FAR - Results from the 2022 IQAP Review of the Undergraduate Programs in Physics and Space Sciences

Introduction

In accordance with the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Institutional Quality Assurance Process (IQAP), this Final Assessment Report (FAR) provides a synthesis of the external evaluation and internal response and assessments of the undergraduate programs offered by the Faculty of Science in B.Sc. Physics, B.Sc. Physics (Honours), B.Sc. Space Science, and B.Sc. Space Science (Honours). This report identifies the significant strengths of the programs, together with opportunities for improvement and enhancement, and sets out and prioritizes the recommendations that have been selected for implementation.

This report includes an Implementation Plan that identifies who will be responsible for approving the recommendations set out in the Final Assessment Report; who will be responsible for providing any resources entailed by those recommendations; any changes in organization, policy or governance that will be necessary to meet the recommendations and who will be responsible for acting on those recommendations; and timelines for acting on and monitoring the implementation of those recommendations.

Overview of Program Review Process

The Program Self-Study Reports were completed in July 2022.  For the programs under review (B.Sc. Physics, B.Sc. Physics (Honours), B.Sc. Space Science, and B.Sc. Space Science (Honours)) it contained the degree level expectations for these programs, an analytical assessment of the programs, course outlines, program-related data, survey data from the Office of Quality Assurance and appendices with sample examinations and CVs of faculty members. Two arm’s-length external reviewers (Jean-François Bisson, Ph.D, Département de physique et d’astronomie, Université de Moncton and Marek Stastna, Ph.D. Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Waterloo) were selected from a list of possible reviewers and approved by the Deans of Science. An internal reviewer, Dr. Francis Okou from the Faculty of Engineering, was also selected for participation on the ERC.  They reviewed the self-study documentation and conducted an on-site visit to RMC from 18 to 19 October 2022.  During the site visit, the ERC met with the VP Academic, the Director of Quality Assurance, the Dean of Science, the Dean of Graduate Studies, the Head of the physics department and program chair, both the military and civilian faculty members as groups, laboratory technicians, alumni, students registered in the programs under study, the librarian-in-chief, the head of the Writing Centre, the acting VP Research, and the AVP in Indigenous Learning and Knowledge.

The reviewers submitted their report 30 November 2022.  In their report, the ERC expresses the opinion that the core physics program of RMC is on par with similar programs offered in comparable Canadian institutions, and that the space science program is original and of high quality.

Significant Strengths and Areas of Concern of the Program:

The ERC identified a number of strengths of the undergraduate Physics and Space Sciences Programs:

1. Large availability and high quality of lab equipment;
2. Broad range of laboratory experiments;
3. Strong content in mechanics and electromagnetism;
4. Uniqueness of the Space Science programs and corresponding courses; and
5. Good link to practical R&D, especially military.

The ERC identified a number of areas of concern for the undergraduate Physics and Space Science Programs:

1. Lack of students’ ability in mathematics adversely affecting the contents of senior theoretical courses;
2. Lack of stimulation of critical thinking, in particular in laboratories;
3. Relative weakness in computational physics and programming in view of its crucial importance in the applied physics in the military;
4. Poor computer network;
5. Underutilization of research lab facility by undergraduate students; and
6. Lack of availability of teaching documents in the self-study report.

The Program Chair, after consultation with faculty and staff in the programs, submitted a response to the ERC Report in January 2023.  The Dean of Science prepared this Final Assessment Report on 1 June 2022.  Specific recommendations are discussed, and follow-up actions and timelines provided.

Summary of the Reviewers' Recommendations with the Department's and Dean's Responses

The ERC identified several areas of concern or issues that require attention.  These issues are discussed in the order that they appear in the ERC Report:

Recommendation 1

Better instruct students and staff on how to access electronic resources (e.g., research articles) in order to improve their perception of the accessibility to these resources.

Departmental Response

The Chief Librarian accepted an invitation to provide a learning seminar to the PSS faculty on how to access library resources including the online electronic databases relevant to the research fields of the department. Faculty members are encouraged to invite the Chief Librarian to give similar sessions to their grad students and in the undergrad classes, especially where end-of-term essays are used as assessment tools.

Dean’s Response:     

The Dean endorses this response and notes that this issue permeates all undergraduate programs. As such, perhaps a joint session for all students, or even a mandatory Moodle course plus assignment, could be explored with the Chief librarian. The Dean encourages all courses that have essay components in their assessments to incorporate learning about RMC library resources into the course material and to seek input from the Chief Librarian for recommendations on those resources.

