Glossary of Terms A-Z
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
A
Academic Advisement
The function that is used to track the requirements that a student must satisfy in order to graduate. As a student progresses towards graduation, academic advisement analyses all courses completed by the student and ascertains the requirements that are still outstanding.
Academic Group
Each Academic Organisation e.g. College or School can be represented as an Academic Group. Academic Groups can offer programmes in more than one Academic Career, e.g. an Academic Group of Science can include Life Sciences and Physical Sciences and would offer programmes in the Careers of Undergraduate, PGT and PGR.
Academic Load
Academic Load is the field that reports the amount (or type) of study that the student is taking - e.g. full-time, part-time, e-learning.
Approved Academic Load
The Approved Academic Load is the field that is used within tuition calculation.
Academic Organisation
An Academic Organisation is an administrative unit within the University - e.g. College of Arts or School of Modern Languages and Cultures. The Academic Structure determines how Academic Organisations relate to one another e.g. which Schools are associated with which Colleges.
Academic session (or academic year)
A 12-month period, beginning in August, during which courses are taught and assessed.
Academic Structure
Academic Structure is the foundation for multiple aspects of MyCampus. It drives how student records are tracked, fees are calculated, and HESA reporting, for example. It will also determine the level and structure of future reports, how business processes will be executed as well as aspects of system security e.g. the data users can see according to their role.
Advisement Report
An advisement report is tailored to an individual student and presents the requirements for each year of a programme of study. It is based on “advisement rules” (see below) and are available to students to help with curriculum choice when they enrol.
Advisement Rules
These rules codify calendar regulations and programme regulations. Advisement rules are built using course lists, requirements and requirement groups. They are used to generate the Advisement reports and at the end each academic year to check whether assessment results are sufficient to meet the requirements for progression.
Aggregation score
The numerical equivalent of a grade and band, used in the classification of Honours and Masters degrees. Paragraphs 16.10 - 16.18 and Schedule A of the Code of Assessment describe fully.
Application Stack
This is the record of the student application. As the record is updated it has new 'rows' of information added to, each with an effective date, to allow historical tracking of the progress of the application.
Assessment
Judgment of the standard of attainment of the intended learning outcomes of a programme, course, or course component.
Award
The degree, certificate or diploma which is conferred following the successful completion of a defined programme of study.
B
Band (or Secondary band)
A subdivision of a grade that reflects the confidence with which a judgment of grading is made. For example, grade 'A' is subdivided into bands 'A1', 'A2', 'A3', 'A4', and 'A5'.
Bursary
A non-repayable award made to eligible students.
C
Campus
Campuses are usually associated with a separate physical location; consideration may be given to campuses for distance learning and collaborations. Currently there are4 campuses in use: Main, DACE, Dumfries and Singapore.
MyCampus
The local name for student records system (Campus Solutions product) being used to manage student records processes and administration.
Career
The primary subdivision of students which represents a complete set of records for a specific level of study. For example:
- Undergraduate
- Postgraduate Taught
- Postgraduate Research
MyCampus allows for each Career to have different rules, different durations etc.
Catalogue/Catalog Number
Courses are given a Catalogue Number which is used when searching for Courses/Classes.
Checklist item
A unit of work that needs to be completed as part of a checklist. This can be an action, a required document or a phone call e.g. in the admissions process, a checklist item could be supporting documentation.
Class
An offering of a Course (to take account of a Course being run more than once or in more than one location). When a Course is set up a 'Class' is created for it. Multiple classes can exist for the same Course and students would be expected to enrol in a particular Class.
Classification
The process of deciding the class of award that should be conferred on a student who has successfully completed the defined programme. For Honours degrees, the available classes are 'first', 'upper second', 'lower second', and 'third'; for Ordinary and Masters degrees, the available classes are 'distinction', 'merit', and 'pass'.
Communication Generation
The ability to generate automated, context sensitive communications e.g. acknowledgements or a reminder email.
Compulsory course
A course that must be taken by all students on a particular programme.
Core
The set of compulsory courses in a particular programme.
Course
MyCampus and UoG use the same terminology for a Course. A Course is a self-contained unit of study on a particular topic, with defined level, credit value, aims, intended learning outcomes, mode(s) of delivery, scheme of assessment as well as pre- and/or co-requisites.
Credit
A measure of the amount of work in the course (the workload), where 1 credit equates to 10 notional learning hours. The total annual workload for a full-time undergraduate student is normally 120 credits, and that for a full-time Masters student is normally 180 credits although it is possible to take fewer or more credits. To gain the credits from a course, you must complete the course by fulfilling the minimum requirements for the award of credit specified for that course (e.g. attendance, completion of work, minimum performance in assessed work or examinations); each course you take will tell you what are the minimum requirements for the completion of that course. In addition, for every course, you must complete 75% of the assessment for the course in order to be awarded the credits, regardless of your circumstances.
