An Overview Guide to New Students: 2009-10 MA in International Economics and Finance

An Overview Guide for New Students: 2009-10 MA in International Economics and Finance 1. Course Selection & Registration Instructions The Fall 2009 courses are listed on the Course Action Request form. Please review information in the document Course Selection and Registration Instructions before selecting courses. Although you are not required to submit your Course Action Request form until the middle of August, we would st appreciate if you could please email us by July 31 at ief@ryerson.ca, indicating what courses you are planning to take. 2. New Graduate Student Orientation A general Ryerson Graduate School orientation will be held on Thursday September 10th, from 12:30pm to 2pm in TRS-1-067 (Ted Rogers School of Management). This event is for all new graduate students (both Full- and Part-time). The Dean of the Graduate School, Dr. Maurice Yeates, will speak. 3. 2009-10 Graduate Program Fees 2009-10 Graduate Program Fees have been posted on the universitys website. The School of Graduate Studies fees webpage, including information on Methods of Payment, is at http://www.ryerson.ca/graduate/fees. 4. 2009-10 Graduate Studies Significant Dates A list of significant academic dates for the Fall 2009, Winter 2010 and Spring/Summer 2010 terms are available from the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) Web site: http://www.ryerson.ca/gradstudies/dates. You are responsible for knowing these dates, so please take a moment to look through them. 5. Mathematics and Statistics Review The Mathematics and Statistics Review course will be taught by Dr. Amy Peng (apeng@ryerson.ca). The course will have the following schedule: Beginning August 18th and ending September 8th. Tuesday through Fridays 3-6 PM The course website from last year can be found online at http://www.ryerson.ca/~apeng/mathecon.html. This years course will vary slightly from last years, but the fundamentals will be the same. This is a pass/fail, non-credit course for which there will be an exam during the first month of studies in the International Economics and Finance program. Students who fail the course will have on opportunity to rewrite the exam. Students who fail on their second attempt will be asked to withdraw from the program.

An Overview Guide to New Students: 2009-10 MA in International Economics and Finance

6. New Student Contact Information Before September From now on, the program will use the internet to communicate with incoming students using their personal e-mail addresses, until the first term of study starts. If you change your e-mail address between now and the beginning of September, please send an updated e-mail address to the program at: ief@ryerson.ca. If your current mailing address is different from the one provided in your application, and you have not informed the admissions office about the change, please forward the new mailing address, and if applicable, the updated phone number to the program (ief@ryerson.ca). Starting September, students can update address and telephone information on-line. 7. Ryerson Student Email Account Activation (Matrix) Every Ryerson student must activate a Ryerson Matrix email account. This Ryerson email account will be your official means of receiving university and program communications. Students can activate their Ryerson email account during the registration week and should do so no later than the end of the first week of classes in the Fall term. You can activate your account by going to http://www.ryerson.ca/accounts/ and filling in the online Activation Form (note: this will not work until September 1st). After you have completed the activation process, please send a message to ief@ryerson.ca from your Ryerson email account to inform the program that your Ryerson email is active. Ryerson's policy on student email accounts explicitly states that "students are expected to monitor and retrieve messages and information issued to them by the University via Ryerson online systems on a frequent and consistent basis." Further, "students have the responsibility to recognize that certain communications may be time-critical" and "remain responsible for ensuring that all University electronic message communication sent to their official Ryerson E-mail account is received and read." In other words, you are responsible for checking your Ryerson email often. 8. Ryerson Student Photo-ID Card (One Card) The Ryerson student photo-ID card (One Card) application is available on the Welcome Page. You can also apply in advance (see the form or website for details). Students interested in learning more about the functions of the One Card, please refer to this Web site: http://www.ryerson.ca/onecard/. Those of you who were undergraduate students at Ryerson are not required to get a new One Card. However, you may request a new One Card free of charge. If you choose to keep your undergraduate One Card, you must obtain a graduate student validation sticker from the office of the School of Graduate Studies (1 Dundas West, 11th Floor) during or after the registration week. 9. Graduate Assistantships (GA) and Research Assistantships (RA) Full-time students who returned the Teaching/Research Assistant form that came with their offer of admission, indicating that they are interested in Graduate Research Assistant or Research Assistant work, are guaranteed a minimum of $4,000 in funding in the form of a GA or RA position within the Economics department. This work may be available over the Fall term, the Winter term, or both. Additional funding may be available, depending on the number of positions available.