Recommendation 2

Add a 2nd year course dedicated to computational physics or the practical aspects of numerical analysis.

Departmental Response

Currently 40% of the civilian faculty members serve in RMC administrative duties that come with course relief. Consequently, the teaching load amongst civilian and military faculty is at full capacity.  The department agrees that computational physics is extremely important for our students and many professors hold lectures and labs in the computing laboratory to teach numerical methods to solve eigenvalue problems involving transcendental equations (PHF 304), teach STK (PH255 and PH355), or different numerical approaches in orbital mechanics (PH350). Also, the laboratory course (PH364) is now developing computational methods in some of the laboratory experiments.  There is a senior level course PHx460 (Computational Physics) which is a required core course for the Physics and Space Science programs. Based on the current workload distribution, any new course developed to specifically focus on fundamental numerical analysis techniques at the junior level would require the department to remove a different course from the program. Department members will be surveyed to determine whether there is broad support for the Undergraduate Studies Committee (USC) to be tasked with identifying potential courses to remove from the program to be replaced with a new computational course at the junior level.

Dean’s Response:

The Dean endorses this response. Sprinkling the topic throughout other courses and labs is a good alternative to the addition of another full course, as there is little flexibility in the students’ schedules for addition of another course and especially considering there is a 4th year course in this field. That said, it is a good idea to re-evaluate course offerings, with the intent to stay current and follow discipline trends. As it would take a couple of years to implement new changes, this work should occur within the next year.

Recommendation 3

Continue to refine course material to reflect the fast-changing defence environment (e.g., PH255).

Departmental Response

The Syllabus Committee has approved new course descriptions for the courses PH255 and PH355 in the 2023-2024 Course Calendar. The changes in the course descriptions for these two courses reflect new topics of interest and trends in CAF operations that occurred in recent years. The Department is dedicated to providing relevant education to future CAF officers. We are diligent in liaising with operational units, while also listening to both incoming students and alumni to refine course material.

A new laboratory related to stainless steel objects tracking has been designed and will be implemented in the winter 2023 term in the PHE364 senior lab course. This laboratory introduces the principles used in laser spectroscopy in stainless steels to detect alloying elements in a given sample. The laboratory is done in one of our research laboratories in the PSS Department. Research is currently undertaken in one of our laboratories and in this research work we are looking at this type of spectroscopy for applications such as object tracking and identifying heavy elements in soils during military operations. The goal of this laboratory is to increase the breadth of experience of students in DND military applications, that are also of interest to DRDC (Development Research Defense Canada) in Valcartier and DTAES (Directorate of Technical Airworthiness and Engineering Support).

Dean’s Response:

The Dean endorses this response. The approach described in the departmental response shows they have already addressed this recommendation, including very relevant military projects and having course description changes implemented in time for this upcoming Academic Year.

Recommendation 4

Four pillars:

1. Improve the scheduling of the four pillars by avoiding schedule conflicts, e.g., a stressful sport competition on the same day as a mid-term exam;
2. Tailor the physical fitness training to the physical objectives and to the capabilities of each cadet;
3. Include indigenization in the leadership pillar, as well as in history, environmental science and humanities courses (not in the core discipline of physics).

Departmental Response

1. Communication about student duty away events and in-class assessments occurs at the level of the Deans (which has representatives from the Training and Academic Wings). In addition, RMC has a school calendar where all events are posted and tracked.  The high demands on students’ time at this unique university sometimes makes scheduling conflicts unavoidable.  The PSS Department will encourage professors to set and announce dates for tests and assignments at the beginning of term so that students may ask for adjustments much earlier to help reduce these conflicts;
2. This is not in the purview of the department or the Academic Wing: and
3. Each program includes at least 9 credits in Social Sciences and Humanities, each of which have opportunities to cover indigenous topics.  Certainly, the new Associate VP Indigenous Learning and Knowledges (AVPILK) will have an impact on the content of those courses.  Any influence the PSS department has will be indirect.

