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 Graduate Studies Academic Calendar
Winter 2009

Calendar - General Information & Regulations


General Information

Glossary of Terms
 

Academic Plan:
A set of courses, a number of which may be mandatory and of a specialized nature, leading toward a particular degree.

Antirequisites:
A condition preventing enrolment in a course. The most common antirequisites are courses that have significant overlap. Degree credit will not be granted for both the antirequisite course and a course naming it as such.

Class Enrolment:
The process of selecting courses prior to final date for fee arrangement, having them approved and recorded with the Graduate Studies Office (GSO).

Corequisite:
A course that must be taken concurrently, if it has not been taken in a prior term.

Course:
A unit of study relating to a specific academic discipline, and identified by a course name and number.

Course Values:
Most courses cover one academic term and carry the weight of 0.5 units. On occasion, a course covering one term may have a unit weight of 1.0 and will meet during that term for more hours per week than does a 0.5 unit course. In some instances, a course may have a 0.25 unit weight.

Cross-Listed Courses:
Courses which are listed under two departments and which can be taken for credit from either department, but not both.

Elective:
A course not specifically required for a degree but counting towards it, to be chosen freely by the student either from within a specified group of courses or more broadly from courses offered anywhere across the University.

Practicum:
Supervised placement time in a work setting exercising practical routines and techniques related to a particular academic plan.

Prerequisite:
The requirement(s) that must be met in order to be eligible to enrol in a course [i.e., passed or in-progress courses(s), registration in a specific program or plan, academic level or academic standing].

Term:
A particular four-month period within which sessions are defined and fees are arranged: Fall term - September to December; Winter term - January to April; spring term - May to August. Also used with reference to work terms for students in the Co-operative system of study.

Term Activation:
Term activation occurs when the student's selection of courses has been approved and the student has made the appropriate arrangements with the University to pay the required fees.

Unit:
The credit value associated with a course. Unit weights are used in the calculation of averages for academic standing. Most courses have unit weights of 0.5, but some have weights such as 0.25, 1.0, 2.0.

Milestone:
Milestones are non-course degree requirements (e.g., thesis, comprehensives, master's research paper) that a student must complete toward degree progress in order to graduate.


Graduate Studies Office
Needles Hall, Room 2201
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
519 888 4567 x35411
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