Academic Standards and Grading Requirements
Access Studies and Unclassified Students are subject to the general UBC grading requirements.
Access Studies and Unclassified Students are expected to maintain a passing mark in each class they take in the program. Students that fail two (2) classes are automatically withdrawn from the program and will not be allowed to take further classes in the program.
Access Studies and Unclassified Students who have been admitted to the program with a course limit must achieve a C+ (64%) to be able to take more than one class in a subsequent term.
LLM Common Law students are subject to the minimum grading requirements of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
Under Allard School of Law rules, all grades above 90% must be approved by the Graduate Committee.
Distance Learning Exams
All exams for the Distances Learning Courses at Allard are invigilated through an online exam platform called Proctorio. Proctorio is an automated online invigilation tool that records you while you take your exam online through your own computer and at your own location.
Proctorio will invigilate you through the webcam, microphone and computer screen capture during the exam session. Suspicious behaviour will be flagged and will be reviewed. All recordings made by Proctorio, are encrypted and stored securely within Canadian servers. In line with British Columbia's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, these recordings are kept for a year and a day. After this time, the recordings are deleted. Proctorio requires the use of the Google Chrome web browser and the Proctorio extension. Proctorio is active when you log in to the exam. The Proctorio extension can be uninstalled after the exam. You need to use a regular computer (Windows/Mac computer or laptop). You cannot take the exams from mobile devices (e.g., iPhone, iPad, Android device, etc). You need a working webcam and microphone.
If you are writing an online exam invigilated via Proctorio, you can expect to write at the same time as the scheduled Vancouver campus exam. You are responsible for converting the scheduled Vancouver time to your location time zone. For overseas students, your exam time and date may be adjusted to fall within regular waking hours. You will be notified by email if your time is adjusted.
To submit a detailed question on Proctorio please contact CTLT DE Student Support.
Exam Accommodations
If you have a disability or an ongoing medical condition which may impact your ability to access exams under standard conditions, you may apply for an exam accommodation with the Centre for Accessibility.
Academic Concession Requests
Please review UBC's policy on academic concession requests (i.e., exam deferrals, assignment extensions, etc). Although the policy does not specifically refer to unclassified students enrolled in distance learning courses, it also applies to them.
To make an academic concession request, please complete and return the relevant form located here: Graduate Program Academic Services
For more information, please contact the Distance Learning Program.
Penalties for Late Assignments
The Allard School of Law's standard policy for late assignments is as follows:
For each or any part of a day that the assignment is late, including weekends and statutory holidays and other days when the law school is closed, the student will lose 5% of the maximum possible value of the assignment for the first day or part of a day that the assignment is late and an additional 2% for each subsequent day or part of a day.
Example: A paper worth 100 possible marks that is handed in 1 day late would automatically lose 5 points. The same paper handed in 10 days late would lose an additional 18 marks for a total mark loss of 23 marks.
A student can apply for an exemption from this deduction for one or more of the days within the late period. Such application will be made to the Examinations Committee.
Example: if a student hands a paper in 5 days late, but one of those days is a religious celebration for the student, the student can apply for an exemption from penalty for that day. If granted, the student's paper would then be considered to be 4 days late.
Instructors have no capacity to grant extensions. Students must apply to the Examinations Committee for exemptions from this deduction.
Academic Honesty & Standards
The UBC Policy on Academic Honesty & Standards begins as follows:
Academic honesty is essential to the continued functioning of the University of British Columbia as an institution of higher learning and research. All UBC students are expected to behave as honest and responsible members of an academic community. Breach of those expectations or failure to follow the appropriate policies, principles, rules, and guidelines of the University with respect to academic honesty may result in disciplinary action.It is the student's obligation to inform himself or herself of the applicable standards for academic honesty.
Students must be aware that standards at the University of British Columbia may be different from those in secondary schools or at other institutions. If a student is in any doubt as to the standard of academic honesty in a particular course or assignment, then the student must consult with the instructor as soon as possible, and in no case should a student submit an assignment if the student is not clear on the relevant standard of academic honesty.
Academic integrity is something that the Allard School of Law and UBC take very seriously. If you have any doubts about expectations and standards, please consult the UBC Policy or Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies' academic honesty & standards for further information.