Important
Definitions
You will begin to hear these terms
as you start your UWI experience. It is a good idea to
make sure you know what they mean. Take some time to
review these terms.
ACADEMIC ADVISING
The process where your faculty’s Dean or his nominee
provides information on courses for which you must
register and assists, where necessary, in the selection
of courses. The purpose of academic advising is to
help students, particularly new students, in planning,
monitoring and successfully managing their chosen
field of study, in relation to clear career objectives.
Students are guided to accept responsibility for their
learning, to be informed of the services provided for
them, to access information, and to be managers of
their time.
ACADEMIC YEAR
August 1st to July 31st
ACCEPTANCE PACKAGE
Once you’ve been accepted, you will receive a package
from us which will include your offer letter with your
student registration number, information on fees,
medical form, travel/passages information.
ADVISING HOLD
An Advising Hold may be placed on your record if you
are in a faculty that requires academic advising prior
to registration. You must attend an advising session
before your faculty advisor will clear you to register.
ADD/DROP
The period during which students may add or drop a
course without penalty.
CRN (COURSE REFERENCE NUMBER)
The number assigned to designate a specific class/
section of a course.
CO-REQUISITE
A course which must be taken along with another
specified course, in order to ensure the attainment
of complementar y and/or interdependent
competencies.
CORE/REQUIRED COURSES
Courses that you are required to complete in order to
be awarded a major or a minor.
COURSE LOAD
The number of credit hours carried each semester.
COURSE CODE
An alphanumeric code (combination of letters and
numbers) used to identify a course e.g. HIST 2004 or
ECON 1001. The letter part of the code identifies the
subject (e.g. History or Economics), while the first digit
of the number part of the code identifies the level of the
course (e.g. 2004-Level 2 or 1001 Level 1).
COURSE LEVEL
Defines the level of a course. For example, HIST 1001
denotes that History 1001 is a Level 1 course (at UWI
marked by the first digit in a course number).
CREDIT/CREDIT HOURS
A unit which represents the number of hours a student
spends in a class each week over the course of the
semester. E.g. A student enrolled in MGMT 2003 (3
credits) will spend approximately 3 hours in class for
approximately 13 weeks.
DEGREE AUDIT or CURRICULUM ADVISING
AND PROGRAMME PLANNING (CAPP) MODULE
An online tool to help students and their advisors
compare the student’s academic record to the
requirements of a specific programme.
Prior to a meeting with their academic advisor or any
time throughout the year, students with access to degree
evaluation can easily review their progress within their
current programme. Or, if thinking about a change,
they can try a ‘what-if’ comparison of their record
against the requirements of another programme.
DEPARTMENTS
Units that make up a faculty and have a specific
specialization under the broader area represented
by the faculty. (For example, Food Production is a
department within the Faculty of Science & Agriculture,
Management Studies is a department in the Faculty
of Social Sciences; Liberal Arts is a department in the
Faculty of Humanities & Education).
ELECTIVES
Any course not required as part of your major.
Course(s) which you may choose from a list provided
by your department/faculty in your respective Faculty
Regulations and Syllabuses booklet.
EVENING STUDENT
A student who is registered to pursue a course of study
for which classes are timetabled in the evenings from
Mondays to Fridays from 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm and
on Saturdays from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm.
FACULTY
Lecturers are known as faculty members. Departments
are grouped into divisions called faculties. For
example the Faculty of Social Sciences consists of
the departments of Management Studies, Economics
and Behavioural Sciences; the Faculty of Science &
Agriculture consists of departments of Agricultural
Economics and Extension, Food Production, Physics,
Chemistry and Life Sciences.
FEE ASSESSMENT INVOICE
Printout of the courses for which you have registered
that lists each specific course. The amount of tuition
and fees due for all courses registered and the payment
deadline date are also indicated on the printout.
FINANCIAL CLEARANCE
Approval given by Bursary officials when you have
paid all the fees for which you are liable.
FINANCIAL HOLD
Your registration will not be processed if you are
indebted to the University. If you have any questions
regarding your account, you may visit the Student
Accounts Office, The Bursary located on the Ground
Floor, Student Administration Building.