CRM
Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) consists of the processes we use to track and organise our contacts with its current and prospective students. CRM software is used to support these processes; information about students (and importantly applicants) and their interactions can be entered, stored and accessed by staff in different departments. Typical CRM goals are to improve services provided to students, and to use student/applicant contact information for targeted marketing.
Curriculum
A set of courses usually associated with a student's programme of study.
D
Degree programme
A set of compulsory and elective courses leading to a defined award, with defined aims, intended learning outcomes, mode(s) of delivery, and scheme of assessment.
Disbursement
The MyCampus process which moves financial aid awards from the Financial Aid Module to the Students Finance Account.
DSA
Disabled Students' Allowance.
E
Effective Date
An 'Effective Date' is applied to data throughout MyCampus. When data is amended (e.g. a Course changes its title, or a student updates their address) the amended data is entered with an Effective Date. This means that there is a clear record of when each item of data becomes valid and can be used.
Elective course (or Option course)
A course that may optionally be taken by students on a particular programme. (The same course may be compulsory for students on a different programme.)
EmplID
The EmplID (short for Employee ID) is the unique number that identifies all people on the system e.g. enquirers, applicants, students, members of staff (internal & external), alumni. For students, this will effectively mean that their EmplID is their student number. This may also be referred to as the GUID.
Enrolment Requirement Groups
These groups attach requisites to a course based on a variety of factors including pre and co-requisites, year of study, program, plan etc. Enrollment requirement groups are also used to reserve capacity in classes for students meeting various criteria. Enrolment requirements are separate (in system terms) from requirements found in Academic advisement rules but they may specify the same parameters.
Extension
Following the completion of the student's research period, an extension refers to any delay the deadline for the student's submission which must be approved by the relevant Higher Degrees Committee.
External examiner
A subject expert appointed by the University to participate in the moderation of the assessment process.
External Organisation
'External Organisations' are third party bodies that are created on the system and can then be used for a variety of functions. The 'type' of external organisation is defined (e.g. business, hospital, school) when it is set up and this dictates what each one can be used for. Typically these are set up for sponsors, schools, agents, hospitals, other institutions, employers.
F
Financial Aid
The module within MyCampus which deals with the awarding and dusburdement of financial support to students. This can be in the form of Bursaries, Grants, Stipends, Scholarships etc. Under the updated policy, Financial Aid for tuition fees is only applied where utilitising external funds, e.g. Research Council funds.
Funder
Any external body/company which contributes to the funding of a student's research degree.
G
Grade
If you complete a course, you will be a given a grade (A-H) based on your performance in the assessment. Each grade is worth a specified number of points, with the highest grade worth the most points and the lowest grade worth no points.
Grade-points
A measure of the workload x your performance for each course. The numerical equivalent of a grade, used in the classification of Ordinary and professional degrees. Your grade-points for each course are calculated by taking the number of credits for the course (workload) and multiplying this by the points allocated to your grade (performance) From academic session 2011-12 the following 22-point scale has been adopted across the University:
| Schedule A | |
|---|---|
| GRADE | GRADE POINTS (GPA/Credit) |
| A1 | 22 |
| A2 | 21 |
| A3 | 20 |
| A4 | 19 |
| A5 | 18 |
| B1 | 17 |
| B2 | 16 |
| B3 | 15 |
| C1 | 14 |
| C2 | 13 |
| C3 | 12 |
| D1 | 11 |
| D2 | 10 |
| D3 | 9 |
| E1 | 8 |
| E2 | 7 |
| E3 | 6 |
| F1 | 5 |
| F2 | 4 |
| F3 | 3 |
| G1 | 2 |
| G2 | 1 |
| H | 0 |
Graduate School
Within a College, the Graduate School function is to implement policy and practice in relation to postgraduate students and is led by the Head of Graduate School, an academic member ofCollege staff.
Grant
A non-repayable award made to eligible students.
H
Hardship Committee
UoG hardship committee makes hardship funds available to students and takes decisions on awards by interview panel process. They meet on a weekly basis.
Home/EU Student
A student who has been ordinarily resident in the UK or an EU country for the past three years, for reasons other than education and who has Indefinite Leave to live in the UK or EU (no restrictions in their passport). From 2012/13 Home will represent Scotland only, not the whole of the UK.
I
Institution
The institution is the primary academic body in MyCampus. The Institution Code for this university is GLSGW.
