Curriculum FAQs

The "subject" area attached to a suite of courses should match as closely as possible to the course content or subject matter. The designation attached is meant to signal to students the content of the courses and/or disciplinary offering of the courses.

In many instances, subject areas directly mirror the name of an academic unit or specialization. In such cases, the subject area is sponsored (or "owned") by the unit and would not normally be permitted for use outside of that unit. For example, Political Science is the name of an academic unit in the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences (CSAHS), a discrete category of study (major, minor), and subject area for a suite of courses (POLS).

In a number of other cases, the subject area is not owned by any single degree program or specialization, but applied to courses offered by multiple academic units. For example, courses with the Biology (BIOL) or Nutrition (NUTR) designation are offered by multiple units across different colleges.

The Co-operative Education (COOP) subject is under the exclusive use of the Experiential Learning Hub to designate work-terms and COOP*1100 Introduction to Co-operative Education. 

There are a number of interdisciplinary subject areas available, including Humanities (HUMN), Interdisciplinary Physical Science (IPS) and Interdisciplinary Social Science (ISS). The Interdisciplinary University (UNIV) subject code is allocated by the Office of the AVPA and permitted for courses which are interdisciplinary in nature and open to any student group, regardless of degree program. Courses are either sponsored by the AVPA or by anotheracademic unit. UNIV is also used to designate the non-credit Peer Helper courses.

Proposals to add new subject codes at the Undergraduate level must be submitted by the Chair of the Program Committee to the Calendar Review Committee (via oqa@uoguelph.ca) outlining: 

• the subject area and abbreviation requested (e.g., Education – EDUC) and how this aligns undergraduate- and graduate-level subjects
• rationale for a new subject area, including which existing subject areas have been considered and why they are not suitable. If proposing a replacement of an existing subject code, indicate why. 
• the number of courses that would exist under this subject area, and whether they’re new, existing, re-purposed, etc. 

New subject codes, once approved, will be inserted into CIM by the Courseleaf support team.

A restriction can be used as a means of identifying which student groups are permitted to register in a course. The restriction may be based on a particular degree program or specialization, and students outside of the designated group(s) are not permitted to register in the course. Programs included/excluded from the restriction must be specified in the Course Description.

• Restriction(s): Restricted to students in B.A.Sc. 

A priority access restriction, on the other hand, is one that allows certain groups of students to enrol before others. This could be based on their program or level of study and ensures that certain groups get priority to register in courses that habitually exceed capacity. Programs/levels that are to be granted priority access need not be specified in the Course Description, but determined in consultation with the Registrar's Office. 

• Restriction(s): This is a Priority Access course. Enrolment may be restricted to particular programs or specializations or semester levels during certain periods. See the departmental website for more information.

The method of presentation provides a guide for the lecture (first number) and laboratory (second number) contact hours per week. The lab hours portion of the Lecture/Lab Hours is reserved for laboratory hours only. Labs require specialized facilities and/or equipment. 

Seminar and tutorial hours should be included with lecture hours.