Advising Handbook

This handbook contains some of the most common features and tasks which those with ‘advising’ responsibility are likely to use in order to carry out their advising role. This handbook is intended to contextualise the MyCampus process to aid colleagues understanding of the situations or circumstances where an Adviser might be required to undertake the relevant MyCampus activity.

A full overview of support materials for Advisers of Studies can be found on the Adviser of Studies Moodle. Select ‘Advisers of Studies’.

The handbook will be a comprehensive overview of all process that an Adviser of Studies or administrative adviser might undertake in MyCampus. Advisers will undertake slightly different tasks in different degree programmes depending on the degree structure and the level of administrative support available. Detailed information on the specific role of an Adviser of Studies will be available from the relevant Chief Adviser.

Advisers will access most information from the MyCampus homepage. Guidance for navigation in this handbook is from the MyCampus homepage. Advisers can also access information through the Student Summary and Adviser Centre.

If you need further help, please contact slsd@glasgow.ac.uk

Browse handbook

Amend a Student’s Academic Standing

In MyCampus student’s eligibility to progress will be calculated automatically against the Plan Rules. The progression process can award academic standing codes to indicate that the student is eligible to progress, requires review by Progress Committee or that the students Program or Plan should be reviewed. If the automatic progression process does not give a student an Academic Standing Code of ‘Progress’ someone with advising responsibilities may be required to manually update the student’s academic standing. Advisers will have the ability to ‘override’ the automatically calculated status and allow a student to progress. This may be where a student has narrowly missed the requirements and the Adviser is confident that they will be able to meet future requirements.

Before updating the automatically-set Academic Standing Code Advisers should seek advice from the Chief Adviser or relevant College Office Support staff.

Note:

  • When updating an Academic Standing Code it is important to add a new row and enter the new Academic Standing Code rather than overriding the automatically calculated status.
  • Updates to Academic Standing Code should be within the same Academic Year (i.e. for 2011-12 it should be effectively dated up 31/7/2012)
  • The MyCampus progression process will be run overnight and if a student becomes eligible to progress e.g. following a resit result then they will be automatically progressed.

Navigation:

Adviser -  Advising Quick Links > Term History >Academic Standing Tab
Administrator -  Records and Enrolment > Student Term Information > Term History > Academic Standing Tab

Further Information:

Change a Program and/or Plan

Students are registered on a Program and Plan in MyCampus e.g. MA, History. Students will be admitted to a Program and Plan when they join the University. Students may be able to change Program or Plan by request or may be required to change Program or Plan due to progress requirements. A Program change would be, for example, a transfer from MA to MA (Soc Sci) which will be a relatively rare occurrence. More regularly a student may switch Plan e.g. transfer from BSc Genetics to BSc General Sciences.

When the Progression Process (an automated process in MyCampus) runs it may determine that a student has failed to meet the requirements set by the Program or Plan.

Students will be asked to confirm their Program and Plan during the registration process on an annual basis. The Program and Plan will drive the Academic Plan rules that the students will see as ‘My Requirements’ when they progress to enrolment so it is important that the Program and Plan are correct. During the Registration process students will be advised to contact their Adviser of Studies if the Program or Plan is incorrect.

When changing a student’s Program or Plan a new effectively dated row need to be added to the student’s record. This allows historical information to be kept accurately and to identify action which will happen at a future date.

When a Program is changed the Plan (under the Student Plan tab) must also be amended to allow the Program change to be saved. The Admit Term also has to be confirmed as correct (not usually changed).

Note:

  • When a student’s Program is changed, a new Adviser of Studies may have to be allocated, particularly when a change of College is necessary.
  • Not all advisers will have permissions to change a Program and so may need to refer to either the relevant Chief Adviser or College Support Office.

Navigation:

Adviser: Advising Quick Links > Student Program/Plan
Administrator: Records and Enrollment > Career and Program Information > Student Program/Plan

Further Information:

Change a Student’s Academic Load (e.g. Full Time, Part Time)

Students may request to change their ‘academic load’ between full time or part time to suit their changed personal requirements or they may be required to change their ‘academic load’ in order to allow them to progress with studying.

The Academic Load will be changed in MyCampus on the students Program record. Amending the student’s academic load will have an impact on tuition fees and any potential refund the student may be eligible for.

Navigation:

Adviser: Advising Quick Links > Student Program/Plan
Administrator: Records and Enrollment > Career and Programme Information > Student Program/Plan

Further Information:

Change a Student’s Year of Study

Students who are progressing normally will have their year of study automatically incremented by the ‘progression’ process. Students who have not met progression requirements (e.g. students who will be asked to repeat the year) will be maintained on the same level providing the correct ‘repeat year’ ‘academic standing’ code is entered.

Advisers will rarely be required to update the student’s year of study.

