Academic Standing
A term used to describe how you are doing academically. There are five academic standings at Ryerson: Clear, Probationary, Required to Withdraw, Permanently Withdrawn, and Disciplinary Suspension.

Advanced Standing
When you have been admitted into Ryerson at a level other than first year or first semester.

Aegrotat Grade
Credit granted by a Dean, in consultation with the instructor, only under exceptional circumstances when there has been acceptable performance in a course and some coursework remains to be completed.

Antirequisite
When one course is too similar in content to another course to allow both to be used for credit towards graduation.

AuditAuditor
To audit a course, or to be an auditor, is to attend classes but not receive an evaluation or marks. Only day lecture courses can be audited; no labs or continuing education courses are available for audit.

Calendar (Undergraduate)
Each university publishes a calendar, which is a statement of all the courses, program requirements, and rules. Ryerson publishes three calendars: one for undergraduate full-time (day) programs, one for undergraduate part-time programs, and one for The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education. Be sure to get and keep a copy of the appropriate Ryerson calendar for reference. These calendars are also available online.

Chair
The head of a department (called Director in some departments). The chair is a member of the faculty who is appointed for a term of five years.

Challenge Credits
Prior academic credit for learning and experience outside of the traditional post-secondary environment.

Convocation
The graduation ceremony in which graduating students are presented with their certificate, diploma or degree. Ryerson's convocation occurs twice a year in June and October.

Co-requisite
A course you must take at the same time as another course.

Course
A unit of study about a specific topic. Ryerson has both single-term and multi-term courses. Multi-term courses run from September to December and are identified by an A or B suffix within the course number.

Course Outline
A description of a course which must be distributed at the beginning of the term.

Course Unit
The total number of courses you are enrolled in each term. Each program has a standard number of courses for each term and/or year you are in. Your fees are calculated according to what percentage of the standard course units you are taking.

Curriculum
This is the course of study in each program. All the courses you are expected to take to earn your degree or diploma make up the curriculum. At Ryerson, the curriculum for each program is made up of three parts: required core courses, professionally related courses, and liberal studies.

Curriculum Substitution
The term given to substituting a course that is not a regular part of your program's curriculum toward your diploma or degree.

Dean
The person in charge of a Faculty. Usually a dean is a member of the faculty who is appointed for a term of five years.

Department
The body that offers a specific area of study. Some-times called a School. Ryerson has 43 academic departments. Of these, 31 are responsible for degree or diploma programs, called program departments or schools; the rest are called teaching departments.

Director
Another term for Chair.

Faculty
Faculty is used in two ways: 1. The people who teach at Ryerson and other universities. 2. A group of departments divided by subject areas. Ryerson has five of this type of faculty: Arts, Business, Communication & Design, Community Services, and Engineering and Applied Science.

Fees Statement
This tells you how much you owe Ryerson and acts as a receipt when you have paid your fees.

Grade Point Average (GPA)
The average of all the grades you receive in your program at Ryerson, with some exceptions.

Incomplete
A professor may give you this if your work is passing but for some reason you have not been able to complete all the work for a course.

International Students
Students who have come to Canada to study. They are given a special student visa. International students may only have jobs on campus and are required to pay more fees than Canadian citizens or landed immigrants.

Letter of Permission
A document that allows you to take a course at another post-secondary institution for credit at Ryerson.

Officially Certified Transcript
The official record of your grades at Ryerson.

Out of Phase
You are considered "out of phase" if for any reason you are not taking all your program's first-year courses while you are in your first year at Ryerson, the second-year courses while you are in second year, and so on.

Prerequisite
A course you must have taken (and passed) before you can take a more senior course.

School
Another term for Department.

Section
A division of the students in a course into smaller groups.

Special Student
You are a Special Student if you are taking day courses but you are not registered in a specific program.

Student Association
This term refers to the two student representative bodies at Ryerson. All full-time students are members of the Ryerson Students' Union (RSU) while all part-time degree and continuing education, distance education and off-campus students are members of the Continuing Education Students' Association of Ryerson (CESAR).

Subject Area
A subject of instruction; a field of knowledge.

Term
One academic session, typically lasting 13 weeks. (continuing education terms last 14 weeks, with the final week usually an exam/evaluation week.) At Ryerson there are three terms: Fall, Winter, and Spring/Summer.

Time Span
The number of years normally given to complete graduation requirements.

Transfer Credit
Credit toward your Ryerson diploma or degree for courses you have taken at Ryerson, or somewhere else prior to admission.