NEW STUDENTS

All new students must register on MINERVA (McGill's Online Registration System). MINERVA will be available for registration from Tuesday, August 6  till Wednesday, September 4, 2002 inclusive. Stundents who have not registered by September 4, 2002, will be assessed a late registration fee.

Departmental advisers will be available for advising and assisting new students with program planning during the two registration counselling  days (Aug. 29th and Aug. 30st). Advising on these two days will be held on a first-come-first-served basis.  For any subsequent meetings with an  adviser, students are required to make an appointment.  See the undergraduate secretary in  Room 603MC for appointments.

Inter-faculty transfer, intra-faculty transfer and students who have been accepted with Advanced Credits should see Mrs. Menon  (Student Adviser)  in Room 603D in order to have their course selections confirmed.  They will be seen on a first-come, first served basis.

MINERVA will be open for course changes until September 15, 2002,  inclusive.   Students who did not register on MINERVA due to lack of understanding the curriculum and/or course selections must see a Departmental Adviser.  MARS will not be available for registration after September 4 2002.

RETURNING STUDENTS

Returning  students who have problems with course selections and/or timetable conflicts may make an appointment to see a Departmental adviser during the  course confirmation period (September 3 - September 13, 2002).  For appointments, please go to Room 603MC.
 

COURSES

DURATION OF STUDIES

Minimum time from enrollment to graduation is normally  6 semesters.  Students with advanced standing may be able to graduate within 4 to 5 semesters. There are no part-time studies available, however, a student may reduce his/her load to a minimum of 3 courses per term  after receiving the  Associate Chairman's permission. The maximum time from enrollment to graduation is 6 years.

ACADEMIC WORKLOAD

The maximum number of credits a student can take is 18.  To exceed the allotted credits, permission must be granted by a Department OR Faculty  Adviser. A normal load is 15 to 18 credits per semester while a reduced load is  a maximum of 13 credits.   Students who wish to maintain visa status, full-time status, loans, bursaries, etc.  must be registered for a minimum of 12 credits per term. For scholarships, it should be 27 credits (over the fall and winter terms).   Students in the Honours program must make sure that they are registered for a minimum of 14 credits.  If  an honours student is not able to carry the minimum load, the student must see the Associate Chairman for special permission to reduce the load.   Permission will only be granted in exceptional cases, eg. health problems.

SUMMER COURSES

The maximum number of credits a student may take in the summer session is 12.  The maximum allowed per session is two courses.   Students who wish to take General Complementaries during the summer outside the University are required to obtain written authorization from the Associate Dean's office prior to registering for the course.

COURSES OUTSIDE McGILL

The Faculty of Engineering routinely allows General Complementaries (Impact of Technology and Social Sciences and Humanities) to be taken outside McGill.  The student must obtain permission to do so from the Associate Dean's office before registering for the course. Apart from this, courses may be taken outside McGill only as a last resort.

COURSES WITH LIMITED ENROLLMENT

Some courses are limited in enrollment.  They  are indicated in the course description of the Calendar or on MINERVA.  Permission to register in most of our laboratory courses (400 level) is controlled by a permit to register.  Permit to register request  forms can be obtained from our web site.   Students who have already registered for a permit controlled course but have changed their mind since then, please DROP the course as soon as possible to allow someone else on the waiting list to register.

PASSWORD CONTROLLED LABORATORY COURSES

The following laboratory courses are permit controlled.  Password request forms are available on our web site.  Priority is given to graduating students.

304-431 A    Electronic Design
304-490 A,B Digital Signal Processing Laboratory
(Please note: ECSE 431B is not offered)

Permts for Winter 2003

Priority will be given to students graduating Spring/Fall 2003, Students graduating Spring/Fall 2003 must submit the password request form no later than October 18, 2002. Permits will be issued 2 weeks after submission of the form. Permits will expire by November 19, 2002. After this date, permits will then be issued to students graduating in subsequent semesters.

Non-graduating students will be put on a waiting list and permits will ONLY be issued subject to the availability of space.

MANAGEMENT COURSES

Students who are following the Minor in Management Program should note that most management courses are limited in enrollment and registration is done on a first-come, first-served basis.  These courses fill up very quickly.

WITHDRAWAL FROM A COURSE

Students who would like to withdraw from a course must do so during the course withdrawal period (see below).  It is only under extenuating circumstances that permission will be granted to withdraw from a course after the withdrawal deadline.  Students who would like to request permission to withdraw from a course  on the basis of exceptional circumstances must make an appointment to see the Associate Chair of the Department.

COURSE CHANGE/ADD DROP PERIOD

Courses dropped during the add/drop period are deleted from your record.  Your transcript will show only the courses in which you are registered after the add/drop Period. Do not wait until the last day to call MINERVA to make course changes.  :You will run the risk of not getting the courses you need.

