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• ?

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

• ?

MEMORANDUM

To: Senate ?

From:

Senate Committee on

Undergraduate Studies

Subject:

School of Computing Science -

Date:

November 6, 1985

New Undergraduate Requirements

Action undertaken by the Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies at its meeting of

October 29, 1985 gives rise to the following motions:

MOTION 1:

"That Senate approve and recommend approval tothe Board of Governors,

asset forth in 5.85-56 , the new GPA requirement for declaration."

MOTION 2:

That Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of Governors,

as set forth in S.85-56, that the declaration CGPA be lowered to 25"

SiMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

MEMORANDUM

SCUS S42L#.

S......

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Re g i.txar. .nd

............. 

Secretary to the Senate Committee on 

...... thidergraduat Stdtes...................... 

New Undergraduate Requirements in 

subject.. 

Computing 

Scieffce; CASU: 85t)........

From

..... 

]nc1ie.t,.Adnu-n...Ass't................. 

...

Faculty of Applied Sciences. 

.

7/85 

October 1 

Date

...............................................

At a meeting of the Faculty of Applied Sciences Undergraduate 

Studies Committee held on Tuesday, October 15, 1985 the attached document 

outlining new undergraduate requirements in the School of Computing Science 

was approved. 

Would you please place this item on the next agenda of the Senate 

Committee on Undergraduate Studies. 

Attachment. 

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RECEIVEr)

0CT181985

egistr.

October 15, 1985 

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY? 

Memorandum 

To: Janet Blànchet, Faculty of 

Applied Sciences 

Re: New Undergraduate 

Requirements in Computing 

Science 

From: R.D. Cameron, 

Director of 

Undergraduate Programs, 

Computing Science 

Date: October 15,. 1985 

Here are the proposed new Computing Science program 

requirements as approved by the School of Computing Science and 

as amended and approved by the Faculty of Applied Science 

Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. 

1. New GPA Requirement For Declaration 

The School has approved an additional GPA requirement on CMPT and 

required lower division courses for declaration-of a CMPT program 

(CMPT Major, Minor or Honors or DSDP Honors), as follows. 

a.

The new requirement will be in addition to the current 

declaration requirements for overall CGPA. 

b.

The numerical value of the new requirement shall be equal 

to and shall vary with the overall CGPA requirement for 

guaranteed declaration in CMPT. 

c.

The new requirement will be based on all CMPT courses taken 

at the time of attempted declaration plus the lower 

division required courses for the particular program as 

appropriate. No other courses will be included in the 

calculation for the new GPA requirement. 

d.

The new requirement will be called the "Computing-Related 

GPA Requirement for Declaration". 

Pinn1

These changes solve two problems with the current 

declaration requirements for CMPT students. First of all, 

although the current CGPA requirement does imply a good overall 

background, it does not necessarily imply a good background for 

Computing. The current requirements thus unfairly allow and 

encourage students with a weak background in Computing to carry 

on. This problem is exacerbated by the general impression that a 

Computing degree is a job ticket which influences many students 

CMPT-UGCC.85-3:2 

October 15, 1985 

to pursue Computing even though they may not have t 

for it. By introducing the new requirement, however, 

made very clear to students that, unless they are 

demonstrating significant aptitude for Computing in 

division courses, they should seriously consider 

discipline more in line with their abilities. 

he aptitude 

it would be 

capable of 

their lower 

pursuing a 

The second problem with the current scheme is that it 

encourages a kind of game-playing for students who desperately 

want to pursue a degree in Computing. If a' student has completed 

his lower division requirements without obtaining the required 

CGPA

for Computing, he can then shop around for some courses to 

raise his 

CGPA.

It does not make sense to suggest this as an 

appropriate way for a student to better prepare himself for upper 

division study in Computing. 

Although both of these problems would be solved using only 

the

GPA

requirement on Computing-related courses, the overall 

CGPA

requirement should be maintained as well. This is important 

so that intended Computing students treat their non-Computing 

courses equally as seriously as they treat their required courses 

for Computing and consequently develop a well-rounded background 

rather than a narrow perspective centred on Computing. 

2. Declaration CGPA To Be Lowered to 2.5 

The School has approved a change of the overall 

CGPA

requirement 

for guaranteed declaration from 2.6 to 2.5 and the corresponding 

at

setting 

2.5. 

of the Computing-Related 

GPA

Requirement for Declaration 

Rationale 

With the new Computing-related 

GPA

requirement, changing the 

numerical value of the 

GPA

requirements from 2.6 to 2.5 is a 

compensating adjustment. In addition, it appears that raising 

the

CGPA

from 2.5 to 2.6 had significant negative psychological 

effects on students, while only having a small effect on the 

actual number of declarations. 

Implementation 

Students completing more than half of their lower division 

required courses for CMPT by the time this change becomes 

with 

effective 

a

CGPA

will 

of

,

2.5

be

and

able 

a

to

GPA

declare 

of 2.5 

either 

in the 

with 

lower 

a

CGPA

division 

of 2.6 or 

required courses for Computing. 

CMPT-tJGCC.85-3:2 