Definitions

admission           
the Faculty’s acceptance of an applicant as a student.

auditor               
student who attends a course with the consent of the instructor; formal registration required but student does not receive credit for course and is not entitled to submit assignments or write examinations.

class                    
a particular offering of a given course.

corequisite         
a requirement that must be fulfilled concurrently with another course.

course                 
a proscribed set of study and evaluation, used for academic credit towards a degree program.

core    
a course that is required, or is selected from an extremely limited list of courses, in a Plan.

elective   
a course freely chosen by the student.

equivalency        
a pair of courses, one of which is no longer offered, which are considered to be similar enough that one may serve interchangeably for the other in terms of prerequisites, corequisites, exclusions, and Plan and program requirements. Credit will only be given for one of the pair.

exclusion           
a list of two or more courses that are considered similar enough that credit will only be given for a defined subset of courses from that list. Usually, holding credit for an excluded course(s) will prevent enrolment in any of the remaining courses on the list.

GPA (grade point average)   
the unit-weighted average grade point in a set of courses, based on a 4.3 grade point scale.

level                    
determined by the number of passed units completed:

• 0.0 - 23.9 units (level 1);
• 24.0 - 47.9 units (level 2);
• 48.0 - 83.9 units (level 3);
• 84.0 units and above (level 4).

one-way exclusion    
a course that will prevent enrolment if taken with or before another course.

option                 
a course chosen from a limited list of courses specified in a Plan. The degree of choice may vary according to the Plan.

part-time student
may enrol in at most 9.0 units in each of the Fall or Winter Terms.

Plan                    
an approved set of courses required to focus in an area of study. The depth of focus may vary according to Plan type (Major, Minor, Medial, Specialization, General). More than one Plan may be required to obtain a degree.

prerequisite       
a requirement that must be met prior to enrolment in a course.

program             
an approved set of courses leading to a degree.

session                
an academic period within a Term. Start and end dates for each Session are published annually under Academic Dates.

subject                
a defined area of study.

supporting course
a course in a Plan that complements the area of study; some Plans have required supporting courses (e.g. mathematics courses in a Physics Plan); others do not.

Term                   
an academic period during the calendar year.
There are three Terms:

• Fall (September-December);
• Winter (January-April);
• Summer (May-August).

Start and end dates for each Term are published annually under Academic Dates.

unit                     
the academic value of a course.

Independent Study 

Exceptionally qualified students entering their third- or fourth-year may take a program of independent study provided it has been approved both by the Associate Dean (Academic) and by the Department or Departments principally involved.

A Department may approve an independent study program without permitting it to be counted toward a concentration in that Department. It is, consequently, the responsibility of students taking such programs to ensure that the concentration requirements for a degree will be met.

Requests for such a program must be received by the Office of the Associate Deans (Academic) one month before the start of the first term in which the student intends to undertake the program. Requests must include:

1. a detailed outline of the project, including its aims, the topics to be studied, and a preliminary list of readings;
2. the names of the faculty members supervising the project, including the principal coordinator;
3. the number of units for which the project is to substitute, based on an estimate of the amount of work to be covered by the project, taking into account the planned learning hours; and
4. the method by which the student’s performance is to be evaluated, and the method by which the grade or grades will be assigned.

The Associate Dean (Academic) may, in consultation with the student and faculty members involved, propose modifications to the project, particularly with respect to the number of units to be assigned to it. The Associate Dean (Academic) may require an interview with the student.

Course numbers assigned to independent study are specified under Course Numbers in the Introduction section of the Calendar. The departmental code assigned to the course will be that of the department which is closest to the material studied, provided it has agreed to take academic responsibility for the project.

Language Courses

Credit will be allowed for successful completion of courses in languages other than English and other than those offered at Queen’s provided that:

1. The course is in a modern language, defined as one that is currently used by an existing culture;
2. The course is offered by an accredited university, a school affiliated with such a university or by one of the language schools historically recognized by Queen’s;
3. Criteria for determining credit equivalency will be by parameters currently in use for all courses, that is, a grade determined by the host institution, number of contact hours, learning objectives/outcomes, type and number of assignments; and
4. The student has the course approved prior to departure by means of an International Letter of Permission, and supplies appropriate evidence of the above on return.

Credit for such language courses will transfer as LANG 101 Language Acquisition - Beginning Level I/3.0, for a first course in a modern language, LANG 102 Language Acquisition - Beginning Level II/3.0 for a continuation of LANG 101 Language Acquisition - Beginning Level I/3.0, LANG 201 Language Acquisition - Advanced Level I/3.0, for an advanced-level course in a modern language and LANG 202 Language Acquisition - Advanced Level II/3.0 for a continuation of LANG 201 Language Acquisition - Advanced Level I/3.0.