Dean’s Response:

The Dean endorses the replies above and notes the following:

1. RMC is working on updating and implementing a college activities calendar (to replace the one lost during a previous cyber incident). This calendar is set to be released soon and will allow professors to see the dates of any large or important military or sports duties. In addition, professors at RMC are known to be very flexible and are generally amenable to moving the date of a midterm or lab deadline when given enough lead time.
2. In 2017 / 2018, the RMC Physical Performance Test (PPT) underwent extensive review by a combination of internal and external experts. As part of the PPT review, the most recent ten years of test results (over 26,000 tests) and  the key findings of this research were as follows;
    
   1. The overall results on this test are subject to minor cyclical variations but show an overall stability from year to year;
   2. The PPT is a fair measure of fitness for N / OCdts in three key regards;
   3. Standards are at the correct level for all components;
   4. Neither males or females are advantaged in the scoring; and
   5. Opportunity to meet the standard is equal for both genders. 

Even with these findings, the review identified several small improvements using modern technology to obtain more accurate measurements / scoring.  In addition, some components of the test were modified.  These included: 

1. Removal of the sit-up component as modern science has shown this puts undue stress on the subjects’ backs. Replace it with another test for muscular endurance;
2. Test the 2.4 km run on a separate day from the remainder of the PPT;
3. Modify the agility run to the standardized Illinois agility run test and add electronic timing system for the agility run to increase accuracy;
4. Remove push-ups from the test as no matter what strategies are put in place there remains subjectivity with the evaluation of push-ups.  Replace this component of the test with another test for muscular strength; and
5. Standardize test component order to ensure it is the same for all N/OCdts

All of these recommendations were adopted and have been in place since 2019.  N/OCdts that do not meet the pass standard on the PPT are provided with four times a week individualized physical training from the Ath Dept staff.

3. The Dean encourages the Department to work with the AVPIKL to highlight areas where indigenous cultural attention may be placed. In addition, the RMC Curriculum Indigenization Working Group was established to focus on the addition of content and formatting to existing courses.

Recommendation 5

Connect the oceanography courses to climate change, possibly through the lens of DND/CAF interests.

Departmental Response

Climate change is already included and discussed over several lectures in PHE370 (Oceanography) as a specialized topic and as an approved subject for the term essay component worth 15%.  In previous years, a final term essay (worth 30%) was done under the specific umbrella of climate change (i.e. essays could be on Ocean Acidification or changing CAF interests in the North).  Though PHE470 (Physical Oceanography) is mostly focused on geophysical fluid dynamics, climate change news articles are frequently discussed with the class, many of whom have taken PHE370 or have their own lived experience.  Further, the physics of the oceans is often explained in the context of changing climate conditions (e.g. increased heat absorption at the surface will enhance stratification which has knock-on effects for the vertical transport of oxygen and nutrients).  The department recognizes the growing impact of Climate Change on Canadian citizens and the specific impacts it will have on DND resources and domains of strategic importance and will continue to advance and develop these courses to meet the needs of CAF officer training.

Dean’s Response:

The Dean endorses this response.

Recommendation 6

Course syllabi:

1. Add precise learning objectives to the syllabi; link them to the PLOs and DLEs;
2. Ensure uniformity of syllabi among different sections of the same course;
3. Include statements prohibiting sexual harassment and bullying on the campus in the course syllabi; and
4. Ensure course material, starting with course syllabi but building out, is consistent with Ontario’s AODA legislation.

Departmental Response

1. The Undergraduate Study Committee (USC) will analyse the current DLE and PLO program tables and make recommendations to the department on instructor best practices of how and where to add course specific PLOs to course material.  The department will look for ways make PLOs more centrally available on common access areas (e.g. sharepoint or moodle pages) for all courses for departmental knowledge and sharing.
2. PHx104 and PHx205 typically have substantial registrations that call for more than 1 section. PSS instructors in different sections are required to ensure that quizzes, midterms and final exams are uniform across sections (including anglo and franco sections) meaning that course material is taught at the same pace and topics can be provided on a weekly basis in the syllabus. The marking schemes are typically the same as a result. As a result, these syllabi already have some consistency built into them. The PSS dept should seek recommendations from the USC to discuss the merits of and provide standardized elements within course syllabi (such as instructor contact information, office hours, inclusivity statements and RMC policies on sexual and workplace harassment) that do not interfere with Academic Freedom.
3. Refer to response 6b.  It should be noted that students also receive significant training on DND policies on workplace harassment from the Training Wing.  This is covered under the DND/Miltary Ethics and ethos policies.  As a member of DND, RMC is required to follow Defence Administrative Order and Directive (DAOD) 5012-0, Harassment prevention and resolution.
4. The department wholeheartedly backs measures to support members with disabilities and will ensure that course syllabi and delivery is consistent with Ontario’s AODA.  RMC has a robust Accommodations unit that is responsible for engaging with students with disabilities and providing support to both students and instructors to meet the determined accommodations.  Previous accommodations have included the wearing of voice amplifying technology, the provision of lecture notes in electronic form, and the posting of recorded lectures for asynchronous learning, Physical facility accommodations are under the purview of the Building Facilities unit.