SATISFACTORY, PROBATIONARY & UNSATISFACTORY STANDINGS

Satisfactory standing
- CGPA of 2.0 or better.

Probationary standing
- 1.20 - 1.99 first semester
- 1.50 - 1.99 subsequent semester

Students in the probationary category must reduce their course load to a maximum of 13 credits per semester and must achieve a CGPA of 2.0 or SGPA of 2.50 at the end of the semester.  A student whose SGPA is 2.50 or better but whose CGPA is less than 2.0 may proceed in the category of probationary standing.  Failure to achieve either of these grade point averages at the end of the semester will result in unsatisfactory standing.

UNSATISFACTORY STANDING

(-less than 1.20 first semester).  It is the faculty policy that a new student, whose GPA goes below 1.20 in the first semester, gets automatically re-admitted to the program under the probationary standing status.
(-less than 1.50 subsequent semesters).

Students are required to withdraw from the program if they are in unsatisfactory standing.  They are no longer eligible to take any courses under the jurisdiction of the Faculty of Engineering.

GRADUATION

All graduating students must meet with Mrs. P. Menon, Student Adviser,  to go over their course checklists to ensure that all the requirements for the degree have been or are being satisfied.  It is essential that students verify their graduation  date on MINERVA and verification forms. In the event  there is a change in the expected date of graduation, the Departmental office and/or the Student Affairs Office should be notified immediately.

Students who have completed all the requirements for the degree at the end of the fall or winter semesters, will have their degrees conferred in the Spring convocation.  Those who complete their requirements during  the Summer, will attend the Fall convocation in November.

It is your  responsibility to indicate a correct graduation flag on MARS.  If a a "Non Graduating" flag is indicated in error, you risk not being recommended for graduation.

Please note that all U3 students who are in their graduating year must indicate one of the following graduation flags on MINERVA.

Expects to graduate in Winter (Feb. 2003) if all course requirements are completed by Dec. 2002
Expects to graduate in Spring (June 2003) if all course requirements are completed by April 2003
Expects to graduate in Fall (November 2003) if all course requirements are completed by August 2003

Students who experience any problems in coding the graduation flag, must report it to the Departmental office (603 MC) or the Faculty Office (378MD).

A cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0 is required for graduation.
 

RULES &  REGULATIONS

SATISFACTORY/UNSATISFACTORY OPTION

Students may choose to have a final grade of S or U for one of their general complementary studies courses rather than the usual final grade A - F.  The courses taken under the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory option will be excluded from the grade point average calculations, but they will be included in the number of credits attempted and completed. A grade of C is required to have a course graded as Satisfactory. The decision to have an elective course graded as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory must be made by the student by the end of the Add/Drop period and no change can be made thereafter.  The courses 455-206 (Communication  in Engineering ) and 306-310 (Engineering Economy) are specifically excluded from the above option.  Only other general complementary  courses involving Social Science/Humanities components or a course dealing with the Impact on Technology  fit into this category.  The option to flag a course as "EXTRA"  still exists.

Engineering students should be aware that a C grade must be achieved in order to pass a course under the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory Option. However, the Faculty of  Engineering accepts a D grade as a pass in a complementary course ONLY when the course is taken in the conventional  manner (D grade appears).  Reminder: once a mark has been  submitted under the option, the option will not be reversed  under any circumstances.

NOTE: In order to be considered for the renewal of entrance scholarships and/or in-course awards, students must take at least 27 credits (for Canada Scholarships, 30 credits) in the regular academic session exclusive of courses completed under Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory option. The Faculty allows only one course per session under the satisfactory/unsatisfactory option.  Only students in Satisfactory Standing will be permitted to take  a course under the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory Option.

PREREQUISITE VIOLATIONS

To register for a course, a student must:

a) have passed the co-requisite courses, or register simultaneously in the co-requisite courses;
b) have passed the prerequisite courses; and
c) have passed the co-requisites of the prerequisite courses.

MINERVA will only allow the student to register if the prerequisites are  satisfied. Exceptionally, advisors may waive a prerequisite. Some circumstances in which this might be done are:

1. If the student has completed a course outside McGill which is equivalent to the prerequisite. Students  should get written confirmation from the instructor that the course really is equivalent, and acceptable as a prerequisite.

2. If there is an obvious oversight in a prerequisite listing, e.g. the prerequisite listed is 304-411, but not 304-511; the student has done 511 instead of 411.

CHEATING IN TECHNICAL REPORTS AND OTHER WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS

If any part of a document you submit for credit towards your degree is not entirely your own work and you do not make it clear in the document that this is the case, then you have committed plagiarism and, if discovered, will be punished. The following are some specific points you should take note of:

If ideas are taken from other sources, you must make it clear by citing the source, e.g. a journal paper, a book, another report. This must be done even if the ideas are re-written in your own words. If you include unpublished ideas from a colleague then you should make reference to an "unpublished communication" and give credit to your colleague.

