Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.88
Liaison Joséanne Bélanger-Gravel
Submission Date June 3, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Polytechnique Montréal
PA-3: Participatory Governance

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.75 / 3.00 Patrick Cigana
Sustainability Advisor
Sustainability Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Do the institution’s students have a representative body through which they can participate in governance (e.g. a student council)? :
Yes

Do the institution’s students have an elected representative on the institution’s highest governing body?:
Yes

A brief description of the bodies and mechanisms through which students are engaged in governance, including information to support each affirmative response above:

Any student can run to be elected as officer of their student society (either AEP, Undergraduate Students' Society, or AECSP, Graduate Students' Society). These two societies have statutory seats on various governing bodies at Polytechnique:

-the Board of Directors (Conseil d'administration):
Polytechnique Montreal's Board of Directors is the main governing body of the institution. The Board discusses and approves the stategic orientations of Polytechnique. It ensures that Polytechnique is managed with expertise and integrity and supports the efforts of the management team towards good governance and developing the institution. It is composed of 11 members, including 3 professors and 1 student. The composition of the Board of Directors is enshrined in a provincial Act;

-the Academic Council (Conseil académique):
Polytechnique’s Academic Council must be consulted on all policies and major projects regarding education and research. The Board of Directors or the Director General himself may consult the Academic Council on other matters relating to Polytechnique. The Academic Council also has the authority to look into any matter related to academic life. It ensures the implementation of policies that have been the subject of recommendations endorsed by the Board of Directors or that are under its jurisdiction and it plays an informative role to the Polytechnique community on academic issues. It is composed of 18 members, including 13 professors and 3 students;

-the Research Committee (Commission de la recherche):
Polytechnique’s Research Committee is a consultative assembly of the Academic Council in charge of studying files, projects and structures for research and innovation. It is composed of 24 members, including 15 professors, 3 students and 1 external member.

-the Engineering and Certificate Programs Committee (Commission des études de certificat et de l'ingénieur):
Polytechnique’s Engineering and Certificate Programs Committee is a consultative assembly of the Academic Council in charge of analyzing the nature of academic projects regarding undergraduate credited programs. New courses and programs, revisions to existing courses and programs, and issues and initiatives that have an impact on studies are discussed and approved by this committee. It is composed of 21 members, including 15 professors, 1 student and one external member.

-the Graduate Studies Committee (Commission des études supérieures):
It fills the same functions as the previous committee, but for graduate studies. It is composed of 18 members, including 13 professors, 1 graduate student and 1 external member.

See http://www.polymtl.ca/rensgen/direction/instances.php for more information on the current composition of the bodies.


Do the institution’s staff members have a representative body through which they can participate in governance (e.g. a staff council)?:
Yes

Do the institution’s non-supervisory staff members have an elected representative on the institution’s highest governing body?:
No

A brief description of the bodies and mechanisms through which staff are engaged in governance, including information to support each affirmative response above:

All of Polytechnique Montréal's non-supervisory employees are either unionized (through one of our nine unions) or grouped in an association (two associations). Through these associations, staff members negotiate their terms of employment on a regular basis with management. These associations are also represented on many bodies, including, for example, the Research Committee mentioned above.


Do the institution’s teaching and research faculty have a representative body through which they can participate in governance (e.g. a faculty senate)?:
Yes

Do the institution’s teaching and research faculty have an elected representative on the institution’s highest governing body? :
Yes

A brief description of the bodies and mechanisms through which teaching and research faculty are engaged in governance, including information to support each affirmative response above:

One professor is elected by his peers to sit on the institution' governing body, the Board of Directors. This representative is elected by the Assembly of faculty members ("Assemblée des professeurs") of Polytechnique, of which all Polytechnique professors are members. This seat for a faculty representative on the Board, as well as the entire composition of the Board, is enshrined in the provincial "Act respecting the Corporation of l'École Polytechnique de Montréal": http://www.polymtl.ca/rensgen/doc/Loi_Corporation_EPM.pdf

The Assembly of faculty members ("Assemblée des professeurs") also elects representatives as officers on various governing bodies at Polytechnique:
-the Academic Council;
-the Research Committee;
-the Engineering and Certificate Programs Committee;
-the Graduate Studies Committee.
(for details regarding the bodies see the first description of this part of the credit)


Does the institution have written policies and procedures to identify and engage external stakeholders (i.e. local residents) in land use planning, capital investment projects, and other institutional decisions that affect the community?:
No

A copy of the written policies and procedures:
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The policies and procedures:
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Does the institution have formal participatory or shared governance bodies through which community members representing the interests of the following stakeholder groups can regularly participate in institutional governance?:
Yes or No
Local government and/or educational organizations Yes
Private sector organizations Yes
Civil society (e.g. NGOs, NPOs) No

A brief description of the bodies and mechanisms through which external stakeholders are engaged in institutional governance (including information about each stakeholder group selected above):

By law, three members of the Board of Directors of Polytechnique Montréal represent the Government of Quebec (one of whom must be a Polytechnique alumnus), and the Rector (President) of Université de Montréal, a neighbouring university, also sits on the Board. Université de Montréal also has a representative on some of the bodies introduced in Part 1 of this credit, namely: the Research Committee, the Engineering and Certificate Programs Committee, and the Graduate Studies Committee.

The Consulting Council of Polytechnique (Conseil consultatif de l'École Polytechnique, or COCEP) advises Polytechnique Montréal and its departments in the development and implementation of their programs. The COCEP is splintered into as many subcommittees as there are departments at Polytechnique. Representatives from private sector firms and organizations sit on those committees. Its statutes may be consulted here:
https://share.polymtl.ca/alfresco/service/api/node/content/workspace/SpacesStore/108a3fc7-d842-4cc5-8c78-231ed0343884?a=false&guest=true

Lists of members of those bodies are available online, for instance :
-Electrical Engineering : http://www.polymtl.ca/ge/reseaux-et-partenaires
-Computer Engineering: http://www.polymtl.ca/gigl/r%C3%A9seaux-et-partenaires/comit%C3%A9-dorientation-strat%C3%A9gique-cocep-et-entreprises-dans-le-domaine-du-g%C3%A9nie
-Mathematics and Industrial Engineering: http://www.polymtl.ca/magi/partenaires-institutionnels/cocep-et-r%C3%A9seau-g%C3%A9nie-indutriel


The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.