Core degree requirement
November 9, 2026
UVic is exploring a revised university-wide degree requirement for undergraduate students, designed to provide all undergraduate students with a shared foundation in essential academic competencies. UVic's current undergraduate degree requirement is the Academic Writing Requirement (AWR).
The proposed "Core Requirement" responds to the changing needs of students and the evolving academic environment. It is intended to ensure that students have opportunities to develop foundational competencies that support success throughout their undergraduate studies, while allowing those competencies to be developed in relevant disciplinary contexts.
Why are we reviewing this requirement?
UVic's undergraduate requirement has evolved over time in response to changing student needs, academic programs, and the broader academic environment. The current Academic Writing Requirement has its origins in the Undergraduate English Requirement and has itself evolved over time. The proposed Core Requirement represents the next evolution of this approach, responding to the skills and competencies students need to succeed in today's undergraduate environment.
The review of the AWR was prompted by a number of challenges with the current requirement, including significant demand and waitlists for courses used to satisfy the requirement, questions about the extent to which high school grades provide an effective basis for satisfying a university-level requirement, and differences in how students access and complete the requirement across programs.
The review also considered the changing context in which students are entering university. Students are arriving from a K–12 education system that increasingly emphasizes transferable competencies, while the university environment requires students to apply those competencies to increasingly complex forms of communication, information, and research.
The proposed Core Requirement would establish a shared foundation of core academic competencies for all undergraduate students, while allowing those competencies to be developed through relevant disciplinary contexts. The intention is to ensure that students have opportunities to develop and demonstrate the foundational skills they need to participate successfully in their undergraduate studies, while providing greater flexibility in how and where those skills are developed.
Development of the Core Requirement
Phase 1: Review and academic foundation
The proposed Core Requirement grew out of the work of the AWR Working Group, which undertook a comprehensive review of the current requirement in 2024–25.
The Working Group's review brought together evidence from three main areas:
Institutional review
The Working Group examined the current AWR, including existing courses and learning objectives, enrolment and waitlist patterns, program-specific requirements, student supports and the timing of students' completion of the requirement.
Research and comparator review
The Working Group reviewed the history and rationale of the AWR, relevant research on first-year writing and foundational academic skills, BC graduation assessment practices, and approaches to university-wide foundational skills requirements at comparator institutions in BC and across Canada.
Campus consultation
The Working Group consulted broadly across campus including with faculties, academic leaders, advisors, librarians, learning specialists, administrative units and Senate committees. Consultation included a student survey, meetings with academic and administrative leaders, a campus town hall and targeted discussions with academic units and support areas.
Together, this work helped identify the strengths and limitations of the current requirement and informed a set of guiding principles for a new approach.
The Working Group's recommendations were further developed through consultation in 2025 and formed the basis of the Core Writing & Research Requirement proposal presented to Senate in 2026.
From review to proposal
The Phase 1 work identified an opportunity to move toward a more flexible, university-wide model focused on what students should be able to do, rather than relying primarily on a particular course or high school credential to demonstrate readiness.
The proposed model establishes a common set of university-level competencies while recognizing that students can develop those competencies in different ways and through different disciplinary contexts.
This approach is intended to support both consistency and flexibility. Students would share a common academic foundation, while faculties and academic units would have an opportunity to determine how the competencies are best developed within their areas of study.
Core competencies
The proposed Core Requirement is organized around six university-level core competencies:
- Written and multimodal communication: Communicate effectively and accessibly in writing and other modes of communication, tailoring messages to specific audiences, purposes and contexts.
- Active reading and listening: Comprehend, analyze, interpret and discuss information presented in written, visual, and auditory forms for academic purposes.
- Information and digital literacy: Locate, evaluate, and synthesize information from diverse sources, including digital platforms and tools. Engage with information and technologies critically, ethically, and in alignment with academic and professional contexts.
- Critical thinking: Actively question, analyze, interpret, and evaluate information to form sound conclusions. Communicate analysis cohesively and effectively in ways appropriate to audience and purpose.
- Research skills: Identify information needs and use research tools and strategies to locate, use, and cite information effectively and ethically, in accordance with relevant standards or conventions.
- Academic integrity: Apply principles of academic integrity and professional ethics to academic, public, and professional work, demonstrating respect for intellectual property, disciplinary norms, and diverse perspectives.
The Senate Committee on Academic Standards reviewed and approved the core competencies in early 2026.
How were the core competencies identified?
The six core competencies reflect the foundational academic practices that students need across undergraduate programs. They were developed through the Working Group's review of the current AWR, research on foundational academic skills, institutional evidence, comparator approaches and consultation with academic and support units, including with curriculum and instructional designers.
Together, the competencies describe a set of connected skills that support students in finding and evaluating information, engaging with ideas and evidence, thinking critically, conducting research, communicating effectively and participating ethically in academic work.
