FACULTY REGULATIONS REGISTRATION Students whose applications for admission to graduate study have been approved for full- or part-time study should present themselves to their program advisors prior to registration on the dates recorded in the Calendar of the Academic Year (see section 28). Categories of Registration The University designates graduate students as full- or part-time: 1) Full-Time Student: A student who is admitted to a program on a full-time basis and who meets the following criteria will be registered as a full-time student: (a) is geographically available and visits the campus regularly. It is understood that a graduate student may be absent from the University while still under supervision, e.g., visiting libraries, attending a graduate course at another institution, doing field work, etc. If such period of absence exceeds four weeks in any term, written evidence must be made available to the Office of Graduate Studies and Research to the effect that the absence has the approval of the program coordinator; (b) is regularly employed by the University for not more than an average of ten hours a week. If a student is employed as a teaching assistant or a sessional instructor, the ten hours a week should represent the total time spent by the student in connection with the appointment, including time spent on preparation, reading, setting assignments, marking examinations, etc. 2) Part-Time Student: Some graduate programs are available on a part-time basis. Students interested in part-time studies should first consult the program coordinator. If a student has not been accepted on a part-time basis at first registration, he or she must petition the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research for permission to transfer to part-time status for cause. Such petitions will not normally be granted to students meeting criteria (a) and (b) above for full-time students, or students completing thesis or dissertation work. However, petitions based on domestic responsibilities which demand more than ten hours a week will be considered. Note: Part-time students may not take more than two courses in any term. Registration in any given term for a major paper, thesis, or dissertation is counted as the equivalent of one course. Graduate Registration Regulations 1) Graduate students must register before the proper deadline or they will not receive credit for academic work they may be doing during the term. Note: Registration is not complete until the appropriate fees have been paid. Students completing all requirements for the degree within the first few weeks of a term may be eligible for a tuition refund for that term. 2) Full-time students are required to maintain continuous registration through all terms of their graduate program. Failure to do so will require application for readmission to their program and payment may be required for terms missed, up to a maximum of three terms. 3) In accordance with the circumstances listed below, a full-time student may apply to the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research for, and may be granted, a leave of absence. Maternity Leave: Graduate students may request a maternity leave for no more than three consecutive terms without prejudice to their academic standing. Paternity Leave: In recognition of a father's role, a graduate student may request paternity leave for no more than one term without prejudice to academic standing. Parental Leave: Parental leave is intended to recognize the need for a pause in studies in order to provide full-time care in the first stages of parenting a child. Either or both parents may request one term of leave without prejudice to academic standing. The request for leave must be completed within twelve months of the date of birth or custody. Financial Leave: In the case of financial necessity, primarily as evidenced by the support awarded through the University, a student shall be granted a leave of no more than one term out of three upon application. Medical Leave: Graduate students may apply for a leave of absence on medical grounds for up to three terms without prejudice to their academic standing. Students are required to provide documentation to support a medical leave of absence. Personal Leave: Graduate students may apply for a leave of absence on grounds of serious personal circumstances for up to three terms without prejudice to their academic standing. Examples, though not wholly inclusive, are death in the immediate family, psychological difficulties, and educational opportunities (e.g., B.Ed., LL.B.). A term is defined as a four-month period coinciding with the academic calendar (January to April; May to August; and September to December). While on leave, a student will not have access to any university resources, including office space, computer access, library facilities, continuation of laboratory experiments, computer research applications, and guidance by faculty members. Apart from the combination of maternity or paternity and parental leave, sequentially combining two leave of absence classifications is allowable only in special and extenuating circumstances. Applications may be filed at any time and shall be processed within three weeks of receipt by the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research. A student on leave of absence will be assessed a fee of fifty dollars ($50.00) per term. Appeals against any decisions shall be heard promptly by the Graduate Appeals Committee. 4) Part-time students must register in every session in which the facilities of the University are to be utilized, whether in residence or off-campus. This includes those who are consulting with faculty members while working on a major paper, thesis, or dissertation. Part-time students who have not registered in two consecutive terms will be required to apply for readmission, and their applications will be considered on their merits in the light of the then prevailing conditions and circumstances. 5) Students are reminded that they will not receive credit for courses for which they are not properly registered or for courses completed during terms in which the student has not paid fees. Once a student has registered, course changes or withdrawal after the published deadlines require permission from the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research. Subjects dropped without permission from the Dean will be regarded as failures. Non-Degree Registration: A student who is not interested in admission as a degree student may be allowed to register for individual courses on a non-degree basis. The maximum of courses taken overall on this basis is two. Only students who have been admitted to a graduate program may receive graduate credit at the University of Windsor for courses taken. Audit Student: An audit student in any course is one who attends the course without credit toward a degree or program. Such a student will not be allowed to write examinations and cannot be graded in any way. The student will pay the regular fees for the course(s). POLICY ON AUTHORSHIP AND PLAGIARISM The University expects that all researchers will adhere to the proper standards of intelllectual honesty in the written or spoken presentation of their work and will at all times acknowledge in a suitable manner the contribution made by other researchers to their work, as outlined in the Senate Policy on Authorship (available from the Clerk of the Senate) and the Policy Statement on Research Personnel (available from the Office of Research Services). Plagiarism is defined as: "The act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts of passages of his/her writing, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the