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S.91-2
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
MEMORANDUM
To: ?
Senate ?
From: ?
J. M. Munro
Chair, SCAP
Subject:
Minimum Graduation ?
Date: ?
December 11, 1990
Requirements
SCAP recommends
Motion:
"That Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of Governors, as set forth in S.91 - 2
the following recommendations of SCUS (as amended by S CAP): (Note: SCAP amendments
underlined)
1.
In order to qualify for graduation from the general degree program, a student must satisfy, as
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a minimum,
both
of the following requirements:
• a minimum CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average) of 2.00.
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•
a minimum grade point average of 2.00 calculated on the basis of all upper
division courses taken at Simon Fraser University. This grade point average will
be calculated by dividing the total number of grade points earned in upper
division courses by the total number of semester credit hours assigned for those
courses, counting only the higher grade in courses that have been duplicated.
2.
In order to qualify for graduation from the honors degree program, a student must satisfy, as
a minimum, both of the following requirements:
a minimum CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average) of 3.00,
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• a minimum grade point average of 3.00 calculated on the basis of all upper
division courses taken at Simon Fraser University. This grade point average will
be calculated by dividing the total number of grade points earned in upper
division courses by the total number of semester credit hours assigned for those
courses, counting only the higher grade in courses that have been duplicated.
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• If a student in the honors degree program has completed both the CGPA and the
grade point average for upper division courses at 3.50 or higher, the designation
"First Class" will apply.
3.
Individual faculties and departments may, with the approval of Senate, maintain their own
supplementary graduation requirements. Individual faculties and departments may apply
to Senate for permission to increase the minimum grade point average required for
graduation, or to impose additional requirements, or both.
4.
In keeping with the above regulation, the definition of the grade "C-" on page 22 of the
current calendar should be revised from 'Satisfactory Performance' to 'Marginal
Performance'.
5.
The upper division grade point average should appear on students' transcripts in a running
manner.
6.
The revised minimum graduation requirements apply to all students entering the University
commencing with the Fall 1991-3 Semester. Students who were registered at the
University prior to the Fall 1991-3 Semester may satisfy either the minimum graduation
requirements as stated on page 11 of the 1990/91 Calendar, or the revised minimum
graduation requirements as set out in SCUS 90-18.
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RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE SCUS SUB-COMMITTEE ON
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MINIMUM GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
Recommendations:
1.
The minimum requirement for graduation on the general
degree program is a grade point average of 2.00, calculated
on
the basis of all upper
division
courses taken at SFU,
counting
only
the higher grade in courses that have been
duplicated. The average will be computed by dividing the
total number of grade points earned in upper division
courses by the total number of semester hours assigned for
those courses, counting only the higher grade in courses - -- -
- ------that- have-been-- dupl-icated;
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2.
The minimum requirement for graduation on the honors
degree program is a grade point average of 3.00 calculated
on the basis of all upper division courses taken at SFU,
counting only the higher grade in courses that have been
duplicated. The designation of First Class Honours requires
a minimum grade point average of 3.5 in all upper division
courses taken at SFU. ?
The average will be computed by
• dividing the total number of grade points earned in upper
division courses by the total number of semester hours
assigned for those courses, counting only the higher grade
in courses that have been duplicated.
3.
Individual faculties and departments may, with the approval of Senate, maintain their own
supplementary graduation requirements. Individual faculties and departments may apply to
Senate for permission to increase the minimum grade point average required for graduation,
or to impose additional requirements, or both.
4.
and, in keeping with the above regulation, the definition of the grade "C-" on page 22
of the current calendar should be revised from 'Satisfactory Performance' to 'Marginal
Performance".
5.
The upper division grade point average should appear on students' transcripts in a running
manner.
/
Explanation/Rationale:
1. It is useful to place our recommendations in an
historical context. The present graduation rule.s came into
effect before the existing duplication, probation and
withdrawal system was put into operation. As a result of
this temporal sequence, it can and does happen that students
graduate from SFU with a cumulative grade point average as
low as 1.64. Raising our graduation standards will prevent
such occurrences and is in keeping with recent changes that
have been to raise both admission and continuance standards.
2. Our recommendations represent a significant simplifi-
cation with only a marginal tightening of graduation
requirements. Data show that seven students (of 112) in the
past two years in the Faculty of Science and eight students
(of 382) in 89-2 and 89-3 in the Faculty of Arts who
graduated would not have done so if the proposed
requirements were adopted. (It should be noted that these
figures are underestimates, as the effect of the proposed
tightening of the duplication policy is not taken into
account.)
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Attached are the graduation .reports of six
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students in the Faculty of Arts which illustrate the problem
that the proposed change will eliminate. Among the six,
upper division grade points range from 1.72 to 1.99, but
lower division grades "carry" them so that they graduated.
Also attached is a memo from the Chairman of the Department
of the major granted to student "A".
3.
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In essence, we are recommending the discontinuation of
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the current practice of calculating "graduation grade point
averages". ?
This recommendation is based on the following
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considerations:
a)
The graduation grade point average does not appear on
the student's transcript and, indeed, cannot be calculated
until the student has completed his or her coursework. This
creates confusion and uncertainty for students.
b)
In the calculation of the graduation grade point
average, courses not applied to the degree are not counted.
Courses for which a student receives an F or an N, and
therefore not used for the degree, are not counted.
