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Calendar - General Information & Regulations

General Information

Glossary of Terms
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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.

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.

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.


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

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