Course Scheduling Policies and Procedures

Departments or students seeking requirements of the Classes During Co-op policy can refer to the policies listed on the Office of the Provost website. The Office of the University Registrar will manage the following guidelines as it relates to scheduling:

• Registration is subject to course availability within established enrollment limits. Closed Section Overrides will not be granted, no new course sections will be added, and students cannot wait list for a closed section.
• Registration for these students begins Week 9 of the term prior to the term of enrollment through an online time ticket in DrexelOne.
• To keep students on track to satisfy their requirements for degree completion, all students will need to register for at least 12 credits of classes or have secured a co-op opportunity by the end of the add/drop period for reach term to maintain full-time enrollment status.

Students who have questions regarding co-op employment or registration requirements should consult with the Steinbright Career Development Center (SCDC) and their academic advisor. Students should also consult the Course and Co-op Enrollment Policy.

When a course section reaches the enrollment limit established by the offering department, eligible students may be considered for a Closed Section Override. Please see the Closed Section Override Policy established by the Office of the Provost for policy scope and full eligibility criteria.

Procedure

The request is evaluated according to the procedure outlined below. Final approval of an override assumes all criteria are met and approval obtained.

• The Academic Advisor determines whether the student meets the criteria. If the student does not meet the criteria for a Closed Section Override (CSO), the Advisor informs the student that the request is denied and works with the student to identify an alternate course that will meet program requirements, particularly if the student is registered for less than 12 credits for the term.
• If the student meets the criteria, the advisor should submit a CSO request on the student's behalf through Advisor Visit Tracking (AVT), which triggers automated emails to the parties involved.
• A request may be made via email directly to the scheduler of the department offering the course if circumstances prevent the submission of the request through AVT. 
  • The department scheduler is responsible for timely review of the request in AVT or through email. 
• Once approved, the CSO will be processed by the Office of the University Registrar within one (1) business day following confirmation that the seating and/or regulatory capacity limits are not exceeded.
• Once the CSO is processed by the Office of the University Registrar, the advisor and student will be notified via email.

Independent Study (IS) courses may be offered for student to explore areas of special interest that are not provided in the existing curriculum. A faculty member and student must together negotiate a course of study. Independent Study may not be used to replace regularly offered courses or courses needed for a degree requirement without approval from the Office of the Provost.

IS Additions After Week 2 of Term

During the pre-enrollment period through the end of the second week of classes for the term, all students, with the exception of first term freshmen, may add an independent study, thesis, dissertation or research course. Late additions of these courses should follow the late add/drop/withdraw appeal system currently in place for all late add/drop course appeals:

• Student must complete the Late Add/Drop/Withdraw form and obtain necessary signatures of Academic Advisor and faculty member mentoring the student's independent study
• Academic Advisor submits the form to the Provost's Office
• The Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs will review the appeal. If approved, the form will be sent to the Office of the University Registrar for processing. If denied, the form will be sent back to the Academic Advisor

The academic day is defined as the time period extending from 8 a.m. through 9:50 p.m. Lecture, including seminars and special topics, and recitation sections must adhere to the University's official meeting time block patterns as listed below:

Day Classes

3 Credits

• 1-Hour MWF – 8:00-8:50, 9:00-9:50, 10:00-10:50, 11:00-11:50, 12:00-12:50, 13:00-13:50, 14:00-14:50, 15:00-15:50, 16:00-16:50, 17:00-17:50
• 1.5-Hour TR – 8:00-9:20, 9:30-10:50, 11:00-12:20, 12:30-13:50, 14:00-15:20, 15:30-16:50, 17:00-18:20
• 1.5-Hour MW or WF – 8:00-9:20, 12:30-13:50, 15:30-16:50
• 3-Hours M or F – 8:00-10:50, 11:00-13:50, 14:00-16:50

4 Credits

• 1-Hour MTWR or TWRF – 8:00-8:50, 9:00-9:50, 10:00-10:50, 11:00-11:50, 12:00-12:50, 13:00-13:50, 14:00-14:50, 15:00-15:50, 16:00-16:50, 17:00-17:50
• 2-Hour MW, TR or WF – 8:00-9:50, 10:00-11:50, 12:00-13:50, 14:00-15:50, 16:00-17:50