Navigation:

Adviser: List of MyAdvisees > Strt Level
Administrator: Records and Enrollment > Student Term Information > Term Activate a Student

Check a Student’s Curriculum

Advisers of Studies are able to check that a student’s enrolments comply with the Academic Plan Requirements (or ‘Plan Rules’). This is achieved by running an ‘Advisement Report’. The Advisement Report can be run at any time during the Academic Year and will check that the student has selected courses which meet the Plan Rules. Meeting all requirements in the Plan Rules allows automatic progression in MyCampus to registration and enrolment for the next year of study.

Navigation:

Adviser: Advising Quick Links > Advising Report
Administrator: Main Menu>Academic Advisement>Request Advisement Report>Student Advisement Report)

Drop a Course

In MyCampus students have responsibility for enrolling in their courses and classes through self-service. By exception, those with advising responsibilities may be required to drop students from classes for them. This may be where a student has selected a course that does not meet the Academic Plan Rules and the Adviser wishes to remove the student from the course.

The Adviser can drop a course through the Quick Enroll page that is used to enroll students by selecting ‘drop’ and one of the students courses.

Navigation:

Adviser: Advising Quick Links > Quick Enroll a Student
Administrator: Records and Enrollment > Enroll Students > Quick Enroll a Student

Further Information:

  • Enrolment User Guides: Enrolment (Administration)

Enrol a Student in Classes

In MyCampus students have responsibility for enrolling in their courses and classes through self-service. By exception, those with advising responsibilities may be required to enroll students in classes for them. This may be to override a timetable clash, to permit a student to enroll when they do not meet the pre-requisites or to add a student to a class which is already full. Please note, overriding pre-requisites and adding students to classes which are already full should only be done following consultation with the relevant Course Convener.

In MyCampus students are enrolled in the course and all class ‘components’ e.g. lecture, tutorial, workshops as appropriate. When an Adviser is enrolling a student they will need to select all required components for the student.

Navigation:

Adviser: Advising Quick Links > Quick Enroll a Student
Administrator: Records and Enrollment > Enroll Students > Quick Enroll a Student

Further Information:

  • Enrolment User Guides: 

Exams Only Enrolment

The Code of Assessment provides for students to ‘normally be permitted not more than one further attempt at each component of the assessment in which a grade lower than the threshold grade has been awarded.’ A student will be permitted to attempt an examination as ‘first-sitting’ at the Resit Diet, if they have ‘good cause’ for missing May Diet. If the student fails the examination in August they will be entitled to a resit opportunity at the next available Diet (May the following year). In this case, the student is deemed to be enrolled on the course as Exam Only.

A student will not be able to enroll themselves onto a course as exams only so will require a member of staff to enroll them onto it.

The student will be enrolled onto a specific course as exams only in this circumstance.

Note:

This is different from a student who is repeating the entire year as ‘exams only’.

Navigation:

Records and Enrollment > Enroll Students > Exams Only Enrollment

Further Information:

  • Enrolment User Guides: 

Exams Only Year

A student may be permitted to enroll on all courses for an Academic Year as ‘exams only’ thereby retaking assessment for all courses without attending classes. In this instance the student is deemed to be on an ‘Exams Only Year’, is not required to attend classes and will be charged a reduced Exams Only Year tuition fee (rather than the full tuition fee).

This student will be enrolled on courses as exams only (see ‘Exams Only Enrollment’) but will also have their Term Record updated to show them as ‘Exams Only Year’.

Navigation:

Adviser: List of MyAdvisees > Strt Level
Administrator: Records & Enrollment > Student Term Information > Term Activate a Student

Identify Students Not Meeting Academic Advisement Rules (Exception Report)

To check that all advisees have enrolled in courses that are compliant with their Plan Rules, advisers can run an ‘Exception Report’. The report will identify students who are failing plan rules. If this is picked up during the “add/drop” period, it will be possible for advisers to alert the student in time to make a change to their curriculum. It is also be possible for advisers to authorise the course the student has enrolled in as it may be a “course substitution” which can be allowed. (More advice will be available from Chief Adviser or College Office Support staff).

The report can be run for students on a nominated program/plan, by adviser or by year.

Navigation:

Adviser - Advising Quick Links > Exception Report
Administrator -Records and Enrollment > Term Processing > Start of Term Processing > AA Exception Report

Further Information:

Personalise the Adviser's Homepage

The ‘List of my Advisees’ on the Homepage includes all advisees attached to the adviser by current program, active in the current year.

Pagelets identify and display students under a range of options eg by Service Indicator, Academic Standing etc. Pagelets can be changed according to priorities at different times in the year.

Navigation:

Adviser's Homepage

Further Information:

Overview of the Adviser's Homepage: MyCampus Adviser Homepage - Overview

Training Guide: Personalise the Adviser's Homepage

Quick Guide: MyCampus Homepage - Personalise

Pre-Requisite Enrolment ‘Groups’

MyCampus expects students to enroll in classes in self service. For many classes across the University this requires students to meet certain pre- or co-requisites. In most instances the pre- or co-requisite is that the student has completed another University course to a satisfactory grade. If the student has not met the pre-requisite they will not be permitted to enroll on the course and will be displayed an error message detailing the pre-requisite that they have failed to meet.

