Department policies

Registration

If you are going to miss the first three hours of a class you must contact your instructor in advance.  If you don't, you may be removed from the class.  Please do not assume that you will automatically be deregistered if you do not attend a class. If you change your mind about taking a course, please go online and drop it.

Waitlists 

If you are on a waitlist and want to get into a course, please make sure you attend class for the first three hours of instruction. Your instructor will take attendance, and any student not in attendance for the first three hours may be removed from the list.  After that time, people still on the waitlist who have been attending class will be given the opportunity to fill empty spots.  If waitlisted students are made an offer to join the class; they must accept the offer online within 24 hours.  You will not automatically move from the waitlist into the class.

N.B. For FULL YEAR COURSES you must register for both terms (Fall and Spring). It is not possible to receive credit for only 1.5 units of a 3 unit course.

Exams

Please do not make travel plans before you know your final exam schedule.  Instructors do not control the exam schedule. The University calendar states: "Students should wait until the final examination timetable is posted before making travel or work plans."

Course deferrals 

If you are having problems completing your assignments on time, please see your instructor as early as possible, preferably prior to the time when work is due. Individual instructors have somewhat different policies regarding late essays, evaluation of class participation, etc. Be sure to familiarize yourself with those policies.

If you find that you will be unable to complete the course by the end date, and have documented evidence of a medical problem, a family emergency or an accident, you can apply for a course deferral. This will allow you to delay completion of your course until the end of next term (for courses ending in December, the completion date is April 15; for courses ending in April, the completion date is August 15).  You need to go to Records Services, ask for an Academic Concession form, and proceed from there.

Appeals  

If you have questions about your marks please speak first to your instructor. Serious and unresolved issues can be discussed with the Chair of the department.

Accommodation for Disabilities

Special arrangements can usually be made through the department's co-operation with the Centre for Accessible Learning. Minor problems, and appropriate accommodation for those problems, can usually be informally dealt with by individual instructors.

Harassment

If you are concerned about harassment please consult with the Chair of the department. The university's Office for Equity and Human Rights can also be contacted.

Office of the Ombudsperson

The University of Victoria Student Society provides an Ombudsperson to help assure equitable treatment of students by academic departments and administrative offices. For more information, please visit the Office of the Ombudsperson website.

Accommodation of Religious Observance

If you are seeking accommodation (missed classes or final examinations) please advise your instructors in a timely and reasonable manner so that any necessary alternative arrangements can be made.

The standards and reputation of any university are the shared responsibility of its faculty and students. Therefore, subject to the obvious limits implicit in the difference between undergraduate work and specialized research, students at the University of Victoria are expected to observe the same standards of scholarly integrity as their academic and professional counterparts.

Offences

Misconduct under this heading that is subject to penalty includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Plagiarism.

Scholarship quite properly rests upon examining and referring to the thoughts and writings of others. However, there is a difference between a person's use of an acknowledged restatement of another's arguments, and the unacknowledged restatement of another's arguments in the guise of original work.  Plagiarism, therefore, is a form of academic misconduct in which an individual submits or presents the work of another person as his or her own.  Plagiarism exists when an entire work is copied from an author, or composed by another person, and presented as original work.  Plagiarism exists when there is no, or there is inadequate, recognition given to an author for phrases, sentences and arguments of the author incorporated in one's work; and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, it includes the failure to indicate clearly through quotation marks or indentations of longer passages,that materials have been incorporated verbatim into one's written work. In short,when excerpts from the work of another person are used in one's work, the author must be acknowledged through footnotes or other accepted practices.

• Submitting the same essay, presentation, or assignment more than once (whether the earlier submission was at this or at another institution) unless prior approval has been obtained.

• Cheating on an examination or falsifying materials subject to academic evaluation.  In addition to copying the answers or other work of another person, cheating includes, inter alia, having in an examination any materials orequipment other than those authorized by the examiners; fraudulently manipulating laboratory processes in order to achieve desired results; and using commercially prepared essays in place of a student's own work.

• Impersonating a candidate at an examination or availing oneself of the results of such impersonation.

• Submitting false records, information or data, in writing or orally.

• Attempting to engage in or assisting others to engage in or attempt to engage in the conduct described above.

Penalties and Enforcement

Students in the Department of History found to have cheated or to have committed acts of plagiarism face sanctions ranging from receiving a zero on the assignment to failure on the course. All cases of plagiarism will be assessed by the Undergraduate Coordinator and those found guilty of offences against academic integrity will have the offense recorded on their file in the Humanities, Science and Social Science Advising Centre.  Second Offences will be referred to the Dean of Humanities who will assign penalties.  Under the University Act, only the President has the authority to suspend a student for academic misconduct.

Appeals

Students may appeal decisions to the Dean of the Faculty, and from the Dean of the Faculty to the Senate Committee on Appeals.

For more information see the calendar statement on Academic Integrity.