4. Academic Policies and Procedures
The University of Texas at Austin views sound academic advising as a significant responsibility in educating students. Academic advisers assist students in developing intellectual potential and exploring educational opportunities and life goals. Many people in the campus community contribute to the advising process, including faculty, staff, student, and professional advisers. Through the relationship established between adviser and student within a friendly, helpful, and professional atmosphere, a student has the opportunity to
Ultimately, the student is responsible for seeking adequate academic advice, for knowing and meeting degree requirements, and for enrolling in appropriate courses to ensure orderly and timely progress toward a degree. Frequent adviser contact provides students with current academic information and promotes progress toward educational goals. The University supports that progress and encourages effective academic advising campus-wide.
The semester hour. The credit value of courses is expressed in semester hours. Most courses are designed to require approximately three hours of work a week throughout the semester for each semester hour of credit given; that is, for each hour a class meets, an average of two additional hours of preparation is expected of the student. The time requirement in the laboratory, field, or studio varies with the nature of the subject and the aims of a course, so there is no fixed ratio of laboratory to class hours.
Most courses meet three hours a week in the fall and spring semesters and have a credit value of three hours. In a six-week summer term, courses meet seven and a half hours a week for three semester hours of credit. Fall and spring semester classes that meet on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are scheduled for an hour (fifty minutes with a ten-minute interval between classes); classes that meet on Tuesday and Thursday are scheduled for an hour and a half (seventy-five minutes with a fifteen-minute interval between classes). Monday-Wednesday-Friday classes normally begin on the hour and are dismissed after fifty minutes; Tuesday-Thursday classes normally begin on the hour or half-hour as appropriate and are dismissed after seventy-five minutes. Summer session classes normally are scheduled every day for an hour and a half (seventy-five minutes with a fifteen-minute interval between classes).
Course numbers. Courses are designated by numbers, or by numbers with a capital letter following. The numbers indicate both the rank and the credit value of the course. Course numbers 201 through 299 denote a value of two semester hours, 301 through 399, a value of three semester hours, and so on. A zero as the first digit indicates that the course is noncredit. Except in the School of Law and the College of Pharmacy, the last two digits indicate the rank of the course; if they are 01 through 19, the course is of lower-division rank; if 20 through 79, of upper-division rank; and if 80 through 99, of graduate rank.
Two courses that have the same abbreviation and the same last two digits may not both be counted for credit unless the digits are followed by a letter. For example, Chemistry 610 and Chemistry 810 may not both be counted because they are substantially the same; however, English 325 and 325K may both be counted.
The letter A following a course number designates the first half of a course; B, the second half. For example, Music 612A is the first half of Music 612; Music 612B, the second half. The letter X following a course number designates the first third of the course; Y, the second third; Z, the last third.
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12 August 2003. Office of the Registrar
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