An Overview Guide to New Students: 2009-10 MA in International Economics and Finance

The GA and RA hourly rate in the Economics department for 2009-10 is $37.50 per hour. You are guaranteed only 106.7 hours for the year, but a full-time graduate student may work a maximum of 130 hours in a term (or 10 hours per week) if you are able to secure additional positions. GA positions may involve running tutorial sessions, holding office hours, marking undergraduate assignments, invigilating undergraduate midterms and exams, or a combination of any of these. RA positions involve providing research assistance to faculty members. The specific work assigned to you will be determined shortly and communicated to you by mid-August at the latest. If you wish to work as a GA for more than the minimum guaranteed number of hours in the Economics department (106.7 hours) you may post a profile on the Faculty of Arts TA Marketplace website (http://tamarketplace.arts.ryerson.ca). The website is accessed by all professors in the Faculty of Arts seeking GAs. Be sure to include information in all fields that will command the attention of faculty looking for GAs, including: 1. Any majors or minors or other concentrations you may have taken. 2. Any interest areas in course work you may have taken that may not be related to your degree major. E.g. you took three courses in Hegel or 20th Century History. 3. Any interest areas you may have in general. E.g. you have a degree in Economic Geography specializing in Central Place Theory but have astronomy as a hobby and could thus TA a course in Astronomy if required. If you opt to use the TA marketplace, please remember to change your profile to employed once you are hired. If you are seeking work outside of the Faculty of Arts (say, in the Faculty of Business) you may find GA posting for these positions at www.taga.ryerson.ca. On the TAGA website you may apply for any job you are qualified for. You must apply for each position individually and can upload your resume, so make sure it is ready before beginning the application process. 10. Important Web sites to review and to remember: 10.1 On-line Student Information System (RAMSS): http://my.ryerson.ca RAMSS, Ryersons Administrative Management Self Service, offers web-based self-service access to you student records. Although you cannot register yourself in classes, you can view your enrolled courses, their schedule, location and instructor by logging on to RAMSS. RAMSS also allows you to view a detailed breakdown of your financial information. You access RAMSS using your Matrix ID and password. Once you have logged in, you access RAMSS via the last tab at the top right of the screen. NOTE: You must have an active MATRIX account in order to use RAMSS.

An Overview Guide to New Students: 2009-10 MA in International Economics and Finance

10.2 School of Graduate Studies (SGS) Web site: http://www.ryerson.ca/gradstudies Graduate students should review information available on the SGS Web site if they have not already had a chance to do so. This Web site contains important information pertaining to graduate studies at Ryerson. A few important topics include: Funding (Internal and External Funding), Policies (Admissions and Studies, Responsibilities of the Faculty Advisor, Thesis Regulations, Members of the Supervisory Committee, Members of the Examining Committee and the Graduate Student, etc.) Significant Dates (First and last day of classes, examination periods, add and drop dates, etc.) 10.3 The Office of Research Services (ORS) site: http://www.ryerson.ca/ors/ Students should take some time to review the Office of Research Services information on the ethics approval process for research proposals. All research conducted by Ryerson faculty and students must have prior authorization of the Ethics Review Board (ERB). Although some of you may already have ideas about the topic of your major research paper, it is important to wait for ERB approval before beginning any data collection. 10.4 The International Economics and Finance Web Site: http://www.ryerson.ca/politics/mppa/index.htm 10.5 Ryerson Faculty/Staff Directory and Contact Information: http://www.ryerson.ca/facultystaff 11. Program Contacts Program Director: Office Location: Phone: E-mail: Program Administrator: Office Location: Phone: E-mail: Dr. Maurice Roche Jorgenson Hall, 2nd Floor 416-979-5000 ext 2614 mroche@arts.ryerson.ca Cherie Siy School of Graduate Studies, 1 Dundas St. West, 11th Floor 416-979-5000 ext 7856 ief@ryerson.ca