Instrument of assessment
A means by which a course or part of a course may be assessed; it may be a written or oral examination, dissertation, report or other approved means.
Intellectual property
The results/outputs arising from research. The intellectual property rights of results arising from a research degree, are owned by the student. Some funders or sponsors, however, require the student to assign some intellectual property rights to them in exchange for funding/in-kind contribution to the research degree.
International Student
This is a student is not from the UK or the EU or EEA.J
Item Type
An item type is used within MyCampus to record changes to the students account and credits - this will include Financial Aid. The Item Type contains the details of the change and credit and holds all accounting details which will be used when interfacing the transaction to the Agresso Financial System.
J
K
L
Language Year Abroad
The compulsory period abroad (normally year 3) in the 5 year MA Honours degree involving a language (Single or Joint with a non-language subject) or languages (Joint).
LEA
Local Education Authority - English and Welsh students apply to their LEA for their tuition fee assistance and maintenance support.
Leave of Absence
An period of extended absence agreed betweena PGRstudent and their adviser with a planned return date which enables the student to complete their chosen program of study.
Level
An indication of the standard at which a particular course is taught and assessed. The available levels are 1, 2, 3, H (Honours), and M (Masters).
M
Matriculation
An old term for Registration. There is a matriculation stage in MyCampus, meaning the change in status from applicant to student. This happens only once at the beginning of the student's current career.
Milestones
Tasks or activities which a PGR student must complete as part of their programme and which will determine their ability to progress.
Monitoring
Process whereby the aims, intended learning outcomes, delivery, and students' results for a course are reviewed.
N
O
Offering
At least one Offering is created for every Course, namely the Class. More than one offering can be created if different variations of the same Course are to be offered.
Option course
See entry for 'Elective Course'.
Oral examination
Also known as the viva voce, this refers to the oral examination in which a student defends his/her thesis in front of a Committee of Examiners to determine the outcome of their degree. Also an element of assessment in undergraduate language courses and some other UG degree programs to help determine final classification.
Ordinarily Resident
Ordinarily resident has been defined in the courts as 'habitual and normal residence in one place'. It basically means that you, your parents or your husband or wife live in a country year after year by choice throughout a set period, apart from temporary or occasional absences such as holidays or business trips. Living in the UK for the purpose of receiving full-time education does not count as being ordinarily resident.
P
Plan
The Plan is what UoG currently refers to as the Programme of Study e.g. Faculty of Arts MA (Hons) History. Students can be enrolled in more than one Plan at a time if they are working towards more than one award.
Plan Administration
Plan Administration is the task that must be completed once a plan has been given a code or has been approved. This task was previously undertaken in PIP but is now carried out in MyCampus. By completing the plan administration the plan is made available to Admissions for applications.
Plan Building
Plan Building is the initial creation of advisement rules for a plan.
Plan Maintenance
Plan Maintenance is when changes are applied to the advisement rules to implement academic changes to the plan.
Points Based System
The points-based immigration system is the means of regulating immigration to the United Kingdom from outside the European Economic Area (EEA). The scheme was phased in between 2008 and 2010. It is composed of five "tiers" which replaced all the previous work permits and entry schemes, including Scotland's Fresh Talent Initiative. The system is administered by the UK Border Agency. All student visas are classed under Tier 4 of the points-based system. To qualify, visa applicants must have already been offered a position at an educational institution. The duration of Tier 4 visas varies, taking into account the time needed to conclude studies and attend graducation.
Postgraduate Certificate
An award following successful completion of a 60-credit programme, including at least 40 credits at level M.
Postgraduate Diploma
An award following successful completion of a 120-credit programme, including at least 90 credits at level M.
Pre-Requisities
Specific pre-University qualifications or University courses which a student is required to have completed in order to be eligible to enrol on a course.
Program
The College and the award to which the student is admitted will comprise the Program e.g.College of Arts MA (Hons). Students can subsequently be enrolled on to any Plan(s) associated with that program. A set of compulsory and elective courses leading to a defined award, with defined aims, intended learning outcomes, mode(s) of delivery, and scheme of assessment.
Q
Quick Admit
A function that allows a student record to be created without going through the normal Admission process (e.g. telephone enrolment for Continuing Education students).
R
Research 'Furth of Glasgow'
Policy relating to students on placement during their research degree and/or conducting research at sites other than those owned and governed by the University of Glasgow.
Research period
The research period is the duration for which the student is registered for their research degree. Research period durations vary depending on the research degree a student undertakes. A student is generally expected to complete and submit within this period.
Residency
In MyCampus, Residency is used primarily to determine different tuition fee categories (e.g. Home orInternational students). A facility to hold a different Residency per Career for a student is provided.