Evening Classes

3 Credits

• 1.5-Hour TR – 18:30-19:50, 20:00-21:20
• 3-Hour M, W or F – 18:00-20:50, 19:00-21:50
• 3-Hour T or R – 18:30-21:20

4 Credits

• 2-Hour MW, TR, WF – 18:00-19:50, 20:00-21:50
• 4-Hour M, T, W, R or F – 18:00-21:50

Additional Information

• Refer to the Office of the Provost's official policy regarding the University time blocks.
• Lecture and recitations less than 3 hours using 1-hour blocks must adhere to times listed in Day Classes #1 above.
• 1.5-hour lecture/online hybrid and recitation sections can be scheduled Monday through Friday, but must adhere to the times listed in Day Classes #2 above.
• To fully utilize the schedule, 1 and 2 credit courses and hybrid sections should be scheduled in such a way that a complete time block is created. For example, if two hybrid sections are being added, they should be scheduled at offsetting blocks such as T 9:30 a.m. and R 9:30 a.m.
• Lab and studio sections are not bound by official time blocks.
• Sections that do not adhere to the University's official time blocks will have the lowest classroom scheduling priority.
• All classes should begin at :00 or :30 and end at :20 or :50.
• Class dismissal should coincide with a section's published end time. 
• The 10-minute period between classes should be used as follows:
  • The first five (5) minutes after dismissal are a shut-down period.
  • The second five (5) minutes preceding the next class are for preparation.
  • Additional guidance can be found on Room Scheduling.

Extenuating circumstances regarding this policy should be addressed to the Office of the University Registrar.

The Course Distribution Policy refers to the distribution of course offerings throughout the day; and is mandated by the Office of the Provost, as it greatly influences room scheduling and the ability for students to remain on their plan of study.

Daily Section Distribution - No departments or programs may schedule more than 50% of its sections between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on any given day. At least 10% of sections must be offered at the 8 a.m. and/or 17:00 hours. Classes starting at 18:00 and later are excluded from this calculation

Weekly Section Distribution Rule - No department or program may schedule more than 10% of its sections as 170 minute or 150 minute one-day lecture sections in any given week. A maximum of 45% may be offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and at least 50% of its sections as 50-minute lecture sections meeting three times a week.

Extenuating circumstances regarding this policy should be addressed to the Office of the University Registrar.

Course numbers should be assigned based on the level of the course as follows:

• 100 – 199: Lower-level undergraduate. These courses are generally intended for students with first-year classification.
• 200 – 299: Lower-level undergraduate. These courses are generally intended for students with sophomore and pre-junior classification.
• 300 – 399: Upper-level undergraduate. These courses are generally intended for students with pre-junior and junior classification.
• 400 – 499: Upper-level undergraduate. These courses are generally intended for students with senior classification.
• 500 – 599: 1^st year Master's degree. These courses are generally intended for Master's degree students in their 1^st year and undergraduate students under “Graduate Courses Open to Undergraduate Day Students” policy.
• 600-699: 2^nd Year Master's degree. These courses are generally intended for Master's degree students in their 2^nd year.
• 700 – 799: Upper-level graduate. These courses are generally intended for post-Master's and pre-candidacy PhD students.
• 800 – 999: Upper-level graduate. These courses are generally intended for post-candidacy PhD students.

Notes:

• Lower-level courses, especially in the 1xx series should present introductory and fundamental subject matter that should generally be accessible to most disciplines and majors.
• Upper-level courses should present advanced subject matter that builds upon lower-level course work and should generally be major specific.
• Course levels for elective courses may vary as students fulfill elective requirements throughout the plan of study.

Special Course Types

Consistency in the numbering of specialty course types, especially those with types of courses that allow variable titles per section, is necessary to allow students and staff to easily identify courses for purposes including but not limited to registration and degree clearance. To maintain consistency across academic units, special courses including Special Topics, Independent Study, Dissertation, Research and Thesis, should be numbered as follows:

Special Topics: Course topics decided upon by an academic unit which is not part of a standard curriculum. Special topics are offered as a "pilot" course of interest to faculty and/or students to determine student demand and before formally submitting the course as a required or elective course. Departments are responsible for creating new special topics courses according to the following scheme:

• Undergraduate numbers: T180, T280, T380, T480
• Graduate numbers: T580, T680, T780, T880, T980

Two academic years (not necessarily in succession) is the time span allotted for a department to offer a special topics course before it must be submitted formally with a permanent course number in CourseLeaf Course Inventory Management.

