About Workday
On May 21, 2024, the Student Service Centre (SSC) is replaced by a new system called Workday (myworkday.ubc.ca) for a modern educational experience. This means that information you currently access in the SSC is now found in Workday, including course schedule and registration, grades, tuition summary and payment, transcripts and confirmation of enrolment letters, your personal and contact information, and more.
Note that all activities related to the 2024 summer session will continue in the SSC. Activities related to the 2024/25 winter session and beyond will all take place in Workday.
Significant changes and new rules
The transition to Workday will bring changes to how you are evaluated for progression and what we look at to ensure that you are making sufficient progress towards your degree.
One significant change, which you will immediately notice when logging into Workday for the first time, is the move from year level to class standing. In the past, Science only promoted you to the next year level when you had met both general Science-level requirements and a number of course requirements for your chosen specialization.
You might notice that your class standing is now higher than your year level. This is because Science-level requirements and specialization requirements are now separated. Your class standing, which replaced year level now reflects your progress in the general Science-level requirements. It is evaluated automatically, and will change immediately as you complete the courses that meet the requirements for promotion.
The details of these rules are shown here in the Academic Calendar, but the general rules are outlined below:
Promotion to 2nd year class standing
Promotion to 2nd year class standing requires successful completion of 24 or more credits, of which at least 15 must be science credits from first-year science courses.
Promotion to 3rd year class standing
Promotion to 3rd year class standing requires successful completion of 48 total credits. Of these, 24 credits must be science credits, including:
- The 15 credits of science courses required to be promoted to 2nd year class standing;
- 6 science credits from second-year science courses (200 level); and
- 3 additional science credits from any year level (100 – 400 level).
Promotion to 4th year class standing
Promotion to 4th year class standing requires successful completion of 72 total credits. Of these, 50 or more credits must be science credits, including:
- The 24 credits of science courses required to be promoted to 3rd year class standing;
- 1 credit from the Laboratory Science Requirement.
- 25 science credits from any year level (100 – 400 level); and
- 6 additional credits of courses from the Communication Requirement.
The specialization-specific requirements are no longer linked to your year or class standing. These are now reviewed at the end of each Winter Session as part of the Sufficient Progress requirements, based on the number of credits you have attempted. If you are not making progress towards your faculty-level requirements or towards your specialization, it will be important to reach out early to Science Advising to plan next steps.
The details for Sufficient Progress are outlined in the UBC Academic Calendar, but the general rules are outlined below.
Progress upon 48 credits
Students must meet the minimum requirements for 2nd year class standing either by the end of the Winter Session where they reach or exceed 48 total attempted credits.
If you have a large number of advanced credit from high school, or are a transfer student which means you might exceed this limits, please reach out to Science Advising on admission to the Faculty of Science.
Progress upon 78 attempted credits
By the end of the Winter Session where a student reaches or exceeds 78 total attempted credits, they are expected to have met the following requirements:
- Completed 48 total credits.
- Completed the Specialization-Specific Courses Required for Sufficient Progress by 78 attempted credits.
Progress upon 108 attempted credits
By the end of the Winter Session where a student reaches or exceeds 108 total attempted credits, they are expected to have met the following requirements:
- Completed all of the Faculty of Science Lower-Level Requirements.
- Completed all, or all but one, of the courses required to satisfy the Science Breadth Requirement.
- Completed all named required courses specified in the first and second years of a student’s declared specialization (but not all general electives).
- Completed the Specialization-Specific Courses Required for Sufficient Progress by 108 attempted credits.
Support options
We do not want students to be disadvantaged by this sudden change, and in our advising and evaluation we will use this as our guiding principle.
If you have questions about your class standing or about these changes to promotion and progression, please contact Science Advising.
You can find guides on navigating Workday on workday.students.ubc.ca and check out this blog post for more details on the transition.