Dean’s Response:

The Dean endorses this response and notes the following:

1. The addition of PLOs and DLEs relevant to the course material is being added to syllabi in other disciplines as well, and is common-place in engineering courses. PSS should reach out to the Office of Quality Assurance for recommendations on adding these. It is also a good exercise while performing curriculum mapping.
2. The Dean concurs that Academic Freedom must still be respected. The department is encouraged to seek out ways of standardizing the main details of a course on the course syllabus. In addition to sections maintaining common midterms, and other work, it is RMC’s policy that the French and English versions of the course adhere to Academic Policy Directive No. 7, which emphasizes commonality between sections.
3. Nothing else to add.
4. While RMC currently makes accommodations for students as described in the departmental response above, a review will be necessary to better understand the AODA legislation as it pertains to course syllabi and materials. As this issue is of importance to all programs at the college, the review could be initiated by the Department but include input and contributions from RMC’s EDI Officer, the Registrar’s office, and course design specialists in the Writing Center.

Recommendation 7

Extend recommendation 6a to teaching documents.

Departmental Response

USC recommendations following the response to 6a will include teaching documents.

Dean’s Response:

The Dean endorses this response, while understanding the importance of academic freedom afforded to each professor.

Recommendation 8

Increase the stimulation of critical thinking: Place more conceptual questions that do not require calculations or only require ballpark estimates in assignments and exams.

Departmental Response

The PSS Department agrees that critical thinking is a key class learning objective for our courses. The USC will be asked to review current teaching in-class practices and assessment methodologies.  The review will be useful in two ways: 1. to improve the DLE/PLO tables consistent with IQAP manual v3.1 and, 2. to assess levels of conceptual questions currently used as teaching methods and make recommendations to the department on instructor best practices to address this issue.

Dean’s Response:

The Dean endorses this response.

Recommendation 9

Laboratories:

1. Favour more heuristic, less regimented, approaches in laboratory contents;
2. For courses containing both lecture and lab components, abolish the requirement of separately passing the lab part of a course to pass the course;
3. Test learning objectives of the laboratories and theoretical lectures in the same exams rather than separately; and
4. Fit and harmonize the laboratory contents to the lectures.

Departmental Response

1. The USC in concert with the Undergraduate Labs Committee (ULC) will review the current laboratory teaching methodologies and make recommendations to the department on areas where heuristic approaches to laboratory learning may be applied to improve the students’ laboratory learning experience.  In the short term the ULC proposes that the instructions for the choice experiments in the 2nd year lab be paired down in order to encourage more critical thinking and problem solving.  The mandatory 2nd year experiments are more complex and are used to teach new analytical tools, and so the ULC proposes to add some additional critical thinking questions based on specific learning objectives for each lab.  In the long term, the ULC is committed to identifying clear Learning Objectives that are harmonized with the lecture portion of the courses and revaluating the lab material for 1st and 2nd year in order to meet those laboratory learning objectives;
2. Experiential learning is foundational to a degree in Physics or Space Science.  Recent surveys of other Physics programs at Ontario universities show a wide diversity in whether students need to demonstrate mastery of lab material in order to pass a combined lab/lecture course.  A USC review of the inclusion of PLOs in course syllabi, if recommended, will effectively include demonstrated skill in laboratory methodology as an assessed skill in these courses.  This will also align with recommendation 6a, and 7;
3. End-of-term exam lengths are 3 hours long consistent with other Ontario universities and held in an invigilated exam-hall space.  That is sufficient time to test the theoretical knowledge gained in the lecture component of a course in an environment ill-suited to include the laboratory equipment necessary to assess student experiential skill. For the first year laboratory, laboratory skills are already tested at the end of term in a separate test.   For the second year laboratory, the ULC proposes one common lab type question involving linearization of an experimental equation as well as differential error propagation, common for second year exams with associated labs; and
4. The USC believes that fitting and harmonizing the laboratory contents to the lectures would improve the courses in which there are a lab and theory parts. This can be done using examples with significant figures showing why a given number of decimals are necessary in the final answer or give uncertainties of measurements, which must be taken into account in the final answer. Other creative ways to include matter covered in the theory part involving dimensional analysis, for instance, can also be envisaged to develop critical thinking.

