Skip to content | Change text size
Academic

Other

University Legislation and policy
 

Academic Progress Procedures

Parent procedures: Academic Progress Intervention Strategies Procedure

Preamble: The review of the academic progress of students is conducted according to the university Faculty Academic Progress Committee Procedures and the Progress Intervention Strategies Procedures. These procedures are applied across the whole university and involve early warning letters and end-of-year referral to Academic Progress Committee.

In addition to these procedures, faculties are required to have in place complementary strategies to assess students’ performance on a regular basis and to help students towards a satisfactory progression through their course. In particular, faculties are required to have a procedure for reviewing the academic progress of students who are admitted in a mid-year intake before they have completed three semesters of study. These procedures must be implemented (as a minimum) after semester one for students who

  • commenced mid-year in the previous year
  • completed two semesters of study
  • failed 50% or more on their enrolment
Procedure:

Action

Responsibility

1. Early warning letters
Science students who have failed 50% or more of their enrolment in a given semester will be sent early warning letters within two weeks of the release of results of the given semester. (Students who are referred to the Academic Progress Committee will receive a Notice of Referral—see 2. and 3.)
The purpose of these letters is to:

  • warn the students  that they  may be at risk of breaching the Faculty  of Science academic progress rules,
  • inform the students  about the free support services available to them from the Faculty and the University,
  • urge the students  to take immediate actions to improve their academic performance, and
  • where appropriate, urge students to seek course advice.
 Chair, Academic Progress Committee (APC)
2.  End-of-year Academic Progress Review
All science students whose academic performance in the period commencing in December of the previous year is deemed unsatisfactory will be sent a Notice of Referral to the Faculty of Science Academic Progress Committee. The process will be conducted in accordance with university procedures.		 Chair, APC
Students

3.  Mid-year Academic Progress Review
3.1 Students who commence their course in semester two will have their performance reviewed after completing the first two semesters of study within their course.
[Unless the student has taken intermission, this will occur after the release of results for semester one of the year following their enrolment.] 

3.2 Students whose academic performance is found to be unsatisfactory will be asked by the Faculty Academic Progress Committee to respond to a Notice of Referral to explain in writing why their results were unsatisfactory, and what they  are planning to do to improve their  academic performance.

3.3 Students who are sent such a letter, will be expected to respond to the Notice of Referral  within 10 university working days.

3.4 A subcommittee of the Faculty Academic Progress Committee will consider all students responses, and will make a decision regarding their enrolment in semester two of that year.

3.5  In each case, the subcommittee will  decide to

  • allow the student to continue their studies,  with or without a recommendation,
  • allow the student to continue their studies  with a condition placed on their enrolment.

Chair, APC
Students

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

Scope
This procedure applies to all undergraduate students enrolled in the  Faculty of Science.

Definitions

Unsatisfactory academic performance:
The academic performance of a science student over a one-year period is considered unsatisfactory when the student

  1. has completed at least 2 semester of studies with their course
  2. failed more than 50% of their enrolment, or
  3. failed to comply with any conditions imposed by the Faculty Board or by an Academic Progress Committee of the faculty.

Depending on the semester when the students commence their course, their academic performance may be deemed to be unsatisfactory at the end of either semester one (mid year) or semester two (end of year).

Related Documents
Faculty Academic Progress Committee Procedures
Progress Intervention Strategies Procedures
Exclusion Appeals Committee of Academic Board Procedures

Responsibilities for Implementation

Chair, Academic Progress Committee

Date Effective
Semester 1 2008

Approval
Faculty Education Committee 03/08

Review
2010