FULL-TIME STUDENT
A student who is registered for not more than 15
/18 and no fewer than 12 credits per semester in
accordance with prescribed faculty regulations.
GPA
Grade Point Average (GPA) is the average obtained
by dividing the total grade point earned by the
quality of hours for which the student is registered
for any stated period of time, excluding hours on the
Foundation courses, audited courses and courses taken
for preliminary credit.
HOLD
A hold is a block placed on a student’s record for
failure to comply with obligations to the University. If
you have a hold on your records, you may not register,
or in many cases, obtain transcripts until that hold is
cleared with the office imposing the hold. A hold may
be imposed for financial indebtedness to the University
(i.e. unpaid tuition and fees, unpaid library fines),
academic or disciplinary reasons. Examples of holds
are: transcript holds, advising holds, dean’s holds,
immunization holds, accounts receivable holds, etc.
If you have not cleared your holds before the start of
the academic year, you will be unable to register until
the hold is cleared.
LEVEL
Denotes a student status as either Undergraduate or
Graduate.
MAJOR/MINOR
A major is the area in which you choose to concentrate
most of your studies e.g. French, History, Physics,
Management Studies. A minor is a secondary area
of concentrated study that relates to the major or is of
purely personal interest. Minors are not mandatory,
and there are a limited number of minors available at
UWI. For more information on minor programmes,
check your faculty’s Regulations and Syllabuses
booklet.
my-STA (my ST. AUGUSTINE ONLINE)
A web service for students that can be reached directly
at http://www.mysta.uwi.edu. For students, mySta – My St. Augustine online provides access to online
registration, my-STA also has information on student
accounts, final grades, degree audits and personal
information.
OPTION
A prescribed combination of courses within a faculty
or across faculties leading to a degree.
PART-TIME STUDENT
A student registering for fewer than 24 credits in a
given academic year. These courses may be scheduled
at any time of the day on the timetable
PRE-REQUISITE
A course that needs to be taken before you can
register for another course or a more advanced
course. Students are responsible for completing all
prerequisites prior to enrolling in courses. The student
registration system will prevent students from registering
if prerequisites have not been completed.
PROGRAMME
A selection of courses designed to achieve pedagogical
goal(s) the taking of which is governed by certain
regulations and the satisfactory completion of which
(determined by such regulation) makes a candidate
eligible for the award of a degree/diploma/
certificate.
REQUIRED/CORE COURSE(S)
A course(s) that you have to take to fulfill your specific
degree programme.
SEMESTER
Half-year term in a school year; normally a 13-week
period of instruction.
SEMESTER GPA
GPA computed on the basis of all courses done in
a semester, without reference to weighting except in
terms of credits. (The terms Grade Point, GPA, Quality
Hours, Honours GPA, Cumulative GPA and Quality
Points are defined in the UWI Grade Point Average
Regulations booklet).
SPECIAL
A prescribed combination of courses offered which
leads to a degree.
TRANSCRIPT
Official record of coursework and grades housed in
the Office of the Campus Registrar.
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT
A student pursuing a bachelor’s degree. Undergraduate
students cannot enroll in graduate level classes. An
undergraduate (bachelor’s) degree can be a stepping
stone to postgraduate programmes, such as Master’s,
MBA, PhD programmes.
UWI STUDENT ID CARD
The University’s Identification Card. The UWI Student
ID Card has many functions aside from identification;
it serves as a library card and an access card to other
buildings on campus.
UWI STUDENT REGISTRATION NUMBER
A 9-digit or 8-digit identification number in the format
yymdd. This number, which can be found on your offer
letter, gives you access to the St. Augustine online
system, and identifies you as a UWI student while you
are here.
UWI STUDENT E-MAIL ADDRESS
All students once registered and received financial
clearance are automatically assigned a UWI student
email account which can be accessed via the
www.mysta.uwi.edu link. This account must be used
for all future email communications with the UWI.
YEAR-LONG COURSE
A course that spans Semesters I and II . You must
register for this course at the beginning of the academic
year i.e. in Semester 1 registration period.
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