In the first year laboratory, although the order of the experiments does not line up exactly with the order of the lecture material, it is carefully chosen in order to minimize the amount of higher level mathematics early in the year, due to the diverse academic background of incoming 1st year students.  The order of the experiments is based on previous years of experience and is set from the least complicated to most complicated experiment, while the experiments are chosen to illustrate theory taught in class.

In the second year laboratory, students from multiple different lecture courses attend a common lab.  For this reason it is difficult to synchronize labs with lecture material.  This year, the second year lab was reorganized so that mandatory lab experiments were linked to specific lecture courses in order to maximize the link between lab and lecture courses. 

Going forward the ULC and USC need to complete a review of the learning objectives for the labs (all years), which can then be linked to the overall structure of the PLOs and DLEs for the Physics and Space Science programs.

Dean’s Response:

The Dean endorses this response and notes the following:

The laboratory portion of a course oftentimes contains a communication piece, in the form of a written lab report alongside the requirement to master lab techniques. It is vital to underscore the importance of the lab portion of the curriculum to signal its importance to the students, who are then more apt to apply themselves and engage within the lab.

The proposal by the ULC to include a laboratory-based question on the final exam of the course would emphasize the importance of the experiential learning piece to the students and reinforce the link between fundamental knowledge gained during the lecture portion and the applied aspects learned in the lab.

Recommendation 10

Teaching language:

1. Refrain from asking students to take their course in the other official language, unless it is clear that one linguistic group is not, on average, more affected by this request than the other;
2. Advocate to the administration that the new rule of a minimum number of registrations of three students per class disproportionally puts francophone students at a disadvantage;
3. Make language training of new faculty members and technical staff mandatory in order to fully deliver the programs in both official languages; and
4. Make the appointment of faculty members to service positions conditional on the fact that it will not affect the ability to offer the Physics and Space Science programs in both French and in English.

Departmental Response

1. RMC is mandated to provide each student with their program in the language of their choice.  The department will continue to seek ways in which it can offer courses in both official languages that meets student demand and the language mandate. Teaching workloads and student enrollment can occasionally interfere with regular course offerings and the department is looking to adopt policy where courses may be offered in alternating years and languages to meet student demand;
2. The PSS Department agrees that more discussions with the administration is required to review this policy;
3. Mandatory language training is not included in the collective bargaining agreements for faculty or staff.  This is not in the purview of the department or the Academic Wing; and
4. Promotional requirements for civilian faculty include administrative service roles, hence departmental policies prohibiting faculty from taking on administration responsibilities would obstruct their promotion process.

Dean Response:

The Dean endorses this response and notes the following:

1. The Dean supports the Department's efforts. The option of running courses in different languages in alternating years is a good suggestion to boost numbers, as students from more than one year will be registered in the course. However, this is not always an option when courses have prerequisites, or are themselves a prerequisite for upper year courses, and a closer look at this possibility is warranted and may involve more planning.
2. The Dean recognizes the challenges with the new rule and will encourage discussion with the upper Administration.
3. Departments can take their teaching requirements into consideration when preparing the hiring documents for new hires to include a bilingual profile, or unilingual profile, as an essential requirement.
4. While the recommendation is based on the importance of maintaining the Department’s teaching capabilities in both official languages, applying this recommendation, while abiding by the Collective Agreement of UTs, is not possible in practice. The promotion framework of UTs is based on equally weighted performance evaluations in teaching, research, and administration, where UTs are encouraged to contribute in administrative roles and will in turn increase the merits of their promotion portfolios. Implementing a restriction on the ability of UTs to pursue administrative roles would impede a UTs path towards promotion and therefore be contrary to the Collective Agreement. Other avenues could be considered, such as described above in 6c, to maintain teaching capability in both languages.

VPA Response:

For points (a) and (b), based on the 2017 Auditor General Report, RMC was found to cost more per student when compared to civilian universities. As a consequence, steps were taken at RMC to maintain an acceptable cost education ratio per student. As a consequence, programmes are not offered at RMC unless there is a minimum of 3 students registered in them. This is common practice at other universities too. Once a programme is offered, RMC is required to offer all mandatory programme courses in the student’s first official language. Departments are not required to offer optional courses in both official languages when students have a choice of courses. This is done because of our limited teaching resources.

