ACADEMIC TERMINOLOGY
Academic Year: The school year that runs from September to April and normally includes the Fall and Winter terms.
Academic Term: The University College offers three terms during the year as follows: Fall (13 weeks from September to December), Winter (13 weeks from January to April), Spring (six weeks in May and June). Also referred to as a semester or session. Note: the Spring term is not part of the normal academic year for academic or funding purposes.
Admission: The process of applying and being accepted as a potential student of the University College. This process does not include course selection or registration.
Audit: Students who audit a course attend the course but do not receive credit for it. Audit students must register for the course they would like to attend.
Award: Awards are gifts of money to students for use toward their educational costs. Awards can include both scholarships and bursaries.
Bursary: An award issued to a student based primarily on financial need. Award of a bursary may be subject to additional criteria such as academic standing or community involvement.
Certificate: A document certifying that an individual has fulfilled the requirements of a particular program of study.
Concentration: A specific area of study within a three-year degree program.
Corequisite: A course in which a student must enroll for credit in the same term for which he/she is enrolling in a given course.
Credit: Students who receive credit for a course may use the course toward a degree program or as a prerequisite, unless otherwise noted in the course description.
Credit hours: A number that determines the weight a course will be given when calculating GPA or determining degree or program requirements, relating directly to the number of hours of instruction. Courses lasting one academic term are generally three credit hours, while full-year courses are generally six credit hours.
Diploma: A document bearing record of graduation from or of a degree conferred by an educational institution.
Discipline: A subject area or branch of knowledge.
Drop: Before the appropriate deadline, a student may have a course removed from his or her registration. Dropped courses do not appear on a student’s transcript.
Elective: Courses taken for credit toward a degree program that do not meet any specific program requirement.
Faculty: The academic teaching staff of a college or university.
Fees: A sum charged for services, approved annually by the Board of Governors. The amount assessed may be based on credit value and other criteria.
Full load: Enrolment in fifteen credit hours per term.
Full-time: Enrolment in at least nine credit hours per term.
GPA: Grade point average. A calculation of a student’s academic performance obtained by dividing the total number of grade points received by the number of credit hours in which the student was registered.
Grade report: An unofficial list of the grades a student received in the previous term.
Loan: A repayable fund of money distributed by the government and financial institutions based on financial need. Loans are interest bearing and may require that interest payments be made while a student is still at school. Loan applications must be made to the granting government program or financial institution.
Major: A specific and primary area of study in a four-year degree program.
Minor: A specific and secondary area of study in a four-year degree program.
Part-time: Enrolment in fewer than nine credit hours per term.
Prerequisite: Course(s) students are required to have completed for credit prior to enrolling in a given course. A grade of “C-” or better is required to satisfy a prerequisite.
Probation: A student will be placed on academic probation for unsatisfactory academic performance. Probation is a temporary state requiring that a student abide by certain conditions and return to satisfactory academic standing.
Registration: The process of selecting and enrolling in courses for a particular term.
Scholarship: An award given primarily on the basis of exceptional academic achievement.
Suspension: A student may be suspended from the University College for unsatisfactory academic performance or intellectual dishonesty. Suspended students are not permitted to register for any courses while suspended.
TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language. This test is administered by an independent organization and is used to assess the English language abilities of those applicants for whom English is not a native language.
Transcript: A complete list of the courses taken and grades received at an educational institution.
Transfer credit: Credit granted at St. Mary’s University College for studies completed at another institution.
Tuition: The price assessed for courses.
Withdrawal: A student may withdraw from a course before the appropriate deadline. The student will be given a grade of “W” for the course and the course will remain on the student’s transcript. A “W” grade is not included in GPA calculations. Tuition and fees will be charged for the course.