The University of Saskatchewan Nomenclature Report defines a course as “a unit of study in a subject area identified by a description of activities.” A class is an "offering of a course to one or more students within a term".

Class information

Accessing class information in PAWS

Your department or college needs to make sure that your name is associated with the class you are teaching in the SiRIUS student information system. Once that is done, you can log into the Academic Services tab in PAWS where you will have access to:

Accessing student demographics

Instructors can view the demographic makeup of students within their class sections.

Class scheduling

Class offerings

Deciding on classes offered

During the fall and spring, departments and colleges decide which classes they want to offer during the next Spring Term, Summer Term, Fall Term and Winter Term. 

When classes are displayed in Class Search for students

Once the decision for which classed are offered is made, departmental, college or unit staff begin to build and maintain the classes in SiRIUS. The classes for upcoming terms are displayed in class search soon after they are built, so students can see what will be offered in those terms. 

Class start and end dates and times

There are four undergraduate terms in the academic year: Spring Term, Summer Term, Fall Term and Winter Term. Each term is divided into two quarters. 

Most classes follow standardized schedules. You can learn most standard start and end dates for each term or quarter by checking the Academic Calendar. For classes with non-standard start and end dates, consult the non-standard formula or contact Student Central.

Changing class meeting times 

Changing class meeting times after registration has opened cannot be done except in exceptional circumstances. Students rely upon the meeting time and day(s) of the week scheduled for the class in order to register in other classes and ensure that time conflicts are not created. If a change in time and or day is required, the following steps would need to be taken:

  1. The department makes the class "permission only".
  2. The department then informs students of the date/time change and tells the students they will be removed from the class. If they agree to the change, they will have priority to re-register for the class.
  3. Registrarial services removes all students from the class.
  4. The department needs to add permits against each of the students who had been registered for the class.
  5. Banner allows these students to re-register into the class at the new time, but the permission will be in effect for no more than 3 days. This information would need to be conveyed to the students by the department via email.
  6. The department removes the "permission only" restriction and opens it up to everyone after 3 days.  

Scheduling class work for the week following the mid-term break

It is up to the instructor to decide whether to schedule mid-term examinations, essay due dates or any other work for the week following the mid-term break.

Class cancellation

Classes may be canceled due to insufficient enrolment. Most class cancellations will occur at least three weeks prior to the class start date. Any students registered in the class need to be notified by the department of the cancellation and no fees or tuition will be assessed to the student for this class.

Changing class location

Given space constraints, room changes are often not easily accomplished. If changes or special requirements are required, including accommodations or active learning space requests, the department with academic authority for the class must complete the Space change request form and submit to Space Booking by May 1st, 2024.

Class build

The class build for 202409 and 202501 will begin May 1st, 2024 at 4:30 pm. Please have the all of the builds complete and error free by this date.

Space Booking will begin assigning rooms on May 1st, 2024 at 4:31pm

Registration

How and when students register

In February, Spring Term and Summer Term classes are opened up to registration for all students; in June, Fall Term and Winter Term classes are opened to registration on a priority basis based upon a student’s college and year in program.

Students in most colleges register for classes through the university’s web portal, PAWS (Personal Access to Web Services). They do so through the Registration channel within the academics tab. All class adds/drops in colleges which use PAWS must be done by the student.

Students in the College of Law and second- and third-year students in the Western College of Veterinary Medicine are registered by their college. These students must obtain college authorization for adds/drops.

Student needs permission to register

The student should go to the departmental or college office. Departments wishing to give permits/overrides to particular students do so by enabling the records for those students, whereupon the student can register themselves for the class using PAWS. For students in colleges that do not use PAWS for registration, the college office would register the student.

Permits/overrides are placed on a student’s account at the department or college level and include the following:

  • PERMISS (grants permission for departmental approval classes)
  • LIMIT (overrides limits on classes that are full)
  • RESTRICT (overrides all other restrictions)
  • TIME (overrides time conflicts, granted by the college only)
  • DUPLICATE (overrides repeat conflicts within the same terms, such as two special topics classes with the same course number taken simultaneously)
  • REPEAT (overrides repeat rules, granted by the college-level only)

Student wants to enroll in class after the deadline

Up until the add/drop deadline in a given term, students who register using PAWS can add or drop classes themselves without financial penalty. After that deadline, there is a process for late enrolment; students must complete the request a class overide form. Once approved, Student Central will manually enter the registration into the system. There is a $35 fee (per class) for late enrolment.

Law and second- and third-year Veterinary Medicine students who do not register using PAWS must contact their college office for late enrolments; there is a flat $35 fee for late enrolment for such students.

Student is registered for class but is not attending

Normally, this is a situation where a student has registered, decided not to take the class and has forgotten to withdraw themselves. Such a student will receive a grade of 0% and a grade comment of incomplete failure (INF) for the class, which is submitted by the instructor when all final grades are submitted. The student will also be liable for full tuition for the class.

On appeal to the student’s college, and with a signed statement from the instructor to confirm that the student never attended, the college may change the grade to withdrawal (W), a grade which has no academic standing. If the college agrees to change the grade to W, the student can then appeal to Student Central to have the tuition charges reduced, as per the university’s fee appeal procedure.

Note: A student who has never attended class, nor submitted any assignments or written any examinations, should never receive a final grade other than 0% for numerically graded classes.

Students wants to enrol but class is filled

Control of overriding class limits rests with departments and colleges. Students who register through PAWS and who wish to enrol in a class that is already full may submit a request a class override form. All required approvals must be provided to allow the student to register in the class.

In the processing of the class override request, a staff member in the office will place the LIMIT permit/override on the student’s account, whereupon the student can register themselves for the class through PAWS. The request a class override form should be retained by the department or college as part of their normal records management process. Due to Occupational Health and Safety regulations, it is very important instructors do not allow more students than there are seats in a class.

Students who do not register using PAWS must contact their college office to register in filled classes.

Some departments and colleges opt to maintain waiting lists for filled classes; be sure you know the policy of your department and college regarding waiting lists.

Student wants to audit class

Students may audit classes in which there is space as of the first day of classes, but they often need the consent of both the instructor and the department head. Departments who have given blanket authorization for students to audit their classes will not have the "audit allowed with permission" nor "audit not allowed" attribute attached to the class in the class search results website.

Requests to audit a class must be submitted by filling out the request a class override form. After all required approvals and/or permissions are obtained, the request is moved to Student Central for manual registration. All audit registrations are completed by Student Central and assessed the appropriate audit registration tuition.

You have the right as an instructor to restrict registrations in your class to students taking the class for credit. If you do allow a student to audit, you should know that you are not required to grade assignments or examinations for auditing students, and you may choose to limit their participation in class discussions. Students may (with permission) change from credit to audit or audit to credit, but must do so before the audit deadline. Audited classes do appear on a student’s official transcript, though they receive no credit for the class; the grade for the class will be AU (audit).

Student is not on class list

It is the instructor’s responsibility to ensure that unregistered students are not attending their classes. University regulations (and other considerations such as insurance) require students to be formally registered in any classes they attend. If you discover an unregistered student attending your class, you should advise them to register immediately; if they do not subsequently do so, the student should be asked to leave your class.

Getting help

Registrarial services

Registrarial services oversees the University's registration processes and room scheduling.