products of one's own mind." (Black's Law Dictionary) It is expected that all graduate students will be evaluated and graded on their individual merit, and all work submitted for evaluation should clearly indicate that it is the student's own contribution. Graduate students often have to use the ideas of others as expressed in written or published work in preparing essays, papers, reports, theses and publications. It is imperative that both the data and ideas obtained from any and all published or unpublished material be properly acknowledged and their sources disclosed. Failure to follow this practice constitutes plagiarism and is considered to be a serious offence by the University. Thus, anyone who knowingly or recklessly uses the work of another person and creates an impression that it is his or her own is guilty of plagiarism. It is not permissible for an essay or other paper to be submitted twice. It is expected that a thesis, essay, paper or report has not been, and is not concurrently being, submitted to any other Faculty or University for credit toward any degree, or to this University for any other course. In exceptional circumstances and with the prior agreement of the instructor, a student may use research completed for one course as part of his or her written work for a second course. Where plagiarized work has been submitted or where a student has submitted a paper for double credit, an F grade shall be assigned by the instructor both to that assignment and to the course. The student has the right to appeal this grade to the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, in accordance with the Graduate Appeals Policy as stated in Senate Bylaw 51.B. In more serious cases, e.g., breach of the above regulation on more than one occasion, and upon recommendation by the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research that disciplinary action be taken, the matter will be submitted to the Judicial Panel of the University of Windsor for appropriate sanctions, which include admonition, censure, disciplinary probation, restitution, suspension or expulsion, as set out in Senate Bylaw 31. In case of any doubt, students are strongly urged to consult with the instructor or thesis supervisor. In cases where students feel that their intellectual property or copyrighted material has been plagiarized, complaints should be made to the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research. GRADING AND DROPPING COURSES For the standards which are required in specific degree programs, see 1.5 (Ph.D.) and 1.6 (Master's). Letter Grades for Graduate Courses: A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, F, F-, NR (Failure, No Record) INC (Incomplete - course work only) IP (In Progress - major paper, project, thesis, or dissertation) P or NP (Pass or Non-Pass) S or U (Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory) Grade Conversion Scale Grade Point Letter Grade Range 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 --- 1 0 A+ A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- --- F F- 93-100 86-92.9 80-85.9 77-79.9 73-76.9 70-72.9 67-69.9 63-66.9 60-62.9 --- 35-59.9 0-34.9 The final deadline for dropping one-term (i.e., twelve- or thirteen-week) graduate courses in Fall, Winter, or Summer term without a grade being assigned is nine weeks from the start of the term; for six-week courses in Intersession and Summer Session, three weeks are allowed. Prior to the deadline, courses dropped will be recorded as "Voluntary Withdrawal". The granting of an Incomplete grade must follow discussion between the student and the course instructor concerning the nature of the work to be completed and the time period for completion. Courses recorded as Incomplete must be completed and a grade reported within twelve months of the original due date unless an earlier deadline has been established. If such courses are not completed within twelve months, they will be permanently designated as Incomplete on the student's transcript. Normally, a student may carry only one Incomplete grade at a time. Graduate students carrying more than one Incomplete grade at the end of a term will have their progress reviewed by their program chair, and a recommendation will be forwarded in each case to the Office of Graduate Studies and Research. Incomplete grades are not granted for major papers, theses or dissertations. The Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research requires that students maintain at least an 8.0 cumulative G.P.A. at all times. Courses in which a grade of B- or higher is received will be accepted for graduate credit. In addition, upon the positive recommendation of the program concerned, the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research may grant credit for not more than two term courses in which a grade of C+, C or C- has been obtained. The regulations of individual departments should be consulted for their particular policies on Incomplete and C grades. If a student fails to obtain credit in a course, the course may be repeated once only, at the discretion of the program concerned and the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research. No student may repeat, or replace with another course, more than two term courses in which credit was not obtained. Letter grades or Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory may be assigned for theses and major papers, depending on program policy. Theses and major papers, for which a letter grade is assigned, must be graded B- or better to receive credit. EXAMINATIONS AND APPEALS A program may require either oral or written examinations in graduate courses. Each instructor must inform his or her students, by the end of the second week of each course, concerning the following: (a) the basis for determining the final grade in the course; (b) the approximate dates for tests, essays, etc. Alterations in the announced procedure may be made by the instructor with the consent of the majority of the registered class. A student who wishes to receive consideration on account of a serious illness or a bereavement prior to or during the examination period should communicate with the Head of the Department or program coordinator concerned as soon as possible, and must submit supporting documents (e.g., a medical certificate) within one week of the scheduled examination. In such cases, the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, on recommendation of the program and the Academic Standing Committee, may grant aegrotat standing in the subject or subjects concerned on the basis of the term mark, or approve an Incomplete grade or grant permission for a supplemental examination. Graduate appeals must be made in writing to the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, in accordance with the Graduate Appeals Policy as stated in Senate Bylaw 51 B. and C. Appeals must be received no later than three weeks after the final mark has been released by the Registrar. GRADUATION In order to allow the necessary time for the printing of the diploma and the Convocation program, the candidate's completed work must be approved by the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research and the major paper, project, thesis or dissertation, if one is presented, must be received by the Office of Graduate Studies and Research for transmission to the Leddy Library at least two weeks before Convocation. Registration in any program does not constitute an application for a degree or diploma. An "Application to Graduate" must be completed and filed with the Registrar's Office by the specified date prior to the Convocation at which the applicant expects to graduate.