Thorough documentation of student requests, issues, problems, and decisions is a good idea. We recommend that program staff communicate with students in writing as often as possible, and summarize verbal discussions in writing for future reference.

Email

Always include an email signature with your full name, title, program or department, and contact information. As well as being standard professional procedure, it gives useful information to the recipient and clearly identifies who and where the email was from.

You do not need to keep all your emails, but should keep any that may be of any significance e.g. emails informing students of decisions, emails to faculty regarding students, etc. When in doubt, keep the email. Remember that emails can form part of a student's official record, and may be requested under the Freedom of Information Act. Keep all emails professional and polite.

Keeping Documents

The Faculty of Graduate Studies keeps student paper documents for the following minimum lengths of time:

• Master’s students: five years after graduation.
• Doctoral students: two years after graduation.
• Applicants: one year after application.

Graduate programs should keep their student documents for the following minimum lengths of time:

• Master’s students: five years after graduation.
• Doctoral students: seven years after graduation. These documents may be needed to support promotion or tenure of students who have become faculty members.
• Applicants: two years after application. After two years the reference letters and TOEFL scores will have expired.

Electronic records are kept indefinitely in SISC.

Confidentiality

Any personal or sensitive information about students is confidential, and so are any records or papers which contain a student’s name and number. Handle any such papers carefully, and if you no longer need them, they should be shredded before being put out for recycling. Some programs collect confidential material and send it out for bulk shredding.

Requests for Documents

You may receive requests from students or law firms for access to records or documents. All such requests must be referred to UBC’s Freedom of Information Officer who will determine whether or not the request is appropriate and can be granted. The FOI Officer can be contacted at the Office of the University Counsel of UBC.