UWIDEC APC P. 8

2003/4

UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES

 

A proposal for provisional entry to DEC programmes

 

Background

 

An important proposal in APC P. 4, 2002/3, concerns entry to DEC programmes by mature students lacking normal matriculation requirements. That paper suggests the establishment of provisional registration for these students.  The pertinent remarks are as follows:

 

  1. Registrations will be made course wise, though the applicants will have to indicate/record their aimed-at programme in the application form.
  1. Advertisements will be issued twice a year (January and June) asking for applications for registrations.
  1. Registrations will be made on the basis of prescribed entry qualifications, which will be the same as those prescribed for the corresponding campus based face-to-face courses/programmes.
  2. Those who do not fulfil the prescribed entrance qualifications will be advised to undergo relevant access/enabling courses to qualify for registration before they apply again.
  3. Mature applicants will be admitted as provisional learners for the programmes of their choice and advised to take (a) such enabling courses as are essentially required to manage the programmes they may have applied for and also a course on Study Skills for Resource Based Learning and (b) a prescribed number of courses (for example, three Foundation Courses) for them to assess their potential for the programmes of their choice. Successful completion of the courses under (a) and (b) will entitle them to regular registration.
  4. Applications will be scrutinised for classification: clear cases in C1, clear cases with discrepancies in C2, odd cases in C3 and mature applicants in C4.
  5. Letters of offer will be sent to C1 applicants with information about the payment of course fees, start of studies, etc. Application types C2 and C3 will have to achieve C1 status before they are considered for offers.
  6. Mature students will remain on the C4 list till their status changes from provisional to regular registration.
  7. The cases of C3 and C4 applicants will be referred to the relevant Programme Co-ordinator for advice/decision regarding their registration.

 

This paper seeks to implement the above proposals which were endorsed at the APC and the Board for NCC/DE.

 

Rationale for modifying our regulations

 

The University’s present regulations for matriculation and entry to programmes operate with three basic categories:

 

i)                    normal matriculation (to which may be added particular Faculty requirements for entry to specific programmes);

ii)                  lower level matriculation specified in terms of qualifications, applicable to certain Faculties only;

iii)                 a kind of “mature” student entry which is stated for normal matriculation as follows: [4(g)] “Persons of the age of 21 years and over on the basis of their overall academic and professional attainments.  Such persons will be required to submit with their applications full details of their career, and to submit to tests and/or interviews as required by the Senate and the appropriate Faculties.”  And for lower level: [6(a)] “Persons over the age of 21 seeking admission to Distance Education Programmes mentioned above, on the basis of their overall academic and professional attainments.”

 

As a matter of historical origin, what we are distinguishing as a third category is a descendant of an earlier explicit “mature” student clause, which had been criticised for not being invoked.

 

The APC’s proposal referred to above is designed to replace the mature student category as far as entry into DEC programmes is concerned.  Our present provisions suffer from their lack of specificity:

 

·         no guidance is given whoever decides on admission;

·         no procedures are indicated to provide the review of applicants’ qualifications and life-history or to specify the nature of the further tests or interviews that might be required, although this could in theory make the difference between normal and lower-level matriculation status; 

·         no provision exists to correct mistakes that may be made in admitting students who cannot perform adequately.

 

A further problem with the extremely generous lower level “mature” entry regulation is that its effect is often negated by Faculty requirements.  The University is thus seen to speak with two voices: unfettered mature entry on the one hand, but further obstacles in the Faculty small-print.

 

The APC’s proposal says to normal (non-mature) students: become matriculated, in keeping with the current regulations for normal or lower level matriculation.  However, for mature students it takes no cognisance of “overall academic and professional attainments” but rather operates on the “challenge” approach: you want to study with us, show us that you can.  Once they have shown that ability, nothing more is required to grant them full matriculation status in the programme of their choice.

 

Proposed changes to entrance and matriculation regulations

 

To allow the APC to proceed in this manner, it is necessary to have new clauses approved for our entry regulations.

 

Taking the present text of the Matriculation Regulations, the proposed new clauses are as follows:

 

To 2: add “to on-campus programmes” after “Applicants”.  Add a second sentence: “Applicants to the Distance Education Centre’s programmes who are aged 21 or more and who do not satisfy minimum entrance requirements may be admitted on a provisional basis, as specified below.”

 

[If the paragraphs were re-ordered it would be possible to specify a number instead of saying “below”.  But it would not make much sense simply to add the new sections as 8.]

 

So paragraph 2 would now read:

 

Applicants to on-campus programmes are required to satisfy the relevant University minimum entrance requirements for matriculation, either at Normal or Lower Level, before being considered for admission to degree or other programmes. Applicants to the Distance Education Centre’s programmes who are aged 21 or more and who do not satisfy minimum entrance requirements may be admitted on a provisional basis, as specified below.

 

Paragraph 6(a) should be deleted.  [This is the mature lower level matriculation regulation quoted above.]

 

The new paragraph “below” would be:

 

Provisional matriculation in the DEC

 

Mature applicants to programmes in the DEC (i.e. those who would be aged 21 or more at the time of entry to the programme) who do not satisfy minimum entrance requirements may be admitted on a provisional basis.  Such students will be required to complete successfully a number of courses, not less than four, to be specified by the DEC in the light of their background and the programme they intend to take.  Upon successful completion of these courses within a timeframe specified by the DEC, such students will be registered as normally matriculated students.

 

Action

 

The APC is asked to endorse these proposals and transmit them to the Board for Undergraduate Studies for approval.

 

 

Office of the Board for NCC/DE

September 25, 2003