The University Senate of Michigan Technological University

PROPOSAL 25-02

(Voting Units: Academic Departments)

PREREQUISITE POLICY

Rationale
Prerequisites are approximations of the necessary specific or general academic knowledge or background required to succeed academically in a specific course.

Policy
Prerequisite courses are required to be satisfactorily completed before a student may register in a course requiring the prerequisite. Students who earn a CD or D in a prerequisite course should retake the prerequisite course before registering for the advanced course. Academic departments may also require C or better grades in some prerequisite courses. In this case students will need to check both the course number and the required grade prior to registering for the advanced course.

Concurrent prerequisites are courses that may be taken either simultaneously in the same semester or in a prior semester.

Co-requisites are courses that are required to be taken in the same semester as the course requiring the co-requisite.

Graduate and Professional Development students are generally exempt from prerequisites.

The course instructor has the right to waive prerequisites, if openings are available, in the case of a student who has demonstrated competence or who has had academic experience equivalent to that represented by the prerequisite. The waiver does not grant credit for the prerequisite course but indicates the instructor's willingness to accept the student into their class without the student officially taking the prerequisite course.

Procedure

  1. Students will be administratively dis-enrolled from a course for which they have not completed the listed prerequisites.
  2. Students will be administratively dis-enrolled from a course that duplicates a course previously taken for credit and completed with a grade of 'C' or higher.
  3. If a student is dis-enrolled from a course they should be notified in writing and this should occur prior to the end of the course add period. This enables the student to register for another course if desired.
  4. Students seeking a waiver must contact the instructor of the course requiring the prerequisite for approval before registration in the course will be allowed.

Adopted by Senate: 8 May 2002
Approved by Administration: 21 June 2002
Became Senate Policy 308.1 and Senate Procedures 308.1.1