Registration

Important Definitions of Registration Terms

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.

Below are a few terms that you need to familiarize yourself with. For more, download and read the UWI St. Augustine Student Handbook containing our "How To" Guide & University Regulations.

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

The University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus provides successful applicants with online access to all acceptance material.  This means that successful applicants will not receive physical acceptance packages from The University either on campus or in the mail. 

Once accepted, undergraduate students will receive an email directing them to their personalised offer letter and links to other important registration information. 

Successful postgraduate students will receive an email which includes their offer letter along with their student registration number and information on fees, medical form, travel / passage 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 complementary 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 Food & 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 Food & Agriculture consists of departments of Agricultural Economics and Extension, Food Production, Faculty of Science & Technology consists of department of 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 (Undergraduate Students only)

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.

myUWI (my Student Portal)

A web service for students that can be reached directly at http://my.uwi.edu. For students, myUWI (my Student Portal) online provides access to online registration, myUWI 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 (firstname.surname@my.uwi.edu) which can be accessed via the Student Portal. 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.