Academic Information

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Credits

The credit weight of courses at the U of A will depend on the number of lecture or contact hours the course has in one week. Most courses at the U of A are worth 3 credits each. Determination of ECTS or other credit equivalents is solely at the discretion of the home institution.

Class Format

Most courses have 3 hours lecture/contact time per week (either 3 classes at 1 hour each, or 2 classes at 1.5 hours each). At 13 weeks (excluding the exam period), most courses have a total contact time of 39 hours per semester. The contact hours do not include or factor in estimates for individual study, readings, projects, exams or other work expectations outside the classroom and are not calculated.

Course Load

The maximum course load at the University of Alberta is 5 courses per term (15 credits). Exchange students must take a minimum of 3 courses (9 credits) per term to maintain full-time status. In order to take advantage of non-academic student activities and extra-curricular learning opportunities at the University of Alberta, exchange students are advised to take 4 courses (12 credits) per term.

Participation

Class participation often contributes to final grade.

Class Size

Varies - undergraduate classes often average 50 students; MBA classes are generally smaller.

Examinations

Exam formats vary. Not all courses have final exams.

Grading

The University of Alberta uses a letter grading system (A-F) with a four-point scale of numerical equivalents. For a full explanation, please see the information from the Office of the Registrar.

Course Numbering System

Course numbering system
Undergrad	100-199	:	Entry level undergraduate courses: assume no prior knowledge of subject.
	200-399	:	Introductory undergraduate courses to a particular area of study. Also assume little or no prior knowledge of the subject.
	400-499	:	Senior level undergraduate courses that assume the student has prior background in the area.
Masters	500-699	:	Open only to students officially admitted to the Graduate Program - 500s generally indicate first-year in Graduate Program.
PhD	700-799	:	Open only to students enrolled in the doctorate program.
	800-899	:	Special Registrations (not available to exchange students)
	900-999	:	Graduate Thesis and Project Numbers (not available to exchange students)

Course Listings

For Undergraduate Exchange Students
The most current information on all courses available at the University of Alberta is available on Bear Tracks. Prospective students and those not yet eligible to register can view the Course Listings and Class Schedule as a guest. Use the "Guest Sign In" feature on the Bear Tracks login page. Please be sure to use the "Class Search & Enroll" function for courses specific to your exchange semester and not the "Browse Course Catalog" option, which lists all courses that have been taught at the UofA in the past, but not necessarily ones that are offered in a specific academic term.

NOTE: Exchange students will have access to a wide variety of courses in International Business, Marketing, Finance, Business Law, Accounting, Operations Management, Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Management within the Alberta School of Business, in addition to access to subjects from other UofA departments as well. A list of regularly offered business courses may be found in the University of Alberta Catalogue. However, please be aware that certain restrictions may apply and other courses can be quite difficult to get in to, so it is therefore very important to have some flexibility in your study plan.

In particular, the following courses are not open to undergraduate exchange students:

All courses with the prefix of AU (e.g., AUECO, AUMGT). These courses are offered at the Augustana Campus, which is approximately 1.5 hours away from the main campus in Edmonton.
BUS 101, BUS 222, BUS 301, BUS 303, BUS 404
FIN 430, FIN 436, FIN 440
MGTSC 212
BTM 441
SEM 210, SEM 441, SEM 470 and SEM 471
Courses that relate to: Independent Research, Internship, Study Tour, Competitions, Special Projects, Work Experience
Honors courses (numbered 480)
Special Topics courses (numbered 488)
Graduate level courses (numbered 500 and higher)

Please also note that Economics courses are part of a different faculty at the University of Alberta and therefore the Alberta School of Business has no control over those courses. Access to Econ courses is at the discretion of the U of A Department of Economics. Questions can be directed by email to their office. However, you will likely find some suitable Business Economics (BUEC) courses from within the Business School as well.

Exchange students admitted to the Alberta School of Business are also permitted to take one or two regularly offered open courses from other faculties at the University of Alberta, assuming the course is not restricted and prerequisites are met, but as a business exchange student, you should take the majority of your courses from within business. Registration in courses offered by other faculties is always at that faculty's discretion.

For MBA Exchange Students
For a list of courses expected to be available to incoming exchange students in the MBA Program, please refer to the Fall 2024/Winter 2025 MBA Course Schedule. The column at the far right will indicate if the course is one that visiting exchange students are eligible to take, assuming there is space available. Course outlines/syllabi for each course are linked in the document. Please note that registration is based on availability and course offerings are subject to change at any time.
Applicants to the MBA Program will need to choose MBA course options only. We cannot offer access to graduate-level courses from other faculties/programs at the University of Alberta.

Course Registration

For Undergraduate Exchange Students
Students may access course information and descriptions but are not permitted to register until an official Admission Letter has been issued to them. Once application documents have been received and processed, an admission letter is issued by the central University of Alberta admissions office and made available to the exchange student. Please be aware that the University of Alberta no longer issues hard copy letters, so the electronic document through the application portal is the only one used and is considered official. This admission letter enables the incoming student to apply for a student visa to enter Canada. Shortly after issuance of the admission letter, students will receive information describing the course registration process. Once a student has been admitted, has their ID and log-in credentials and been given registration access, it is possible to register in courses. The student may register online through the Bear Tracks system using the ID and password provided by the University of Alberta.

Registration in courses must be done by the individual student and should be completed as early as possible after admission. Early registration is strongly recommended as courses fill up rapidly. Once courses are full it can be very difficult to get any specific courses needed. Please note that the University of Alberta cannot guarantee registration in any specific course, so a degree of flexibility is also very important. Due to the high demand for many business courses and because course registration cannot be done until after official admission, early application is highly encouraged. Changes to course registration can be made after arrival and through the second week of classes.

If you are not able to register in a course in Bear Tracks, you will receive a message stating why. The most common reason is that the course is full. Once a course is full, you may place yourself on a "Watch List" to receive an email notification should space become available.

Please reference the Office of the Registrar's information for detailed step by step instructions on the registration process.

For MBA Exchange & Dual Degree Participants:
MBA applicants cannot register online, but must choose from a pre-approved list of courses and submit preferences with their application packages. Registration is based on availability and course offerings are subject to change. Dual degree applicants will be contacted directly by the MBA office to work out course registrations. Please see University of Alberta Dual Degree Program Course Requirements for more information.

Important!

Students must ensure they have the required prerequisites/corequisites for all courses in which they want to register. An evaluation of these requirements will be made once the student has arrived to the U of A and the student will be REMOVED from all classes where the requirements have NOT been met.

Transcripts

The University of Alberta now offers both official e-Transcripts and hard copy Transcripts. Official digital transcripts are issued and accessed through MyCreds™, a secure digital transcript sharing platform. Alternatively, students may request an official hardcopy transcript be mailed to their home institution.

Official transcripts will be made available directly to the students upon request through their personal University of Alberta "Bear Tracks" account. Students, as the owner of the transcript, are responsible for requesting and sharing the transcript with their home university for the intended purpose. Transcripts will not be automatically sent upon completion of the exchange semester(s) and I'm afraid that we do not have access to a student's official record, so we cannot send it on their behalf. The University of Alberta requires all official transcripts to be requested directly by the students themselves. Information and instructions on how to request your U of A transcript are available at the Office of the Registrar.

PLEASE NOTE: all grades must be approved by the Dean in order to be considered official. Official Transcripts and other forms of certification are released only after any outstanding accounts with any department at the University of Alberta have been settled. For more information on clearing your outstanding accounts, please refer to Financial Holds.