If actual phrases or sentences are copied from another source, you must place them in quotes or use some other mechanism to show that the words are not your own. It is NOT enough just to cite the source.

If measured or computed results (e.g. numbers, graphs, tables) included in your document were not obtained entirely by you, you must say so and give the source of the results.

If your document asserts or implies that results were obtained with something you have built on your own, and this is partially or entirely untrue, then you have committed plagiarism. This applies to both hardware and software. For example, if you copied or modified a computer program written by someone else, you must make this clear in your document. Any parts of your document that are the result of collaboration with another person must be clearly indicated.  It is generally acceptable (in fact, desirable) to have another person (or a computer) proofread your document and correct spelling, grammar and typographical errors. If that person does more than make minor corrections, however, he or she must be duly credited in the document, e.g. if someone rewrites whole sentences or translates your report from another language into English.

These are the commonest forms of plagiarism. There may be others; if in doubt, or if any part of the above is not clear to you, consult the Associate Chairman or the instructor to whom you are submitting a document. Ignorance or misunderstanding of what constitutes plagiarism is not a valid excuse.

D GRADE - NOT A CONDITIONAL PASS FOR PREREQUISITE PURPOSE

A letter grade D indicates marginal results which are  acceptable for Technical Complementaries , Lab Complementaries (400 level) and General Complementaries  only.  A grade of C or better is expected for all other  courses.  The D grade must be cleared at the first possible opportunity.

L GRADE - DEFERRED (MUST SUBMIT MEDICAL NOTE TO FACULTY)

Students who fail to write the final exams due to medical or any other valid reason should note that they will not be permitted to do the course over.  They can only write the final examination when it is next offered.   No permission will be given to register for the follow-on course with a deferred grade in its prerequisite course. Students with deferred grades must write the regular or deferred exam in its first occurrence but they are not required to register for the course again.

SUPPLEMENTAL EXAMS

No supplemental exams are given for engineering courses.  Students who receive a grade of D or F are expected to re-register for the course.  In exceptional cases, a graduating student may be permitted to write a make up exam in a course with the instructor's consent provided he/she has successfully fulfilled all the requirements for the degree but has one deferred grade or failing grade in a course and this will block the student from graduating.  Whether a  make up exam is offered is entirely up to the instructor's discretion.  Whether a student is permitted to take such an exam is up to the Associate Chairman.

REVIEWS and RE-READS

In accordance with the Charter of Student Rights and subject to the conditions stated therein, students have the right to "consult any written submission for which they have received a mark and to discuss this submission with the examiners" provided the submission has not been returned to him/her and provided the request is made within a reasonable time frame. Students must go to the Departmental office (rm 603, McConnell Engineering Building) and  pay a fee of $7 for the Department to retrieve their written submissions before proceeding to make an appointment to see the examiner. Assignments already marked and returned to the students may not be reviewed in this way.

The purpose of the review process is not to correct the grade. The grade should not be changed by the examiner unless some perfectly straightforward error has been made, such as in transcribing or adding marks. Certainly there should be no attempt made to re-judge whether a partial mark is fair or not. Such re-assessment is the function of the re-read process.

A student who applies for a re-read must complete the reassessment form, available at the Faculty of Engineering office. There is a fee of $35 for the re-read, refundable if the original grade is raised. The name of the person who re-reads the exam is kept confidential.  The application deadlines for both reviews and re-reads are the last day of March, July and November for Fall, Winter and Summer courses, respectively.

ECE WEB SITE:(http://www.ece.mcgill.ca/)

The ECE Web site is designed to provide all our students quick access to information pertaining to the policies and procedures associated with both graduate and undergraduate programs.  As procedures, processes, programs and courses change, the information will be brought up-to-date.  Under the  New s & Announcements (www.ece.mcgill.ca/student/)  you can obtain the most vital information that concerns Scholarships/Fellowships, changes in your program and/or the courses, etc.  This site will keep you abreast of seasonal topics and important dates and deadlines that you’ll want to keep track of during your academic stay in our Department.  You will certainly find this site to be a helpful resource as we intend it to be.

DAS (Dial-Up Access Services) ACCOUNT

Every    student    accepted   at   McGill   is  issued  an  email address of the form DASname@po-box.mcgill.ca,  accessible via a McGill dial-up account (DAS). It is assigned to you for the length of your stay at McGill.  This is the only e-mail address that the Department uses for all types of correspondences between the student and the Department.    If you prefer to use a different email address for receiving email, please arrange  to FORWARD mail received by your DAS account.  For details to  forward your po-box email to another address, please refer to: http://po-box.mcgill.ca:7633/popstore_user/