| CERES Graduate Handbook 2011/12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MA Program in European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies Table of contents: handbook.htmGraduate Grading and Evaluation Practices Policy You will find the full text of the Graduate Grading and Evaluation Practices Policy in the School of Graduate Studies Calendar. A. MEANING OF GRADES Grades are a measure of the performance of a student in individual courses. Each student shall be judged on the basis of how well s/he has command of the course materials. Grades for each course shall be assigned with reference to the following meanings: Grade Scales Courses taken for graduate credit are assigned a letter grade according to the School of Graduate Studies usage as follows:
Wherever an undergraduate course taken for graduate credit is assigned a numerical grade, the mark will be translated into a letter grade according to the following equivalences:
If a graduate student takes an undergraduate course for which no graduate degree credit is granted, any grade below 70% will be converted to FZ. In the past, grades between 60-69% were considered passing grades for graduate students.Non-Grade Course Reports The following non-grade course reports may appear on transcripts: INC Incomplete: may be assigned by the Associate Dean when a grade has not been submitted to the School of Graduate Studies by the appropriate deadline. It may also be assigned by a graduate unit review committee on the basis of incomplete course work upon an instructor’s recommendation in special circumstances (e.g., medical reasons or when there are no grounds for assigning a failing grade). The instructor may replace the INC by a regular grade within eight months following the end of the session in which the course is offered. If the incomplete is not replaced by a regular grade within this period of time, the INC becomes a final report. IPR In Progress: assigned by the instructor as the report for a course which is continued in a subsequent session or program. The final grade for the course will appear only once and only for the last enrolment period. IPR carries no credit for the course and is not considered for averaging purposes. WDR Withdrawal without academic penalty: assigned by the graduate unit review committee, when there are extenuating circumstances, upon approval of the student’s request for late withdrawal from a course. It carries no credit for the course and is not considered for averaging purposes. XMP Exemption: granted on the basis of credit for work done elsewhere. It carries credit for the course, but is not considered for averaging purposes. B. APPEALS Students with health problems or other personal circumstances which may adversely affect their performance in, or their ability to complete course work, examinations or other departmental assessments may request special consideration. Requests, supported by a medical certificate, or other appropriate evidence, should be submitted to the instructor or the coordinator of graduate studies as soon as possible or within 48 hours of the deadline or date of assessment. The medical certificate must confirm the student was adversely affected by the health problems and must show the dates of illness and that the physician was consulted at the time of the illness. Students may on occasion dispute substantive or procedural academic matters, including grades. The recommended route for the resolution of such disputes is to discuss the matter first with the instructor or the person whose ruling is in question; then, if the dispute persists, with the head of the graduate unit. Should the matter not be resolved, the student may appeal to the unit’s Appeals Committee not later than six months after the ruling in question or the reporting of the grade. If the dispute is not resolved in the graduate unit, the matter should be referred to the Associate Dean of the Division. Should the matter not be settled, the student may make a formal appeal to the Graduate Academic Appeals Board of the School of Graduate Studies. An appeal to the Graduate Academic Appeals Board shall be commenced by filing a notice of appeal to the Board not later than six months after the decision being appealed has been communicated in writing to the appellant. Instructions and forms for appeal may be obtained from the Secretary to the Graduate Academic Appeals Board. A decision of the Graduate Academic Appeals Board may subsequently be appealed by a student to the Governing Council’s Academic Appeals Committee, in accordance with its guidelines and procedures. An appeal to this Committee shall be commenced by filing a notice of appeal with its Secretary no later than ninety days after the decision being appealed has been communicated in writing to the appellant. C. PROGRAM CHANGES Changes in the program of study should not be made without prior consultation with the Graduate Coordinator of the Centre. D. COURSE WORK EXTENSIONS Students are expected to meet the course deadlines both of the School and of the graduate units in which they are registered and are advised to plan their research projects accordingly. Students who find themselves unable to meet SGS deadlines for completing course work can, under certain conditions, receive extensions for completing the work after the date set by SGS. Petitions for course work extensions The authority to grant an extension for the completion of work in a course beyond the original SGS deadline for that course rests with the graduate unit in which the course was offered, not the instructor of the course. Students will petition the graduate unit for extensions, using a standard form provided by SGS. The deadline for requesting an initial extension is the deadline for completion of course work and grade submission for courses offered in the relevant session, as specified in this calendar. A student on extension who is unable to complete the required course work in the extension period specified by the graduate unit may apply to the graduate unit for a continuation of the extension (subject to the timelimits and deadlines for extensions, set out below); however, the student must make such a request before the expiry date of the extension period in place. Grounds for course work extensions Legitimate reasons for an extension can be academic in nature -- e.g., unexpected problems of research in a course -- or nonacademic -- e.g., illness. In order to ensure as much uniformity and fairness as possible in the granting of extensions (or continuations of extensions), the relevant graduate unit must be reasonably certain that: a. the reasons for the delay are both serious and substantiated: the student is to provide a statement detailing the reasons, together with a physician's letter in the case of illness;Time-limits for course work extensions If a graduate unit grants a petition for an extension, it must specify an extension period, which is not to run beyond the SGS deadline for completion of course work and grade submission following the original SGS deadline for the course. May 16 is the deadline for course extensions for full-year and January session courses. A graduate unit may grant a continuation of an extension that is already in place provided that it does not extend the total period of the extension beyond the foregoing deadlines. Extensions beyond these deadlines will require the approval of both the graduate unit and the SGS Admissions and Programs Committee. Grade-reporting procedures The graduate unit will assign the temporary course report of SDF (Standing Deferred) to a student on extension, pending receipt from the instructor of a final course report. The final course report will take the form either of a regular grade or of the non-grade report INC (Incomplete), as appropriate. It is due no later than the SGS deadline for completion of course work and grade submission following the original one for the course. If, by that date, a final grade is not available and the student has not submitted the outstanding course work, then the report of SDF will be replaced by one of INC. This will be a permanent transcript entry. (Amendments will require the approval of the SGS Admissions and Programs Committee.) SGS and home graduate unit notification Graduate units are to notify SGS of extensions no later than the original deadlines for submitting grades for the relevant courses or, in case of continuations, no later than the expiry dates of the original periods of extension, providing in each case the new deadline for completion of course work. A graduate unit should, in addition, notify the graduate unit in which the student is registered when it is not the same as the one granting the extension. |
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