Teaching Assistantships & Financial Support
Graduate Teaching Assistantships
If you have been guaranteed a graduate teaching assistantship (GTA), you must still apply for positions via the University's online application system. At this time, you will be able to rank your choices. Every effort is made to provide you with one of your top choices, but sometimes you may be assigned a course that was not listed on your preference sheet.
If you have not been guaranteed a GTA or would like to apply for additional GTAs, positions are posted for 10 working days toward the end of each semester. Apply via the University's online application system.
We strongly caution students not to take on additional GTA positions to the point that your ability to do a good job as a GTA and to complete your degree in a timely and effective manner are impaired.
Once you have accepted a GTA position, you should contact the professor that you will be working with. You should find out the professor's expectations for the assistantship and then negotiate its terms. If you feel uncomfortable with some aspect of the contract, discuss it with the professor at that time. All GTAs and the supervising professor must complete and sign an Assignment of Work Agreement form that details the position expectations, grading deadlines, etc.
The home departments (Political Science and Sociology and Anthropology) try to place all teaching assistants in courses for which they are most suited. The professors of the courses are responsible for training teaching assistants. New GTAs are also strongly encouraged to enroll in training sessions offered by the Office of Teaching and Learning.
One of the skills of a good graduate student is time management. If one of your responsibilities is marking, undergraduate students' essays and final examinations are due at roughly the same time that your own assignments are due.
You have access to an office in Blackwood Hall in order to hold office hours with students. More details about accessing this space will be provided during the Graduate Student Orientation. Remember that a GTA is a job and as such you are obligated to fulfill the requirements of the job in a professional manner.
Graduate Teaching Assistantship Contracts
Every GTA and professor must submit an Assignment of Work Agreement which will outline the expectations of the student during the assistantship and the amount of time to be spent on those expectations. The teaching assistant's duties should be as detailed as possible and must be submitted to the home department’s graduate program assistant within seven (7) days of the commencement of your employment.
You should keep one copy of the GTA duties and another copy should be kept by the professor you are working with. The contract should be followed as closely as possible throughout the semester. This form should be revised to reflect your agreement. Blank copies of this form will be distributed with the GTA assignment and are also available from the home department’s graduate program assistant.
A full-time GTA appointment requires 140 hours of work over approximately 14 weeks. On average, a full GTA is expected to work 10 hours a week and a half GTA is expected to work 5 hours a week. Under the terms of the collective agreement, GTAs cannot work more than 28 hours in any one week.
If you are approaching the 140-hour maximum in any course, notify the professor immediately. You are thus advised to carefully track your hours worked.
GTAs at the University of Guelph are unionized. Review the collective agreement between the University and CUPE 3913.
Online courses required for new GTAs
First-time GTAs are required to take three online courses:
- Accessible Service Provision
- Health and Safety
- Making Education Accessible
Completion of these courses should take no more than three hours in total. When you have completed each course, please forward the certificate of completion to the graduate program assistant.
You will only need to take these courses once. The hours for these courses are factored into your GTA Assignment of Work Agreement.
Other Sources of Financial Support
The Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Department of Political Science make every effort to provide financial support for graduate students. Upon admission, some students will be awarded a Board of Graduate Studies Research Scholarship, a Dean's Scholarship, Graduate Excellence Scholarship, Graduate Tuition Scholarship and others. In addition to the scholarships, the departments offer GTAs and, occasionally, graduate research assistantships (GRAs). Students will be informed of the award(s) in their offer of acceptance.
There are a number of University/College scholarships and awards as well as external awards, such as the Ontario Graduate Scholarships (OGS) and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Canada Graduate Scholarship, for which you can apply. Students in the thesis option are required to apply for SSHRC and OGS awards.