Registrar clarifies policies to be implemented during the special term

The Office of the University Registrar released a guide for the special term, laying out how the University plans to smoothly transition to the new academic calendar. By next academic year, classes at De La Salle University (DLSU) will begin in August.

The special term is the transition period between the current academic year, which will end in April next year, and the new academic calendar, which will start after four months.The rationale for having a special term is to help graduating students finish their studies in the midst of the academic calendar shift. The special term will start on May 4, 2015 and will end on July 23, 2015.

Different times

The special term will have 11 weeks of classes, compared to the regular 13 to 14-week per term. Undergraduate class times will also be different as classes will start at 8 am, as opposed to the uniform 7:30 am classes.

Class hours during the special term will be longer than the regular one hour and half classes during regular terms. Each class will be allotted two hours and Saturday classes will be limited. Graduate students will have a different class schedule, too, compared to the regular weekday schedule of 6 to 9:15 pm. Graduate classes will be four hours long.

Prioritized petitions

The courses to be offered during the special term will be determined by student petitions. The OUR and the Information and Technology Services Office will be the offices who are going to be in charge of the petitioning of courses, which will take place on January 15, 2015 to February 7, 2015.

Priority will be given to graduating students, those who have 21 academic units or less to accomplish. These students can finish their remaining academic units, and their class petitions must be approved by their respective academic departments. Approval from the department chairperson will be needed if a graduating student wishes to take 21 units during the special term.

On the other hand, academic departments may approve or disapprove petitions from non-graduating students and those taking up graduate studies. Non-graduating students will still be allowed to enlist in courses provided that the maximum number of classes to be offered during the special term hasn’t been reached. Non-graduating students will only be allowed to take up to 18 units.

Policies intact

The special term is still considered part of academic year 2014-2015, according to the OUR. Students who will have an accumulated number of failures of 15 units by the end of the special term cannot enroll during the next academic year. Students who will have failures accumulating to 18 units in their freshman year will still be dismissed out of DLSU.

DLSU-Science and Technology Complex (STC) will also offer a special term. Classes will be held in the campus where they have been petitioned, but in the event that the same course will be petitioned in Taft and STC, classes will be held at DLSU. Lingap scholars from STC will be allowed to enlist in courses at DLSU during the special term.