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Athabasca University

Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies
Course Regulations and Procedures

Complete the course registration form and submit it by the deadline dates to the Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies (MA-IS) program office. Manual registration forms are provided by the MA-IS office for students who are sponsored or who are paying by cheque, money order, or student loan.

Incompletes for Courses

Ninety (90) days after the original course completion date, a grade will be assigned to the course. Students who have not submitted the required course work are assigned a failing grade (F).

Extensions

Students taking an individualized study course have the flexibility to determine their own timelines for completing it within their six-month contract period. Should students experience time problems, they may extend the course contract by submitting a completed MA-IS Extension Request Form, along with the appropriate fees, to the MA-IS Office. Individualized study courses may be extended three times for a period of two months each. Contact the MA-IS office for more information on extensions.

Grouped study courses cannot extend their course contract end date.

Re-Registration

Students may re-register in a course only if they have received a final grade of 59 per cent or lower, or have withdrawn from the course in good standing. In re-registering, students must complete all course requirements and pay the full course fee. Both the initial registration and the re-registration will appear on the student’s transcript.

Course Withdrawals

Students may withdraw from a course up until the contract end date (refer to MA-IS& Academic Schedule) by completing and submitting an MA-IS Withdrawal Request Form. The date of withdrawal will be the postmark on the request, or if the notice is hand-delivered or faxed, the University date stamp.&

If a student withdraws from a course within the first 30 days of the course start date, the record of registration will be deleted from their official transcript (see Course Refunds below). If a student withdraws from a course after the first 30 days of the course but before the contract end date of the course, the official record and transcript will show that the student withdrew without credit and without prejudice or academic penalty and no refund will be issued.

Course Refunds

Students will only receive a refund of the full course tuition fees minus the course withdrawal processing fee (refer to Fees) if they withdraw from the course within 30 days of the course start date or before the first day of class. Do not return the learning resources. A refund is not granted to students who withdraw 30 days after the course contract start date.

Grading System

As the core courses (MAIS 601 and MAIS 602) will challenge students in areas of study that will most likely be unfamiliar to them, these two courses will be graded on a pass/fail basis. The rationale for pass/fail grading is to challenge students to risk working in integrated studies areas and to undertake assignment topics they might not consider if their performance was graded on a percentage (or Alpha) basis. All other courses will be graded using the Alpha/4.0 grading scale.

Please review the Graduate Grading Policy and Academic Records FAQ for more information on grading scales.

 

Information effective September 1, 2020 to August 31, 2021.

Updated May 31 2021 by laurab

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