FAQs about online terms

Students who are working and still want to take a course concurrently must still get permission for concurrent work term and course registration. The process for obtaining this permission remains the same: you must have written permission both from your employer and the Engineering Co-op Office. For more information on this process, please see the Co-op FAQs.

UVic’s Learning Assistance Program (LAP) has resources available to all students. For information visit the LAP website. Students can also email learning@uvic.ca to request a tutor. LAP runs both a fee-based specialized tutoring and learning assistance program, as well as a free program called Study Solutions.

UVic Learn Anywhere provides centralized supports for learning online.

UVic’s Technology Integrated Learning site has an Orientation to Online Learning course. It is a self-paced orientation that will help you prepare for online courses.

Students in the Computer Science Optional Co-op program, the Bachelor of Engineering program or the Bachelor of Software Engineering program could opt to try to find a summer work-term placement. Or, Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Software Engineering students could choose to apply for a Leave of Absence. A Leave of Absence will be considered for Engineering students not engaged in academics or in a work term. Computer Science students could elect not to register for the summer 2021 term.

Please see UVic’s COVID-19 website FAQs for additional resources, including accommodations for students with a disability.

Contact your academic advisor for guidance on applying for a Letter of Permission to take a course elsewhere.

• Computer Science letter of permission form
• BEng and BSEng letter of permission form

Please check the UVic course registration system for the most up-to-date course offerings.

Engineering students will still declare their program of choice in the second term. The deadline to declare is April 30, 2021. The online declaration website will be live in February 2021.

For students undeclared in Computer Science, please complete and submit the degree declaration form available under “Helpful Forms” on the Computer Science Advising website. Computer Science students must have completed CSC 115 and Math 122 to formally declare.

Engineering students are not able to register in discipline-specific courses unless they are declared into a program. These regulations regarding program declaration have not changed. Also, if undeclared students take other non-restricted program requirements in the Summer session, these course must also meet program declaration criteria.

Students in a Computer Science program normally register in CSC or SENG sections A01. A02 sections are generally reserved for students in the BSEng program. The summer offering of SENG 275 is restricted to students in the BSEng program. The summer offering of SENG 275 is restricted to students in the BSEng program.

Computer Science students should contact cscadvisor@uvic.ca by email for information on eligibility and how to register in these courses.

Permission to take a third- or fourth-year CSC or SENG course may be granted if space is still available after all students in a Computer Science or BSEng program have registered.

Applications to request permission to register in a third- or fourth-year CSC or SENG course can be submitted on the Heat Course Registration website.

If these prerequisite courses were taken during the Spring session – that is, from January to April 2020 – then a “Pass” will be accepted in order to get into ECE 320 and ECE 330. Please contact the ECE Academic Advisor before registration to ensure you will be able to register without any issues.

The Faculty of Engineering has determined how it will be utilizing UVic’s Pass/Fail grading options for Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) and Bachelor of Software Engineering (BSEng) admissions and program declarations, as well as for Computer Science (CSc) admissions and minimum course grade requirements. The following guidelines are designed to help Engineering and Computer Science students make informed decisions about grades for the Spring 2020 term.

“Pass” grades:

• will accumulate credit – therefore, a course that receives a pass will contribute to the required unit accumulation for admissions to BEng, BSEng and CSc programs, as well as program declarations for BEng and BSEng students;
• will make the course eligible for admissions to BEng, BSEng and CSc programs, and also program declarations for BEng and BSEng students;
• will be considered as a successful academic attempt in instances where a student had to repeat a previous course that didn’t meet program declaration or admission criteria, this passing grade will be considered successful;
• will not impact GPA calculations (i.e. there is no letter grade value) and therefore will not be included in the competitive GPA calculation; and
• will not negatively or positively affect GPA.

“Fail” grades:

• will not accumulate credit – therefore a course that receives a fail will not contribute to the required unit accumulation for admissions and program declarations;
• will not make the course eligible for admissions and program declarations;
• will not be considered as a successful academic attempt; in instances where a student had to repeat a previous course that didn’t meet program declaration or admission criteria, this fail will not be considered successful; and
• will not negatively or positively affect GPA.

Minimum requirements and competitive GPA calculations:

• Program declaration and admission criteria remain the same – in other words, a minimum C+ average and no individual course grade lower than C (or a “pass,” as indicated in the information above), as well as a competitive GPA where applicable.
• GPAs will be calculated using known letter grades (with the corresponding grade point value associated with each grade) and the unit value per course. Please see the GPA calculation information on UVic’s website.
• Where a grade of “pass” is present in the criteria, the impact of that grade will be neutral. For all intents and purposes, it will be ignored in the GPA calculation process.

Supplemental exams may be possible in some engineering courses, depending upon the following:

• the original course outline indicates that a supplemental exam is a possibility;
• any conditions described in the original course outline about supplemental exams have been met; and
• the instructor has given permission (he or she will then send the request to the Department Chair and Associate Dean Undergraduate for final approval).

Students who have been told by their instructor that a supplemental exam is possible should contact the appropriate department – Mechanical Engineering or Electrical and Computer Engineering – to discuss next steps. Supplemental exams will be organized by the appropriate department and delivered online.

PLEASE NOTE: supplemental exams are not available in any courses offered by the departments of Civil Engineering or Computer Science.