Courses identified as special topics can only be used as a degree requirement with approval from the Office of the Provost.

• A variable-topic course focusing on advanced subject matter in a field of study may be offered outside the standardized special topics course numbering if it will be updated regularly to cover evolving current topics in a specified sub-field.

Independent Study: Self-directed study that requires intermittent consultation with a designated instructor.

• Undergraduate numbers: I199, I299, I399, I499
• Graduate numbers: I599, I699, I799, I899, I999

Research: Independent study done by a student working toward a larger project, such as a master's thesis, senior project, or dissertation.

• Undergraduate Number: 497
• Graduate numbers:

Thesis: An independent, written work required as partial fulfillment for an advanced degree. 

• Undergraduate Number: 493
• Master's level: 698
• Doctoral level: 998

In situations where a sequence of courses exists, the number listed is the last number in the series.

Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corp (NROTC) and Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) courses are scheduled by the Office of the University Registrar (OUR) in coordinator with the respective NROTC/ROTC programs. These courses use NSC and MLSC subject codes.

Education abroad courses are scheduled by the Office of the University Registrar (OUR) in coordination with the Office of Global Engagement (OGE). These courses can be identified by either 200, 201, 202 or NBL, NB2, NB3 section numbers along with the Study Abroad schedule type. Courses from across the University's various subject codes can be set up as Education Abroad sections. Course schedulers should not make any adjustments to these sections without prior consultation with OGE.

When students return from abroad, their coursework and grades are processed by OUR and OGE. If advisors or course schedulers receive course/grade reports directly from students, they should contact OGE to initiate the process to update the students' academic history.

Priority for centrally controlled classrooms is given to academic courses. Scheduling of classrooms for all other uses should be done in accordance with the Classroom Reservations for Non-Course Events policy.

Priority for classrooms assignments is based on:

• Size of class
• Instructional requirements related to:
  • Technology
  • Board space
  • Room layout
• Accommodation requirements provided by the Office of Disability Services

Academic units who submit their annual course schedule on time in May and adhere to academic policies relating to the appropriate use of approved time blocks and distribution of course offerings will be given a higher priority.

Course requests requiring centrally scheduled classrooms, including new course additions, meeting day, meeting time, and section max changes submitted after course schedules have been posted to the web are subject to classroom availability. The Office of the University Registrar will provide available meeting patterns to academic units after classroom assignments have been made.

Academic units with classrooms and other instructional spaces under their purview have first priority to those spaces for the assignment of classes. Scheduling of these spaces for events should only be completed after the academic classroom schedule has been finalized and in accordance with the Classroom Reservations for Non-Course Events policy.

Monitoring of Course Offerings

The University Registrar is responsible for implementing the policies for course meeting time blocks and course offering distributions. In consultation with the department offering the course, the Office of the Provost has the authority to redistribute/change course offering meeting times and/or days.

With the policies listed above, students and faculty will experience:

• Fewer scheduling conflicts due to the reduction/elimination of overlapping course meeting times
• Improved utilization of instructional space

The University Registrar is responsible for implementing the policies for course meeting time blocks and course offering distributions. In consultation with the department offering the course, the Office of the Provost has the authority to redistribute/change course offering meeting times and/or days.

With the policies listed above, students and faculty will experience:

• Fewer scheduling conflicts due to the reduction/elimination of overlapping course meeting times
• Improved utilization of instructional space

An academic department may deem it necessary to cancel a course in which students are already registered. Students registered in the canceled course will be notified via email by the department offering the course or by the Office of the University Registrar and are advised to seek an alternative course or contact their academic advisor for assistance.

In order for a course to be offered in any term, minimum enrollment criteria per the Course Minimum Enrollment policy must be met or the course will be canceled. In some cases, exemptions may be granted by the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Curriculum and Education based on valid justifications submitted by the academic department.

