Graduate students are now entitled to take three weeks of vacation per academic year. The decision was made by the UBC Vancouver Senate last Wednesday.

Before this year, UBC was the only major Canadian university without an official policy regulating graduate students’ vacation time. The new policy, effective immediately, creates clear and formal expectations for both students and supervisors, replacing the unofficial and occasionally unfair arrangements of the past.

“It took us a while to get the wording quite right,” said Jim Thompson, the associate dean of graduate policy and program review. Thompson explained that the Academic Policy Committee reviewed the documents of other universities, ultimately crafting original wording that meets national standards without being exceedingly rigid. 

“There’s no reason why a student couldn’t negotiate with a supervisor,” said Thompson. “It’s flexible, but it’s a guideline.”

Supervisors and faculty members who provide funding through graduate research assistantships must still approve details like timing, duration, and extensions past the three-week norm.

Thompson identified two benefits of making the vacation arrangements formal: students are prevented from overextending their privileges and, in turn, supervisors are prevented from depriving students of their full entitlement.

Geoff Costeloe, a student senator, was more candid about the discussions surrounding the change.

“As one senator put it, this [policy] is to encourage lazy grad students to do work and to discourage slave-driving supervisors,” said Costeloe, who was present when the policy was passed at Wednesday’s meeting.

The changes are meant to provide some consistency to a formerly unstructured process. Nathan Corbett, a postdoctoral student, shared his experience.

“Their policy was to never reply to e-mails about vacation, and to only approve them verbally,” said Corbett. “Also, they would never suggest vacation, rather they would merely allow it if a student demanded it.”

Another graduate student, Stephen Hay, pointed out that many students do not feel comfortable negotiating with their supervisors because they are often mentors, employers, signatories, and/or referees for future awards and employment.

“The imbalance of power between supervisor and student can be staggering. A lot is on the line,” said Hay. “Some people just do whatever their supervisors tell them to and are reluctant to push back.”

Thompson recognizes that such issues, and sometimes even conflicts, may arise. But with the new policy set in print, both parties will have an authoritative document to reference.

The policy is also necessary to comply with the standards of the Tri-Council—comprised of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)—which examines individual university regulations regarding vacation entitlement for award recipients.

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this post said that vacation time was mandatory. This is not the case. The Ubyssey regrets this error.

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