AGENDA ITEM NO: 10.1
UNIVERSITY COUNCIL
ACADEMIC PROGRAMS COMMITTEE
FOR INFORMATION ONLY
PRESENTED BY:
Trever Crowe, Chair, Academic Programs Committee
DATE OF MEETING:
May 15, 2008
SUBJECT:
Item for Information:
Referral from Coordinating Committee about Print
Calendar issue
COUNCIL ACTION:
For information only
CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND:
At its December 13 meeting, Council discussed the following motion from the Biology
Department:
The Department of Biology requests that University Council review and report on the
manner in which the decision was made to cease publishing a print version of the
University Calendar, and that University Council consult the members of the General
Academic Assembly as to their wishes with regard to the future of the University
Calendar.
Council agreed to refer the matter to a Council committee for consideration. At its January 16,
2008 meeting, the Coordinating Committee of Council referred this matter to the Academic
Programs Committee. Associate Vice-President David Hannah and the Registrar and Director of
Academic Services and Financial Assistance, Kelly McInnes, were both consulted about the
decision to cease publishing a print version of the University Calendar. The University Secretary
was consulted regarding the possibility of engaging the GAA with questions about the Calendar.
At its March 28 meeting, the APC received a verbal report from AVP Hannah.
DISCUSSION SUMMARY:
The Academic Programs Committee reports the following to Council:
1. Council approved the on-line Calendar as the official version of the University Calendar at its
June, 2000 meeting. The motion approved by Council described the on-line Calendar as “the
basis for the legal relationships between students and the University of Saskatchewan with
respect to programs and courses offered by the University.” At that meeting, Council also
approved a motion which stated that the University should continue to produce and distribute
hard copies of the University Calendar and that steps should be taken to encourage use of the
electronic version with a view to the eventual elimination (or minimization) of the number of
hard copies produced.
2. The decision not to provide a printed version of the University Calendar for 2007-08 was
made by the Student and Enrolment Services Division after consultations with assistant and
associate deans, academic advisors, guidance counselors and regional colleges as follows:
• A discussion paper was submitted to the Academic Advisory Board, which was
comprised of assistant and associate deans from all colleges, in March 2007. The
discussion with the Academic Advisory Board acknowledged that it would be preferable
to complete the development of a more user-friendly on-line calendar before eliminating
the paper calendar.
• Additional consultations with academic advisors, regional colleges, guidance counselors
and SESD staff took place throughout May 2007. The discussion with these groups also
reflected a strong desire to improve the on-line calendar and maintain a paper calendar.
Ideally, SESD would have preferred to continue to invest in improving the online version of
the Calendar while also making the print version available. However, sufficient resources
were not available to continue publishing the print calendar while also investing in
improving the on-line version. Thus, SESD decided to focus on improving the on-line
calendar and cease publication of the print calendar.
Communication regarding the proposed discontinuation of the print version of the Calendar
was sent to Deans, Department Heads and Administrators July 2007. SESD received a few
negative responses to this communication, but the number of such responses was insufficient
to reconsider the decision.
3. The biggest transition issue identified during the consultations referred to above related to the
use of a print tool to facilitate academic advising. In response to this feedback and ongoing
discussions with academic advisors, SESD will produce an “Advisors’ Guide”, available
summer 2008, which will contain all of the program and course information formerly
published in the General Calendar, as well as relevant university regulations.
In addition, SESD reported significant progress during the last year on the development of the
on-line tool. This work is being done in collaboration with academic advisors to ensure that
the resulting on-line tool meets their needs and those of their students. Students will be
involved in usability testing as improvements are made. It’s expected that all the necessary
improvements and testing will be completed in the next couple of years. Elements of the
improved on-line tool will be deployed as they become available.
4. The chair of the Academic Programs Committee also discussed with the University Secretary
how Council might consult with the General Academic Assembly and found that while the
University Act does provide for the GAA to deal with matters referred to it by Council, the
GAA has regularly failed to achieve quorum and would therefore not be able to respond to
such a request in a timely fashion. Members of the GAA were not surveyed to gain their
wishes associated with the print version of the Calendar.