Procedure for requesting course cancellations and exemptions

For each academic term the Office of the University Registrar will send an electronic memo detailing section balancing and course justification proceedings to all academic schedulers no later than three weeks prior to the start of the term.

Departments who need to offer justifications for 6 or more courses must schedule a meeting with the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Curriculum and Education and Office of the University Registrar to take place on the Thursday prior to the start of the term. During this meeting the following will be discussed:

• The decision whether or not to cancel a section
• The use of departmental space, if necessary, for any low enrolled courses that will remain active

The Office of the University Registrar will process the cancellation of any sections as decided in this meeting.

Course Minimum Enrollment Policy

The following course enrollment minimums have been established for each of the following categories:

• Undergraduate lower division (000-199) – 16
• Undergraduate upper division (200-499) – 12
• Graduate lower division (Master's) (500-699) – 10
• Graduate upper division (Doctoral) (700-999) – 6

Sections with enrollment below the proscribed minimum are subject to cancellation per the Cancellation of Under Enrolled Courses policy.

Laboratory and Studio course enrollments are set based on pedagogy, equipment, space, and other factors.

• Lecture/recitation 1 hr x 10 = 1 quarter hour
• Lab/studio 2 or more hr x 10 = 1 quarter hour

All course offerings are planned on a yearly basis by term using the Terms Offered. All departments are required to offer courses as they have them listed on the terms offered, and it is the responsibility of each department to ensure their course offerings are current. By working with the Office of the Registrar each course needs to have the correct terms when they are to be offered and need to reflect what is in the Course Catalog. The Office of the Registrar will have a separate list for Undergraduate and Graduate course offerings posted to their website for students to utilize when planning their schedules for the Academic Year. The Provost's Office mandated academic departments to create a Terms Offered list effective 10-11 AY and the list will be updated annually to include courses that have been added or inactivated in the catalog.

The common exam hour blocks are MWF 8 a.m. to 8:50 a.m. (first-year courses), TR 8 a.m. to 8:50 a.m (second-year courses) and W 6 p.m. to 6:50 p.m. Common exams times are periods of times reserved for examinations and that are applied to multiple sections of a course, allowing all sections of a course to be examined together at the time indicated. Common Exam periods are typically reserved for lower-division (first-years, second-years and pre-third-year) courses. Students taking larger courses such as Calculus may be automatically registered in the common exam period (i.e. EXAM 080) as it is a co-requisite.

Departments may require an adjustment to a course offering following the second week of the term. In instances when a change needs to be made to meeting days or times, schedule types (Lecture, Lab, Recitation, etc.), or grade modes (Standard letter, Credit/No Credit, etc.), the re-registration of enrolled students must also occur. In order to ensure that students are registered correctly for all aspects of a course offering, departments are required to review all course offerings prior to the start of registration during week five of the prior term. Departments will be responsible for the dropping and re-registering of students for these changes.

First priority for the scheduling of centrally controlled classroom space is given to academic classes and exam scheduling. Adjustments can be made through the end of week two, after which time classrooms will be available on a first come, first served basis for event scheduling.

For information on reserving a room please see Room Scheduling.

The Drexel University Term Master Schedule (WebTMS) is a website that provides course schedule and course detailed information based on terms. Course information is currently available online for the listed terms. Please check the last updated time and note that course schedule information is subject to change at any time. The University specifically reserves the right to change any aspect of its academic programs including course content, instructor, day/time, location, and instructional format. The University cannot guarantee an in-person format even where noted as such in the catalog and reserves the right to present any courses in a virtual/remote or hybrid format.  Moreover, forces beyond the University's control may require that that the campus be closed, yet the University may continue providing courses in a virtual/remote or hybrid format while continuing to charge regular tuition and fees.

Cross-listing refers to the act of merging two or more course sections that share the same course content but are offered at different levels (UG/GR) or within different departments. Requests to cross-list courses for an upcoming term must be received by no later than 5 p.m. ET on the Thursday before Week Zero (i.e. Two Thursdays before the start of the term) due to issues that arise when courses are cross-listed after students begin to generate content.

