Making academic procedures more straightforward for students is one of the major goals of the SIS Refresh initiative. The Exceptions and Overrides project is contributing to this goal by improving the visibility of approved course substitutions and/or exceptions to degree requirements. Examples of course substitutions/exceptions include using a generic transfer credit to fulfill a restricted elective requirement or replacing a course in the student’s Schedule of Studies that is no longer offered.

How were course substitutions and exceptions previously processed?

By paper! Once approved by a program counsellor or faculty advisor, course substitutions and exceptions to degree program requirements were recorded on paper at the college level. Because this information was not added to Colleague, any approved exceptions and/or substitutions did not appear in the student’s program/academic evaluation on WebAdvisor, leading to confusion for both students and staff.

What is the new and improved process?

Program counsellors and faculty advisors submit the details of the approved course substitutions and/or exceptions to Enrolment Services electronically, through Gryph Forms. Enrolment Services staff then input this information into a centralized repository (i.e., Colleague), providing a consistent point of reference for students and staff.

The new process enhances the student experience by allowing students to view their substitutions/exceptions in their program/academic evaluation on WebAdvisor. With the ability to now confirm online that their substitutions/exceptions were approved, students will have fewer follow-up questions for program counsellors and faculty advisors. In addition, the degree audit portion of the soon-to-be-launched Student Planning module [1] will incorporate approved substitutions/exceptions when displaying the student’s progress to completion. For staff who are determining whether students are eligible to graduate, the availability of the substitution/exception information in Colleague means less manual tracking.

Program counsellors, faculty advisors and Enrolment Services have instituted this electronic process for newly approved substitutions/exceptions, and there are efforts underway to add historical approvals to Colleague for students who have not yet graduated.

If you have questions about this project, contact the SIS Refresh Team using the contact form [2].