The competencies are intentionally broad. They are intended to establish a shared institutional foundation rather than prescribe a single type of course, assignment or teaching approach. Academic units would determine how the competencies are developed within their disciplinary contexts, with course-specific learning outcomes aligned to the university-level framework.
Connections to BC's K–12 education system
The proposed core competencies also reflect changes in the broader educational environment in which students enter university.
British Columbia's K-12 curriculum has increasingly emphasized a competency-driven approach to learning. The BC curriculum identifies three core competencies as foundational to learning across subject areas: Communication, Thinking, and Personal and Social.
Students develop these competencies through the application of knowledge, skills and processes within different areas of learning.
UVic's proposed competencies are not intended to replicate the BC K–12 core competencies. Instead, they recognize that students are entering university from an educational system in which competencies, literacy, communication, critical thinking and the ability to work with information are increasingly developed across disciplines and through multiple forms of learning.
UVic's proposed Core Requirement extends this foundation into the university context by focusing specifically on the skills students need to be successful in post-secondary education and allows undergraduate students to develop and demonstrate a common set of foundational academic competencies in the university context rather than using their high school grades as a proxy for university-level academic readiness.
Project status
The proposed Core Requirement is in Phase 2: Implementation Planning.
Phase 1 established the academic foundation for the proposed requirement and resulted in the development of the six core competencies and a proposed model for a flexible, university-wide requirement.
Following Senate's consideration of the proposal in spring 2026, UVic is considering additional operational details as we move toward an implementation model.
Phase 2 is focused on determining how the proposed requirement could work in practice. This includes work on:
- Governance and accountability: determining appropriate oversight and responsibility for the requirement and participating courses;
- Course alignment and approval: establishing how courses would demonstrate alignment with the Core Competencies and how alignment would be reviewed;
- Enrolment and capacity: understanding current and future demand and identifying sustainable approaches to capacity;
- Student pathways and advising: considering how students would encounter and complete the requirement within their degree programs;
- Resources and supports: identifying the resources and supports required for academic units and students;
- Implementation and transition: developing a practical approach to moving from the current AWR to the proposed Core Requirement; and
- Consultation and engagement: continuing targeted engagement with academic units, students and university support areas.
The goal of Phase 2 is to develop a complete academic and implementation package for consideration through the university's governance processes, including the Senate Committee on Academic Standards (SCAS) and Senate.
Project timeline & milestones
Phase 1: Review and development of the academic foundation (2024-25)
The AWR Working Group undertook a comprehensive review of the current requirement, drawing on institutional evidence, research, comparator approaches and broad campus consultation.
Key milestones
- 2024: AWR Working Group established to review the existing requirement.
- 2024-25: Institutional data, existing AWR practices, historical documents, research and comparator approaches reviewed; consultation with faculties, academic leaders, librarians, advisors, learning specialists and other administrative units; guiding principles and proposed university-level core competencies developed.
- 2026: Senate reviewed the proposed requirement and recommended areas for further development.
- Elizabeth Adjin-Tettey, AVP Academic Programs (sponsor)
- Todd Milford, Acting Dean, Faculty of Education (co-chair)
- Cindy Holder, Acting Associate Dean Academic, Humanities (co-chair)
- Nancy Ami, Academic Integrity Manager, Academic Skills Centre
- Shailoo Bedi, Executive Director, Division of Learning and Teaching Innovation
- Erin Kelly, Program Director, Academic and Technical Writing
- Kim McLean-Fiander, AWR Advisor, English
- Karen Munro, Director, Engagement and Learning, UVic Libraries
- Carleigh Dean, Project and Communications Officer, VPAC (support)
Phase 2: Implementation planning (2026-27)
Phase 2 focuses on developing the practical elements needed to support a potential transition to the proposed Core Requirement.
Key milestones
- Fall 2026: Targeted consultation and evidence gathering on governance, course alignment, enrolment and capacity, resources, student pathways and implementation.
- November 2026: Project update to Senate.
- Fall 2026-Winter 2027: Development of the implementation model, including governance, course approval and alignment processes, capacity planning, student communications and transition planning.
- Winter 2027: Further engagement with SCAS, Senate and other university governance and academic bodies.
- Spring 2027: Refinement of a complete academic and implementation package for governance consideration.
Next steps (2027+)
The timing of implementation will be determined through the Phase 2 planning process and the university's governance and approval processes. Any implementation approach will need to consider academic quality, student access, capacity, resources and a practical transition from the current requirement.
Project principles
The development and implementation of the Core Requirement are guided by the following principles:
- Student success and meaningful choice
- Discipline-sensitive approaches
- Academic quality and clear accountability
- Evidence-based planning
- Realistic capacity and resourcing
- Transparent consultation and governance
How to provide input
Please direct any comments and questions to corefeedback@uvic.ca. We also welcome inquiries from academic leaders who are interested in developing an AWR or future Core Requirement course.