Cross-listing courses produce the following results:

• Combines multiple class lists into one, allowing instructors to monitor attendance and grade students from one class list
• Combines multiple online course shells into one, allowing all students to participate in unified online discussions and assignments
• Improves utilization of instructor and physical classroom space resources

Valid cross-listed courses must:

• Have the same meeting day/time and classroom assignment
• Have the same title and course description
• Be offered with the same credit hours
• Be taught by the same instructor(s)

The cross-listing of a UG and GR course will be granted based on the following parameters:

• 300-level UG course cross-listed with a 500-level GR course
• 400-level UG course cross-listed with a 500- or 600-level GR course

When cross-listing UG and GR courses, the graduate course must include additional learner outcomes as represented by additional course work appropriate to the level of the course.

Cross-listing should not occur between courses in the following scenarios:

• Study Abroad sections and non-Study Abroad sections
• Same subject code, but different course (i.e. ABC 300 & ABC 301)

Cross-listing should also not be used to produce an alternative resolution for a billing issue.

Any requests to cross-list courses because of the reasons listed above will need to be reviewed with the Office of the University Registrar and the Office of the Provost on a case-by-case basis.

Reserved seating permits specific student populations to register for a course before seats become occupied by other student populations based on earlier time ticket assignments. Individual departments decide which courses will have the reserved seating option, in addition to how many seats are reserved for a specific student population. Departments that want to reserve seats for their department's students in another department's course will work collaboratively with the department to ensure the appropriate amounts of seats are reserved. Schedulers must request having reserved seating added to a section at any point during the annual course scheduling process. Once registration for the upcoming term begins, departments may not add or remove reserved seating rules.

Any remaining reserved seats that have not been utilized by the reserved population will become available to the general population the Monday of the 10th week of the prior term (with the exception of reserved seating for winter quarter, reserved seating will be reallocated during the 11th week of fall quarter.) Students can view courses that have the reserved seating option by the section comments assigned to a course in the Drexel University Term Master Schedule (WebTMS).

Wait listing allows students to be placed on an electronic wait list for a closed section that has wait list capabilities. Individual departments are responsible for determining which courses will have wait list capabilities. A wait list option can be added to a course at any time, including during the annual course scheduling period in the spring in addition to during registration. Students can view courses that have the wait list option by the section comments assigned to a course in the Drexel University Term Master Schedule (WebTMS).

On the Tuesday before classes begin, students who are still on the wait list will be removed. In the event the University is closed, students who are still on the wait list will be removed on the next business day the University is open.

The Diversity attribute is added to courses to assist students in locating topics which increase awareness of diversity. Departments seeking the guidelines for establishing a course as such can refer to the Intercultural & Diversity Committee.

Any course noted as a sustainable-themed course receives a SUST attribute. Departments seeking the requirements for establishing a course as such can refer to the Climate & Sustainability website for guidelines and request the SUST attribute for a course through CourseLeaf. This must be done through the comments field.

The Drexel University Online (DeL) attribute is placed on all online course offerings. Only students who are enrolled in Drexel University Online programs will receive the Drexel University Online tuition rate which is triggered through a corresponding student attribute. On-campus students enrolled in online sections will be charged regular tuition rates.

The part-time degree completion attribute (PC) will be placed on student records that are enrolled in part-time degree completion programs. The PC attribute will also be placed on all undergraduate courses offered in the evening (6 p.m. or later) and all undergraduate Architecture courses offered after 5 p.m. Students who have a PC attribute and register for a course that has a PC attribute will be billed the reduced per credit rate. If either the part-time student or the section does not have a PC attribute, respectively, the student will be charged the regular per credit rate.

The Writing Intensive (WI) course attribute is only setup at the course catalog level. The WI attribute will automatically populate when a new section of any WI course is created. Departments seeking the requirements for establishing new or modifying existing WI courses or to see a list of WI course should refer to the Writing Intensive Courses at Drexel University.

Any course determined as non-billable (NBL) requires consultation with the Office of the University Registrar, the Bursar's Office and the Office of the Provost. Courses that are approved to be non-billable will be noted as such at the course catalog level. All courses determined as non-billable will consequently be non-billable at all section offerings. Non-billable course sections should be created in CLSS using section code NBL. For courses not set as non-billable at the course catalog level, an email must be sent to OUR Academic Services immediately to ensure the Tuition and Fee Waiver is checked in Banner before registration can begin. (For multiple NBL sections of the same course, enter: NBL, NB2, NB3...) 

