Student Charter of Rights and Responsibilities

A UCalgary Student’s Guide to Your Academic Rights
Students have rights, too!

The SU advocates for students at all levels of government and at the university. Here are the answers to a few of the most commonly-asked questions about students’ academic rights:

  • Term break due dates: Due dates cannot be scheduled during term break, so that term break remains a break.
  • Out-of-classroom activities: Any scheduled out of class activities must be listed on the course outline with date, time, and location.
  • Extra fees: Students cannot be charged extra fees to access online homework systems, nor for any other activity that makes up a mandatory graded component of the course.
  • Course withdrawal and status: If you withdraw from a course after the add/drop deadline, you will retain your full-time status even if you drop to a part-time course load.

You can also download a comprehensive Student Charter of Rights and Responsibilities.

KEY STUDENT RIGHTS

The stuff every student wishes they knew sooner.

COURSE OUTLINES
  • Must be available on the first day of class.
  • Must contain dates, times and locations of all approved class activities scheduled outside of regular course hours.
  • Must have a list of all the assessments in the course and the weights assigned to these assessment components used in determining the final grade.
ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION GRADES
  • Profs can take attendance
  • Profs cannot grade you on attendance
  • Profs can grade you on participation
ABSENCES FROM IN-COURSE ASSESSMENTS
  • Profs cannot request specific documentation.
  • Profs cannot request medical notes, but a student can provide it.
  • Profs can reject your documentation.
HOW TO GET SUPPORT

If you encounter academic issues in your classes, it’s best to contact your professor first. If that’s not successful, you can contact the department head of the department in which you’re taking your course. If you still cannot resolve your problem, there are others on campus you can contact for help:

GET THE CHARTER

Download the full Student Charter of Rights and Responsibilities document:

download PDF

SU Sign

Further Reading

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