Role Security
This function controls which menus and pages within the system can be accessed by a particular user.
Row Level
A function to control which groups of students can be accessed from a page or report by a particular user.
S
SAAS
Students Awards Agency for Scotland - the one stop shop for fee assistance and living support for Scottish students.
Scheme of assessment
A specification of the instruments of assessment by which performance on a particular course or a programme is assessed, including the relative weighting of each instrument.
Scholarship
This is a non-repayable amount of money paid to a student by an organisation or charitable trust.
Search Match
A feature enabling the search and identification of duplicate records in MyCampus. Criteria can be specified to define a number of searches which can be as open or restrictive as required. Search Match is undertaken at application stage.
Security
See Role Security and Row Level.
Self Service
In MyCampus pages can be designed to allow users to update or view their own data. Alternatively, they may view information about student data as required. e.g. Student Self-Service: Students viewing their grades as they progress through their studies. Administrative Self-Service: Advisor viewing the grades of their advisees as they progress through their studies. Direct Applicants will also have access to Student Self Service to view conditions, submit documents and accept or decline offers.
Semester
A period of approximately 15 weeks during which courses are taught and assessed. Until 2007-08, each academic session includes a first semester from late September to mid-January and a second semester from mid-January to early June. As from 2008-09, each academic session will include a first semester from September to December and a second semester from January to May, with all teaching completed by the spring break for the majority of students. Exceptions to this are the professional degrees.
Service Indicators
Service Indicators can either be holds that prevent an individual or organisation from receiving certain services (e.g. students prevented from registering because of outstanding charges) or positive indicators that designate special services to be provided (e.g. for students with a disability). Staff have approved access to allow specific types of Service Indicators to be viewed, added or removed.
Session
Sessions equate to UoG Semesters. Terms are split into Sessions. There can be many Sessions with defined start and end dates within each Term. Sessions can overlap each other and can also begin or end outside of the main Term dates.
Shopping Cart
This allows students accumulate a list of courses for enrolment before progressing to complete enrolment. Students enrolling onto courses with co-requisites must add both co-requisite courses to their shopping cart before completing enrolment on these courses.
SLC
Student Loans Company.
Sponsorship
This is a non-repayable sum offered by some employers to some students, often in exchange for summer placements. See the Careers' Service for more details.
Student Attributes
Student Attributes is a facility to record and track particular student records. Attribute(s) are created and then placed on the student's programme record which enables reporting on all students who have a particular attribute for that programme. e.g. an Attribute could be created for students taking additional professional exams.
Student Center
The Student Center is a self-service page that provides a single entry point from which to navigate to student-related transactions. It also provides a single location where students can see information such as their class schedule, adviser information, personal data and account information. Direct Applicants will also have access to Student Self Service to view conditions, submit socuments and accept or decline offers.
Student Groups
Student Groups allow students to be grouped together to facilitate reporting or processes. e.g. All students funded by the NHS can be put into the Student Group 'NHS'. The fee calculation process can be configured to exclude these students from direct fee charging, whereas other students could be charged the full rate. 'Student Groups' can also be used to allow students in a particular group to meet specific enrolment requirements e.g. it is usedfor all new entrants based on school qualifications or for GIC students who don't meet normal pre-requisites for level 2 courses.
Subject
Subject areas in their broadest terms. A well-defined and distinctive discipline of study. It can also be used to describe distinct groups within a School (former departments)
Suspension
An interruption of study. Suspensions should be rare and must be approved by the relevant Higher Degrees Committee. Periods of suspension are taken into account when calculating a student's end date and submission date.
T
Temporary Withdrawal
A period of extended absence agreed between a UG or PGT student and their adviser with a planned return date which enables the student to complete their chosen program of study.
Term
Term equates to the UoG academic session/year. There can be many Sessions with defined start and end dates within each Term.
Term Activation
A process that is run at the start of each [UoG] academic year / semester as appropriate to allow the student to proceed to registration and enrolment. There is no approval process and once term-activated students can proceed to registration and enrolment without further intervention. For full time students progressing normally, this will be an automatic process.
Thesis Pending
The registration (and fee) status of a research student pays who has completed their practical research but not yet submitted a thesis at the end of their research period.
Third Party Contracts
A Third Party Contract is the means by which a student is linked to a sponsor (External Organisation).
Three Cs
Part of the MyCampus functionality - checklist, comments, and communications - which can drive/automate other actions.
U
V
W
Workflow
This function enables automated notification and management of tasks or work list items.
Writing-up fee
Additional fee which a research student pays if s/he has completed their practical research but not yet submitted a thesis at the end of their research period. The term ‘Thesis Pending’ is now used to describe this status.