Course Selection for Incoming Graduate Exchange Students

Graduate students at the U of G usually take 2 to 3 graduate courses per semester (usually 1.0 to 1.5 credits). Taking more than 3 graduate courses per semester is not advised as the amount of work would likely be very difficult to manage.

Although a full graduate course load at the University of Guelph is 2 or 3 courses per semester (1.0 - 1.5 credits), it is recommended to list 4 or 5 courses on the course selection survey (and have all of them approved by your university, if required). When it is time for us to register you for your courses, this should ensure that at least some of the courses you have requested will be possible.

For graduate students, 65% is considered a passing grade, even if taking an undergraduate courses.

The course schedule for the upcoming academic year will be posted in mid-June.

1. Visit WebAdvisor
2. Select the ‘Log In’ button at the top right-hand corner, sign in with your U of G login information
3. Select ‘Course Catalogue’
4. Select ‘Advanced Search’ along the top and specify the following items:
   1. Term: select the term that you will be studying in Guelph (e.g. Fall)
   2. Subject Area: Choose one or more subject area(s) that interest you
   3. Location: select Guelph (you are NOT eligible to take courses at Guelph-Humber or the Ridgetown campus)
   4. Academic Level: choose graduate-level programs.
      1. 6000 – Graduate (Masters and PhD)
      2. 7000 – Graduate (Masters and PhD)
      3. 1000 – Undergraduate (first year)
      4. 2000 – Undergraduate (second year)
      5. 3000 – Undergraduate (third year)
      6. 4000 – Undergraduate (fourth year)
   5. Leave everything else blank
5. Select the ‘search’ button

Here is an example of a course description from our Academic Calendar:

Prerequisites are courses that must be completed before registering for this course to ensure students have the required background knowledge needed to understand the material and do well in the course. Prerequisites are listed on WebAdvisor, and you can select courses to see a short description of topics that were covered. Please note:

• You are required to make sure you have completed similar prerequisites courses from your home institution or have equivalent background knowledge
• You are NOT required to prove that you meet each prerequisite (with some exceptions)
• U of G is not responsible for academic problems that exchanges may encounter because they do not have appropriate prerequisites for a course

Before we can register you for your courses, graduate exchange students require approval from both the course instructor (professor) and the Graduate Coordinator for each course you select. Your Global Learning Advisor will contact the course instructor and Graduate Coordinator on your behalf to seek the approvals.

Restrictions: may include a list of courses that are very similar and therefore, students cannot take both. Restrictions may also list a course as a ‘Priority Access Course’ which means U of G full degree students will be given priority to register. Therefore, your registration depends on availability after the full degree students have registered.

Distance Education (DE) Courses are not taught in a classroom, but instead involve independent study. You must do all the reading and work on your own and correspond with the professor by email, these courses are completed online. The course instructor will post all the information, assignments, discussions and sometimes even tests on CourseLink (U of G’s online learning platform).

Since you are coming to Canada to experience Canadian classes and interact with other students, we don’t recommend that exchange students take more than one DE course. Please note that there is an $35 administrative fee for each DE course which exchange students must also pay.

Closed Courses

Closed courses are full. You can still request enrolment in closed courses on the course selection survey as sometimes your Global Learning Advisor is able to get permission from the academic departments to register students even if the class is full. If we can’t register you for the course, there are some other options available:

• Many students change the courses they are registered for during the first week of classes and spaces often become available.
• Once you arrive, you can ask the professor for special permission to be added to the class; the professor will have to sign a waiver form if they agree.

Waitlists

Similar to closed courses, you are not able to put yourself on a waitlist. If you are interested in joining a waitlist please reach out to your Global Learning Advisor who is able to do it on your behalf.

Graduate exchange students can take courses from any degree program (except for restricted programs) as long as they have the prerequisites for the course.

Some graduate exchange students choose to take a 3rd or 4th year level undergraduate course(s) at the University of Guelph. If you intend to take any undergraduate courses, it is advised that you also read the Undergraduate Exchange Course Selection Guide which contains more detailed information about undergraduate courses. However, if you want to take undergraduate course(s), GLO must still seek approval from the course instructor and Graduate Coordinator before we can register you for the course(s). And you should seek approval from your home university before requesting undergraduate courses.

Graduate exchange students wanting to engage in research during their period of study must identify a U of G professor who is willing to supervise their research.

As the purpose of our exchange agreements is mainly for students to come and take courses at the University of Guelph, we cannot guarantee that you will be able to find a professor to supervise you for research. Most of our graduate programs have a webpage that lists the professors who teach in that department and what area of research they are engaged in. When you contact a professor(s) to ask if they would be willing to supervise you, it is important to indicate that you are coming on an exchange semester(s) and are not looking for a paid research position.

Please note that it is not possible for graduate exchange student research to be supervised by a third-party such as a business or other off-campus entity.

Most course lectures at the University of Guelph are held for a total of three hours a week. Many graduate courses have one 3-hour lecture on the same day each week. However, some courses may have a shorter lecture period held several times a week. For example, a course listed on WebAdvisor as LEC Tues, Thur / 10:00AM-11:20AM, means that the lecture is twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

There may be an additional time required for a laboratory component of a class which will be listed below the lecture times. In Canada, it is important for students to attend all or most of the lectures and laboratory times to succeed in the course.

The section number of the class is found after the course code. For example, for ANTH*6080*01 Anthropological Theory, *01 is the course section. Sometimes the section number changes if there are several different times when you can take the class, in which case, you must choose the section that fits your schedule best. However, most graduate courses only have one section time, listed as *01 or *0101.

If you need more detailed course outlines (syllabi) for specific courses, see the list of departmental course outline websites on this page. If you can’t find the course outline you are looking for there, try typing the course code in the search box at the top right hand corner of the U of G homepage and a link to the course outline may come up in the search results.

Some courses involve a field trip during the month of August before the beginning of the regular fall semester at U of G. If you want to try to register for one of these pre-semester courses, please email us at globallearning@uoguelph.ca, to inform us as early as possible, as spaces in these courses fill up quickly. If you are able to register, we will put you in contact with the professor for information about the travel plans and additional costs of the program (for travel to the field location, accommodations, food, etc.). Some courses include ZOO*4300 Marine Biology & Oceanography, BIOL*4410 Field Ecology, CROP*4260 Crop Science Field Trip, and GEOG*4690 Geography Field Research.

It is often not possible to take a practicum/placement course as an exchange student at U of G. These are often restricted to U of G students in specific programs.

College of Arts (COA)

College of Biological Science (CBS)

Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics (Lang)

College of Physical and Engineering Science

College of Social and Applied Human Sciences (CSAHS)

Ontario Agricultural College (OAC)