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Course Withdrawal Print E-mail

Rules and Regulations governing withdrawals:

Answers to questions of a general nature

What is withdrawal?

It is a right recognized to students by the university regulations entitling an undergraduate student to withdraw i.e. to discontinue that course from which he withdraws.

Why would anyone feel the need to withdraw from a course in the first place?

Usually, this right is exercised by students primarily on account of either of the following two reasons listed below depending to a large extent on the nature of the course:

The course is one that is required by the Department.

The student may fear that his/her overall grade will not be as good as intended and therefore decides to withdraw and take it later. [The university regulations are silent as to when the student has to repeat the course from which he has withdrawn. There is however an article which provides that the student has to repeat a required course which he has failed as soon as next time it is offered (see Article 14 University Regulations)].

The course is an elective course with credits or without credits i.e. a non-credit course (NC), which the student took of his/her own volition. Either because the student may feel that he/she is not likely to obtain the desired grade or because for one reason or another the course does not happen to meet the student's expectations, the student may feel that it might be better to withdraw rather than getting a poor grade or failing in it.

Can I withdraw from a particular course at any time when I wish?

  • No, the right to withdraw must be exercised within the time limits stipulated in the academic calendar.
  • In practice, this usually falls in between the end of the add/drop period and 4 weeks before the end of the term e.g. for the spring of 2008, the withdrawal period falls between the 21st and 24th of April 2008.
  • The right to withdraw from a course will be exhausted where the student fails to exercise such right by the beginning of the last 4 weeks preceding the end of that term (see Art.14 of the University Regulations)

Can I withdraw from 1st year courses?

  • Not if they are required courses.

Can I withdraw from a course which I am repeating?

  • Not if the student has failed i.e. had an ‘F'.
  • Yes, if the student passed the course with a DD or DC and is entitled to repeat that course in which he had a DD/DC because the student is on ‘repeating' status.

Will the fact that I have withdrawn be evident from my official transcript?

  • Yes, it will. The letter ‘W' will be placed across the course from which the student has withdrawn. Therefore it will be evident that the student withdrew from that course.

What would happen if I subsequently take another course instead of the one from which I withdrew; will the letter ‘W' still remain on my transcript in respect of the one from which I withdrew?

  • Yes, it will always remain on the student's record and show up on the official transcript.

Which would look worse on my transcript; an F indicating a ‘fail' or a W indicating a ‘withdrawal'?

  • Where a student fails in a course, this will be indicated on the student's transcript by the letter ‘F'.
  • Where a student withdraws from a course, this will be indicated on the student's transcript by the letter ‘W'.
  • It is suggested that a ‘W' (withdrawal) may appear to be less prejudicial than an ‘F' to the student's academic standing and abilities.
  • By contrast, it might be easier to put forward valid reasons for having withdrawn intentionally from a course.

Will the fact that a ‘W' (or an ‘F') appears on the transcript prevent the student from being listed on the Honours Roll?

  • No, there is no longer such a restriction since the rule has changed.

Is there a limit to the number of courses from which one can withdraw during the course of one's university career?

  • One can withdraw from as many courses and as many times as one likes with the proviso that:

a.The student's advisor grants the requisite approval; and

b.The credit load in any given term does not fall below the minimum prescribed by the Department.

In practice, therefore, the number of courses from which a student may withdraw may not usually exceed 2 courses in any given term since this could result in the student being ‘under load' (i.e. below the minimum number of credits required by the Department)

There appears to be a general misconception that a student is only permitted to withdraw from a maximum of 2 courses while at university. This is not true. The magic number ‘2' is relevant only within the context of the statement above i.e. the risk of falling below the minimum required credits where one withdraws from more than 2 courses in one particular term.

Do I have to repeat the same course from which I have withdrawn?

  • Yes, if the course is a required one.
  • No, if the course is an elective one.

Answers to questions of a specific nature depending on the nature of the course

Withdrawing from Required Courses

Can I withdraw from a required course?

  • Yes, provided the course is not a 1st year course. The required course must be taken subsequently.

Withdrawing from Elective Courses with Credits

Can one withdraw from an elective course with credits?

  • Yes, but either the same course or another one with credits must be taken subsequently.

Withdrawing from Non-credit Elective Courses

Can I withdraw from a non-credit course?

  • Yes. Moreover, there is no need to repeat a non-credit course but see the warning below.

Do I have to follow the official withdrawal procedure in order to withdraw from the course even where the course is non-credit?

  • Yes, even if the course is taken as a non-credit elective, the course will show up on your record as having registered for the said course. You therefore have to formally withdraw from the course.

Will the fact that I have withdrawn be evident from my transcript even if the course is non-credit?

  • Yes, the letter ‘W' which indicates that the student has withdrawn will always remain there -even where the course was taken on a non-credit basis.

Will I have to repeat the non-credit elective course from which I have withdrawn?

  • No, although the course appears on the student's program and subsequently on the transcript as having withdrawn, the student is under no obligation to repeat the same or replace it with another course.

If I, whether deliberately or not, fail in a non-credit course instead of withdrawing from it, would I need to repeat the same or replace it with another NC course?

  • Technically, there is no need to repeat a non-credit course which the student has failed. However, it is advisable that the student does repeat or replace the course for the following reasons:
  1. Even if the course was taken as a non-credit course the system would automatically signal a warning indicating that an F appears on the student's record and will thus prompt the student to repeat the F.
  2. The student may well ignore this warning and carry on as normal. However, when the student gets to graduation stage, the problem may only be resolved by a decision of the Faculty Board in order to override the system's insistence upon the requirement to repeat the F.
  3. The student therefore has to file a petition and explain that the student intentionally avoided repeating the course upon which the Board will indicate that the student has graduated with an ‘F' on his record.

 

 
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