In some cases the requirement is for the student to have obtained a certain grade in a pre-University qualification. To allow this to happen, students are put into ‘groups’ (e.g. Maths Higher B or equivalent’) by Admissions. Students are put into these groups automatically for Higher and A-level qualifications but international qualifications will require review and manual intervention by RIO staff.

Navigation:

Adviser Centre: My Advisees > General Info (tab) > Student Groups > ‘Edit Student Groups’
Administrator: Records and Enrollment > Career and Program Information > Student Groups

Review Curriculum ‘flag’ (Service Indicator R05)

MyCampus does not require an Adviser of Studies to ‘approve’ a student’s curriculum. In MyCampus a ‘Service Indicator’ is attached to a student’s record and can be removed by an Adviser once they have checked the curriculum the student has selected. The service indicator allows an Adviser to see which students they still require to review.

The use of the Review Curriculum ‘flag’ is not compulsory but is available for use by Advisers to assist them.

The service indicator shows in the MyCampus Homepage in the ‘Advisees list by Serv. Ind. Portlet’.

Navigation to view students with service indicator:

Adviser: Advisee List by Serv. Ind.

Navigation to remove service indicator:

Adviser: Advisee List by Serv. Ind. > Select Student
Administrator: Campus Community > Service Indicators (Student) > Manage Service Indicators

Further Information:

What If? Report

MyCampus allows a student or an Adviser to run a report to assess the student’s progress against a Program or Plan that they are not registered on. A student can run this report in Self Service where they are considering changing their Plan. Advisers might be more likely to run a What If? Report for a student if they have failed their Academic Advisement Rules and will need to change their Program or Plan.

The What If? Report will show to what extent the student meets the Academic Advisement Rules of the chosen alternative Program or Plan.

Navigation:

Adviser: Advisee Student Centre > Academics > Select ‘What If? Report’ from drop down menu

Allocating Students to an Adviser

Running a Student HEAR

Enrolment Search Request - Chief Advisers Only

 Setting Up an Adviser - Chief Advisers Only

Audit Service Indicators

Registration and En‌rolment Student View

Glossary of terms

TerminologyDescription
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.
Academic Plan 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.
Also known as: Plan Rules, Advisement Rules, Academic Requirements.
Academic Standing

A student’s eligibility to progress at the end of each Term is defined as their ‘Academic Standing’. Their Academic Standing will indicate that they are eligible to progress, need to review Program or Plan, review by Progress Committee etc.
Academic Standing Code

Academic Standing Codes are set up in MyCampus as four-letter codes to indicate Progress, Review Program/Plan, Review by Progress Committee etc.
Add/Drop Period

A three week period at the beginning of Semester 1, including Orientation Week, in which students can change their courses and classes in Self Service without intervention from an Adviser of Studies.

In Semester 2, there is a two week period from the start of teaching in which changes can be made without adviser intervention.
Advisement Report

An advisement report is tailored to an individualstudent 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.
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.
Class

A class is a component of a course e.g. a lecture, laboratory or tutorial. Students enroll onto class sections.
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.
Credits

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.


In MyCampus credits are shown as ‘Units’.
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 maintains an accurate historical record.
Exception Report

An Exception Report will highlight any students who have enrolled in curriculum which does not meet their Plan Rules. The Report can be run by Program, Plan, Adviser or Year.
Level

An indication of the standard at which a particular course is taught and assessed. The available levels are 1, 2, 3, 4 (Honours), 5 (PGT), 6 (PGR), 9 (non-credit bearing).
Plan

The Plan is what University of Glasgow currently refers to as the Programme of Study e.g. History, MA.
Program

A Program is, for example, Bachelor of Science (LS), Master in Science. Students can subsequently be enrolled on to any Plan(s) associated with that program.
Progression

An automated process run annually in MyCampus to calculate the student’s eligibility to progress against their Program and Plan rules.
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 University of Glasgow Semesters. Terms are split into Sessions. There can be many Sessions with defined start and end dates within each Term.
Sponsor Details

Information on who is paying students Tuition, Bench, Accommodation fees etc.
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'. 'Student Groups' can also be used to allow students in a particular group to meet specific enrolment requirements e.g. it is used for all new entrants based on school qualifications or for GIC students who don't meet normal pre-requisites for level 2 courses.
Term

Term equates to the University of Glasgow Academic Year. There can be many Sessions with defined start and end dates within each Term.
Term Activate

A process that is run at the start of each Academic Year to allow students to proceed to registration and enrolment. For full time students progressing normally, this will be an automatic process.
WhatIf? Report

A report which evaluates students’ eligibility to progress against an alternative Program or Plan than the one they are enrolled on.