Course Audit

Regularly enrolled students wishing to audit classes may do so by per ministry of the instructor, subject to the applicable tuition. No credit is given. Students may not change from audit to credit.

Incomplete Grades

An Incomplete (“INC”) grade is assigned to a student by an instructor when the student’s work is incomplete because of circumstances beyond the student’s control, and when the student has been temporarily excused by the instructor. A student must receive approval from the instructor on the appropriate form. The instructor will replace the “Incomplete” grade with the earned grade once the incomplete work is completed. Work not completed with the approved timeframe will result in grade “F.” See the Registrar Office for additional information about incomplete grades.

Withdrawal

The date of the institution’s determination that the student withdrew should be no later than 14 calendar days after the student’s last date of attendance as determined by the institution from its attendance records. The institution is not required to administratively withdraw a student who has been absent for 14 calendar days. However, after 14 calendar days, the institution is expected to have determined whether the student intends to return to classes or to withdraw. In addition, if the student is eventually determined to have withdrawn, the end of the 14-day period begins the timeframe for calculating the refunds. In the event that a written notice is submitted, the effective date of termination shall be the date of the written notice. The school may require that written notice be transmitted via registered or certified mail, or by electronic trans-ministry provided that such a stipulation is contained in the written enrollment contract. The school is required to submit refunds to individuals who have terminated their status as students within 45 days after receipt of a written request or the date the student last attended classes whichever is sooner. An institution that provides the majority of its program offerings through distance learning shall have a plan for student termination, which shall be provided to council staff for review with its annual or recertification application.

Academic Honor System

Unless authorized by the instructor, the giving or receiving of assistance during examinations or on assignments is considered to be a dishonest act and is therefore prohibited. WMCGW will not overlook failures of personal integrity regarding matters of academic honesty. The violators will be punished with proper measures.

Definition of Cheating

Cheating is behaving in a fraudulent way in university coursework and examinations. Cheating includes passing off work done by someone else as your own work, or otherwise trying to gain an unfair advantage.

Examples of Cheating

Examples of cheating include, but are not limited to:

Pretending to be someone else in a test or examination, or arranging such

impersonation;

Trying to peek and copy from another student during a test or examination;
Referring to notebooks, papers, or any other materials during a closed-book exam;
Submitting work for which credit has already been received in another course without the express consent of the instructor;
Helping others to cheat in these ways is also a form of cheating.

Definition of Plagiarism

Plagiarism is an intellectual crime: it is stealing someone else’s ideas and pretending that they are your own. Whenever you use someone else’s words or ideas in your paper, you must also include a note telling us where you got that information – otherwise you will be guilty of plagiarism and risk getting expelled from the class. It’s not wrong to quote other authors; it is wrong to quote them without telling us that you did it. Many students in America have found out how serious plagiarism is when they got expelled from their school because of it.

Examples of Plagiarism

There are several forms of plagiarism:

A student could copy the exact words from a book, article, or Web page on the Internet and put them in their paper without making a note where they got the quote. Instead, you must do two things when borrowing someone else’s words: put the quote in quotation marks (like this: “The President spoke today on the mortgage crisis …”) Next, you must include a note, usually a footnote, saying where you got this quotation (for example: ¹ Taken from the New York Times, 2008-09-24).
A student could borrow an idea from another writer and pretend that he/she came up with it on his/her own. Instead, you must include a note stating that you borrowed this idea from another author. Give the author’s name and title of his/her work (like this: “Argumentation, as Perelman states in his/her book The Realm of Rhetoric (page 49) is …”).
The point is that you must always give a reference to any information that is not your own. For more information on plagiarism and how to avoid it, please ask your professor and he/she can direct you to additional resources on this subject.

Cheating on an exam or committing plagiarism will automatically result in an “F” for the course. Copying someone else’s paper will result in an “F” for the course. Helping others cheat will be punished by receiving as much as a 50% reduced grade in the exam. Additionally, the violators shall be placed on probation or suspension.

Faculty Accessibility

Student Access to Instructors

Access to faculty outside of the classroom is an important part of the education process. Students are provided an advisor to assist in making decisions regarding the courses they are to take as well as knowing the requirements of their degree program.

In addition, access to instructors are also available for discussion regarding class requirements as well as other academic matters outside the course’s regularly scheduled class hours throughout the period during which the course is offered. Full-time faculty place their office hours on their door. All faculty include access time for their students on course syllabi. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the time when needed.

Transcripts

Official transcripts will be sent to other educational institutions and agencies upon student’s request, provided the student has no outstanding financial obligation to the school. Unofficial transcripts may also be obtained from the Registrar’s Office. Requests must be made in writing except when a student is required to provide a transcript to a government agency for official purposes. Certain fees apply for official transcripts.

It is the policy of WMCGW to maintain all records, as required by the Education Reform Act of 1989, for a minimum period of five (5) years, and student transcripts for a minimum of fifty (50) years.

Confidentiality

All WMCGW student educational records are considered confidential in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1994. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 was enacted by Congress to protect the privacy of educational records, to establish the right for students to inspect and review their educational records, and to provide guidelines for the correction of inaccurate or misleading data through informal and formal hearings.

The privacy of all student records is observed at WMCGW. Students must approve to release their information to the public. Members of the administration, faculty, or counseling staff may have access to student records for educational, administrative, or statistical purposes only.

Students have the right to appeal to the Family Education Rights Privacy Act Office (FERPA) in Washington, D.C. concerning alleged failure by the university to comply with the Act.

Students may inspect and review their educational records upon written request to the academic office. Students may ask the university to amend a record they believe is inaccurate or misleading.

The university reserves the right to release limited directory information unless notified in writing to the contrary by the second week after the start of the term.