level.
There are significant differences among the academic departments
and interdisciplinary programs in philosophical approaches,
procedures, physical settings, and budgets. Local policies and regulations
vary widely. Some of these variations are appropriate to one
particular department's field of research and study. Many
policies, however, are applicable to graduate students regardless
of department or concentration. This statement does not seek
to challenge departmental individuality. Instead, it attempts
to bring together those policies that apply across departmental
boundaries so that graduate students may have a common reference
for their situation at MIT.
Two underlying principles are open communication and respect.
Graduate students and the other members of the MIT community
share responsibility for adhering to these principles.
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