Basically, this means that F's and N's do not matter.
c) The process of calculating graduation grade point
averages is done manually under severe time constraints and
is, therefore, subject to errors. Also, there are very few
people at the University who know how it is done; the
difficulty arising in the determination of courses to be
used in the calculations.
4. Given current uncertainties about the relationship
between universities and colleges in theprovince, we feel
minimum graduation requirements that focus on upper division
C^
coursework are appropriate at this time (as grades obtained
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in courses transferred from other institutions are not
included in SFU grade point averages) . Also, it is the
opinion of the Sub-committee that, in principle, graduation
requirements should stress upper division performance.
5) Our recommendations allow for students to "browse" with
lower division courses without long-term penalty and are,
thus, in keeping with the liberal arts focus of the
University. The recently implemented more stringent
standards for continuance may discourage this practice; at
the very least, our recommendations do not add further
discouragement.
Submitted by: Ellen Gee
Associate Dean of Arts (Chair)
Robert Frindt
Faculty of Science
Representative to SCUS
Robert Rogow
Faculty of Business Administration
Representative to SCUS
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MINUTES
OF THE FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCES UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
(FAS-UCC) MEETING HELD ON MONDAY JULY 16, 1990, 1:00 P.M., ROOM A539861.
PRESENT: ?
P.
Eawa (Kinesiology), Committee Chair
R. Anderson for B. Hackett (Communication)
B.
Hadley (Computing Science)
P. Ho (Engineering Science)
L. Cooke (Recording Secretary)
ABSENT: ?
J. Blanchet (FAS Administrative
Assistant)
C.
Jones (Student Representative)
J. Lyall (Student Representative)
6. RECOMNDATIQNS OF THE
SCUS SUB-COMMITTEE ON
MINIMUM
Gi'ADUATION REQUIREMENTS
The Committee was in agreement with the SCUS Sub-Committee's recommendations
regarding minimum graduation requirements. P. Eawa asked if the Committee Merrers
had any further reccmmendaticns. P. Eawa's suggesticn was in regard to graduation
medals. She suggested that in order to put SFU students at par with those who
have been admitted with transfer credit that only the last 60 credits be taken
into consideration. The Committee was in agreement and P. Eawa will forward this
recommendation to R. Heath.
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SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
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FACULTY OF ARTS
OFFICE OF THE DEAN
To: Ron Heath, Registrar ?
From: ?
Ellen Gee
Ross Saunders, Chair, SCUS
? Chair, FACC
Re: Graduation Requirements ?
Date: ?
March 19, 1990
This memorandum is to inform you that the Faculty of Arts
strongly supports the recommendations of the SCUS Sub-
Committee on-Min i-mum--Gradua-ti-on-Requireents - ?
- - -
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c.c. Bob Rogow, B.Admin
Bob Frindt, Physics
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MEMORANDUM
Faculty of Business Administration
To: ?
W. R. Heath, Registrar
From: ?
Robert Rogow, Undergraduate Program Director
?
Faculty of Business Administration
Subject: ?
Minimum Graduation Requirements
Date: ?
March 29, 1990
The Undergraduate Curriculum Committee of the Faculty of Business
Administration wishes to express its agreemet with and support for the
changes in University graduation requirements recommended by the sub-
committee of the Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies, as attached to
Dr. Gee's February 13th memorandum.
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SOtO1 FRASER UOVERSOTY
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Faculty of Education
Undergraduate Programs
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Memorandum
TO: ?
Ron Heath, Registrar
FROM: ?
Cornel Hamm, Director,
Undergraduate Programs, Faculty of Education
RE:
?
MINIMUM GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
DATE: ?
September 28th, 1990.
The document by the SCUS Sub-Committee on Minimum Graduation
Requirements has now been reviewed by the Faculty of Education.
The Undergraduate Programs Committee of the Faculty favoured the
recommendations in the document. Open discussion of the document at a
Faculty meeting revealed that there is some opposition to it. In particular the
following reservations were expressed:
1)
It is unacceptable that a student can complete all course requirements and
yet be denied the degree. The sensible approach is to grant a degree to any
student who successfully completes the individual courses that constitute a
program or degree requirements. If the University wishes to improve
graduation "standards", then the acceptable
level of performance at the
course level should be addressed.
2)
The minimum GPA requirement is based on unreliable marks assigned in
the first place. This is critical particularly at the degree/non-degree decision
point. If we could guarantee that all instructors follow standard practices
across and within departments, there might be some justification in using
summative numerical scores to make the judgments. In this regard, SCUS
might care to undertake a study of grading practices where a student's
porfollo of work is evaluated independently by several members of a
department.
Cornel Hamm,
Director,
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Undergraduate Programs.
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SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
MEMORANDUM
To:
?
R. Saunders, Chair, SCUS
?
From: R.F. Frindt, Chair
A. Heath, Registrar
?
Faculty of Science Undergraduate
Curriculum Committee
Subject: Graduation Requirements
?
Date: March 23, 1989
The Faculty of Science has considered the SCUS Subcommittee
recommendations on Minimum Graduation Requirements and generally agrees with
the proposal.
However, the Faculty suggests that for the Major degree it would be better to
use an average over the last 60 hours taken (including the normal 45 upper division
hours) rather than just the "upper division courses taken" which could be as low as
44/45 hours.
El
R. F. Frindt
RFF:pl
cc: C. H. W. Jones, Dean of Science
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