• Prior to the start of registration for every term, departments should audit their course offerings to review all section using 'NBL' as a section number to ensure they're in place. The Hyperion report STU-Term Master Schedule can be run to ensure a 'Y' is in place in the 'Tuiw Ind' column for their non-billable sections.

Requests for lab fees to be attached to course sections must be submitted to the Bursar and Academic Services Team no later than 5:00 p.m. on the Tuesday before registration begins for any term (except for fall quarter, when lab fees must be in place for all coursework before the First-Year Block Registration Process begins. Departments are strongly encouraged to submit lab fees for their course sections for the entire upcoming academic year at the end of the Annual Course Scheduling process every May.

If a department submits lab fees after registration has begun, the department will be responsible for:

• Emailing students to alert them that their bill will be updated to reflect a missing fee, and that they will be temporarily dropped from the course to facilitate this
• Orchestrating fee assessment with the Office of the Bursar
• Dropping and reregistering all students
• Alerting Drexel Central of the adjustment about to occur in case they field any inquiries about the issue

If a department identifies that a lab fee is missing from a course section after the add/drop period has ended in any given term, the department will absorb the unpaid fees, as students cannot incur unplanned additional charges once they can no longer drop a course.

At Drexel, new first-year undergraduate students receive their fall class schedules through a collaborative block registration process that involves many partners across the University. Course schedulers and academic advisors work with the Office of the University Registrar (OUR) to curate first-year schedules based on major/plan of study and placement exam results. Resources for this process may be found on the Course Scheduling Teams. Membership may be requested by new course schedulers or involved parties by emailing Academic Services. 

• Major stakeholders in this process include OUR, Academic Information Systems (AIS), Information Resources and Technology (IRT), academic departments, Drexel Central, University Communications, and Intercollegiate Advising. 
• Utilizing confirmed enrollment numbers, academic departments establish their course offerings for the upcoming academic year.
• Academic departments review the University Catalog plans of study for a given major to develop a grouping of course sections (a block) in which students will be registered.
• Incoming first-year students are required to take placement exams dependent on their major, which will place them into the appropriate Math or science course (Chemistry or Physics.)
  • It should be noted that Physics outcomes are based on Calculus placement exam scores. based on if required for their major.
  • Incoming first-year students may also take modern language or information science exams.
  • International students are also assessed on their proficiency in English.
• IRT coordinates the annual setup of placement exams with the OUR, AIS and the associated academic departments as needed. 
• OUR is responsible for the mass registration of all incoming students based on the block information provided by academic departments. All students must be registered for at least 12 credits total prior to the start of term.
• Academic departments are responsible for ensuring that all newly confirmed students, students who have changed their major, and students whose enrollment depends on summer preparatory review outcomes, are registered into the appropriate courses by the start of term.
• The Bursar's Office processes the annual bill in mid-August; therefore all new incoming students must be registered for at least one credit prior to this date. The Bursar's Office also processes immunization holds for students who have not received their immunizations required to move into student housing. Holds will prohibit any changes to the student's schedule.

Annual course scheduling refers to the process in which academic departments establish their course offerings for the upcoming academic year. Revisions to course offerings can include adjustments to existing course section details, such as enrollment maximums, meeting days or times, or course restrictions. Departments will also determine course section additions and deletions.

Annual course scheduling is submitted and reviewed during two adjustment periods between January and May, with a final adjustment period occurring between Finals week of two terms prior to the adjustment term through the Friday before registration begins for the term. Annual course scheduling adjustments are entered by department course schedulers through CourseLeaf CLSS and audited by Office of the University Registrar (OUR). OUR will work with course schedulers during the auditing period to address any errors before the schedule goes live on the Drexel University Term Master Schedule (WebTMS).

Each department is responsible for updating their course offerings during each phase in order to ensure the appropriate courses are offered based on student demand before the onset of registration. Resources for this process may be found on the Course Scheduling Teams. Membership may be requested by new course schedulers by emailing Academic Services.