Stanford
Graduate Academic Policies and Procedures

Updates

Updates to the GAP within the last few years are listed below. For questions about the derivation of any GAP documents or changes made more than a year ago, review the archive page or contact the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education (VPGE) at vpge@stanford.edu.

June 2023

GAP 7.3.1 Assistantships 

  • Section 2. General Eligibility Requirements
    • Clarified language-testing requirements for teaching with the TOEFL requirements for applying for graduate school admission.

May 2023

GAP 5.8.1 Exchange Programs 

  • Authority
    • Updated implementation to clarify university offices responsible for incoming and outgoing exchange program arrangements.

April 2023

GAP 2.1.1 Admitting Graduate Students to Matriculated Study

  • Section 1. General Requirements
    • Updated to accurately reflect existing Biosciences Program policies pertaining to number of possible programs.

February 2023

  1. GAP 2.1 Admitting Graduate Students to Matriculated Study was updated to clarify guidelines for deferral of admission for more than one year.
  2. GAP 7.2 Fellowships and Other Stipend Support was updated to clarify the definition of a "full fellowship" and the relationship between a "full fellowship" and additional working time.

September 2022

  1. GAP 4.2 Coterminal Degrees was updated to reflect changes in academic progress monitoring.  

June 2022

  1. GAP 7.1 General Funding Guidelines and Definitions was updated to reflect the change in the Cardinal Care Subsidy.

Temporary 2020-21 Policy Changes in Response to COVID-19

  1. GAP 3.1 Registration, Enrollment, and Academic Progress: COVID-19 POLICY UPDATE: The enrollment policies for graduate students have not been changed in 2020-21 in response to COVID-19 (see Stanford Bulletin). Graduate students are required to enroll full-time in Autumn, Winter and Spring, unless they are on an approved leave of absence or have an accommodation through the Office of Accessible Education or a childbirth accommodation. Graduate students are generally not required to be enrolled in Summer quarter, though some programs and funding sources may require enrollment. Read more under General Enrollment Requirements below. 
  2. GAP 3.2 Residency Policy for Graduate Students: COVID-19 POLICY UPDATE: The university policy restricting graduate residency credit for online or correspondence courses has been temporarily lifted by the Faculty Senate, acting in administrative session, for courses taken during 2020-21 (see Faculty Senate Steering Committee approves policy changes for 2020-21). The process for applying for graduate residency credit remains unchanged (see 5. Transfer Credit for Graduate Work Done Elsewhere).
  3. GAP 4.6 Doctoral Degrees, Candidacy: COVID-19 POLICY UPDATE: On March 26, 2020, the Faculty Senate approved the Committee on Graduate Studies' recommendation allowing degree programs to delay until Autumn 2020 the university candidacy deadline for current 2nd-year doctoral students. Following completion of the degree program’s qualifying procedure, admissions to candidacy are normally required by the end of the 2nd year. No further extensions to the candidacy deadline have been approved.
  4. GAP 4.7 Doctoral Degrees, University Oral Examinations & Committees: COVID-19 POLICY UPDATE: Approval for a partially or fully remote oral dissertation has been delegated by Vice Provost Stacey F. Bent to DGSs or department chairs through Summer 2021 (see GAP 4.7 Doctoral Degrees, University Oral Examinations & Committees).