For point (d), if faculty members are appointed to service positions, the department can ask for determinate term hires to replace them. All of the term hire requests for this situation have been approved by the College administration.

Implementation Plan

Recommendation	Proposed Follow-Up	Responsibility for Leading Follow-Up	Timeline for Addressing Recommendation
1. Better instruct students and staff on how to access electronic resources.	Invite the Chief librarian to provide a learning seminar to PSS Faculty. Faculty members will then be encouraged to invite the Chief Librarian into their classrooms to speak with students.	Head of Department	September 2023
2. Add a 2nd year course dedicated to computational physics or the practical aspects of numerical analysis.	The undergraduate Studies Committee (USC) will look at the possibility of restructuring the curriculum to add a new 2nd year course dedicated to computational physics.	Chair, Undergraduate Studies Committee	September 2023
3. Continue to refine course material to reflect the fast-changing defence environment (e.g. PH255)	A new description for PH255 and PH355 has been approved at the Syllabus Committee last November 2022. Also new labs are now offered in the third year laboratory course PH364. However, the material may be reviewed on a yearly basis to ensure it is keeping pace.	Chair, Undergraduate Studies Committee	Yearly review
4. Four pillars	Professors will attempt to announce the dates of exams and assignments in their syllabus at the beginning of terms The Dept is unable to effect change to the Athletics pillar. The AVP-IKL is running the Curriculum Indigenization Working Group and the Department is encouraged to participate if applicable.	Administrative Assistant  and the Head of the Dept Director of Athletics Head of the Dept to reach out to VP-IKL	Fall 2023
5. Connect the oceanography courses to climate change, possibly through the lens of DND/CAF interests.	Course PH370 is addressing the problems of climate changes. Department will continue to advance and develop this course to meet the needs of CAF officer training.	USC to evaluate on a yearly basis	Reviewed annually as a part of Ongoing Monitoring of program (implementation updates due each June)
6. Course syllabi.	The Undergraduate Study Committee (USC) will analyse the various DLE’s and PLO’s and link these to specific courses. Standardize elements within course syllabi (such as instructor contact information, office hours, inclusivity statements and RMC policies on sexual and workplace harassment). The USC will examine/ decide if it is necessary to include statements prohibiting sexual harassment and bullying on the campus in the course syllabi. The USC will review course syllabi to assess AODA compliance as it relates to universal design for accessibility and inclusion.	Chair, USC	November 30 2023 November 30 2023 November 30 2023 March 31 2024
7. Extend recommendation 6a to teaching documents.	The USC will decide if DLE’s and PLO’s should be included in each course syllabus	Chair, USC	March 31 2024
8. Increase the stimulation of critical thinking.	USC will review current teaching practice. This will: improve the DLE/PLO tables consistent with IQAP manual v3.1 help to assess the level of conceptual questions currently used by professors. Then the USC will be in a better position to recommend best practices to address this issue.	Chair, USC	March 31 2024
9. Laboratories	The USC in concert with the Undergraduate Labs Committee (ULC) will review the current laboratory teaching methodologies and make recommendations A USC review of the inclusion of PLOs in course syllabi, if recommended, will effectively include demonstrated skill in laboratory methodology as an assessed skill in these courses.  This will also align with recommendation 6a, and 7. For the second year laboratory, the ULC proposes one common lab type question involving linearization of an experimental equation as well as differential error propagation, common for second year exams with associated labs; ULC and USC will to complete a review of the learning objectives for the labs (all years), which can then be linked to the overall structure of the PLOs and DLEs for the Physics and Space Science programs. After this, a separate review will occur to see how the specific experiments align with course material.	Chair, ULC Chairs of USC and ULC Chairs of USC and ULC Chairs of USC and ULC	March 31 2024 March 31 2024 June 15 2024 June 15 2024

Conclusion:

The ERC Report provided positive feedback on the outcomes of the undergraduate programs in Physics and Space Science and confirmed that the RMC is delivering solid, high quality programs. However, the ERC did identify areas that had room for improvement, and RMC is, or has already taken, taking steps to address the issues raised. RMC will continue to work toward program enhancement and improve student success in Physics and Space Sciences.

The Dean of Science, in consultation with the Program Chair and the Head of Physics and Space Science, is responsible for monitoring the Implementation Plan.