Academic Year: Begins in the fall semester (August), continues through the spring semester, and ends in summer.

Accreditation: Official certification by an external academic organization that a college, school, or academic unit meets minimum requirements for academic achievement, curriculum, facilities, etc.

Add Period: Time at the beginning of each semester during which registered students may enroll in additional courses online.

Articulated General Education Courses: UH courses accepted as meeting General Education requirements at one or more system campuses.

Auditors: Regularly admitted students who register, with the consent of the instructor, for informational instruction only and who receive no credit. They do not take course examinations and the extent of their classroom participation is at the instructor’s discretion. Auditors are generally not allowed in art studio, laboratory science, mathematics, elementary and intermediate Hawaiian and foreign languages, creative writing, English composition, physical education, and other performance courses or in classes where they might displace credit students. Audit courses are entered on the student’s transcripts with a grade of L and are subject to regular tuition and fee charges.

Bachelor’s Degree: Undergraduate degree signifying successful completion of the Mānoa General Education Core, major, elective, and credit requirements of UH Mānoa and of an academic unit.

Backtracking: Completion of a lower-level or prerequisite course after (or while) taking an advanced course. Additional credit and grade points are not awarded for lower-level courses if they are taken after or concurrently with the advanced course for which they are explicitly or implicitly prerequisites.

Classified Students (Graduate): Students admitted by Graduate Division to a program that offers a graduate certificate, or a master’s or doctoral degree.

Classified Students (Undergraduate): Students who intend to earn an undergraduate degree and/or are admitted into a degree-granting college/school such as Arts and Sciences, Business, Education, Engineering, etc.

Combined Bachelor’s & Master’s Degree Pathways (BAM): Programs that offers students a shorter time frame to graduate within 5 years.

 Commencement: The ceremony that celebrates the completion of a degree, however, participation does not imply that you have officially graduated.

Community Colleges: Campuses within the UH System that usually offer lower division courses and grant two-year degrees and certificates.

Conditional Students (Graduate): Students admitted to graduate programs on the condition that they make up academic deficiencies or other requirements within a prescribed period of time.

Continuing Students: For registration purposes, those who were registered for the previous semester (fall or spring), are in good standing, have not completely withdrawn, have not graduated in their current classification, and intend to register for the upcoming semester.

Co-requisite: A course that must be taken in conjunction with and at the same time as another course. Co-requisites are indicated in the course descriptions.

Core Requirements: See “Undergraduate General Education Requirements.”

Course Program of Study: A federal regulation that requires that students enrolled in degree programs receiving federal student aid must be enrolled in courses applicable towards their degree.

Credit Overload (Graduate): For classified graduate students, registration for more than 16 credits (9 credits for graduate assistants) in any one semester. Permission from the graduate dean is required.

Credit Overload (Undergraduate): Registration for more than 19 UH Mānoa credit hours in any one semester for undergraduate and professional diploma students. Permission from the appropriate college/school dean is required. The request for credit overload is processed during late registration only.

Credits (or Semester Credit Hours): Earned after successful completion (pass) of a course. If students fail a course, they have only attempted (but not earned) the credits for the course. Three semester credits are approximately equivalent to three 50-minute meeting periods per week in a 15-week semester.

Cross-Listed Courses: Courses whose contents are identical and are jointly offered by more than one department. Although the departments and course numbers are different—for example, AMST 365 and HIST 379—these courses are the same.

Curriculum: All the courses of study offered by UH Mānoa. May also refer to a particular course of study (major) and the courses in that area.

Discipline: A branch of knowledge or teaching. Typically refers to an area of study or a major field.

Diversification Requirements (Undergraduate): Specified courses in the General Education Core intended to assure that every student has a broad exposure to different domains of academic knowledge, while at the same time allowing flexibility for students with different goals and interests.

Double Major: Multiple majors falling under one degree will normally be approved for students who show promise of success in both, provided there is sufficient divergence between the majors. No one course may be used to satisfy more than one major requirement.

Drop Period: Time at the beginning of each semester during which registered students may drop unwanted courses online and not have them appear on their transcripts.

Early-Admits: Academically superior and accomplished youths under 18 years of age who are continuing high school students admitted to UH Mānoa to take specific courses for which they are qualified.

Electives: Courses not designated as part of the General Education Core, college/school, or major requirements. Students should consult their major advisors and college advisors to discuss the selection of electives.

Excess Credit Policy (Undergraduate): Students who, by the end of any semester, have earned 24 credit hours beyond those required for graduation and have fulfilled all specific program and UH Mānoa requirements may graduate by action of their college/school.

Faculty Emeritus: Recognition, designation, and privileges given by the UH Board of Regents to faculty members who have retired but still retain ties to UH Mānoa.

FERPA: The Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law which protects the privacy of student educational records, even if they’re under 18.

Focus Requirements (Undergraduate): Specified courses in the UH Mānoa Graduation Requirements that identify important skills and discourses necessary for living and working in diverse communities.

Foundations Requirements (Undergraduate): Specified courses in the General Education Core intended to give students skills and perspectives that are fundamental to undertaking higher education.

Freshmen: Students who have earned 0–29.99 semester credit hours.

Full-Time Students: For academic purposes, undergraduate students carrying 12 or more credits per semester or graduate students carrying 8 or more credits.

General Education Core: Specified courses labeled “Foundation” or “Diversification” that are intended to give students fundamental college skills and perspectives and broad exposure to different domains of academic knowledge.

Grade Point Average (GPA): Determined by first multiplying the number of credits for each course taken for a letter grade by the points earned for that course (i.e., A+ is 4.0, A is 4.0, A- is 3.7, B+ is 3.3, B is 3, B- is 2.7, C+ is 2.3, C is 2, C- is 1.7, D+ is 1.3, D is 1, D- is 0.7 and F is 0), then by adding all the points, and finally by dividing total grade points by the total number of credits attempted for courses in which letter grades were given.

Graduate Assistants: Graduate students hired by UH Mānoa as teaching or research assistants.

Graduate Courses: Courses offered as part of a graduate degree program, numbered 600–800 level.

Graduate Faculty: Members of the UH Mānoa community eligible to advise classified graduate students.

Graduate Record Examination (GRE): A standardized test required for admission to many graduate fields of study.

Graduate Students: Students admitted to Graduate Division to pursue advanced degrees.

Graduation: The official completion of all degree requirements as noted on a student’s official transcript.

Hawaiian or Second Language Requirement (Undergraduate): A General Education special graduation requirement intended to prepare students to function in a global society and provide an educational experience with an international dimension. The Hawaiian or Second Language (HSL) requirement varies by UH Mānoa college/school. Students should check with their college/school advisor to learn about their requirement.

Incomplete Grades: With the instructor’s approval, students may receive a grade of I if they are unable to complete a small, but important part of a course’s requirements by semester’s end but are committed to doing so by a specified deadline.

Interdisciplinary Studies: An undergraduate program within the Office of Vice Provost of Academic Excellence that allows students to design their own major.

Introductory Courses: All 100-level courses and those 200-level courses without explicit college course prerequisites.

Juniors: Students who have earned 60–89.99 semester credit hours.

Lower Division Courses: Freshman- and sophomore-level courses that generally do not require any prerequisite courses and are numbered 100-299.

Major: The area of academic concentration or specialization in which the degree is conferred.

Maximum Registration: No more than 19 credit hours per semester for undergraduate and professional diploma students without special approval from a college dean. Graduate students are limited to 16 credit hours per semester (9 for graduate assistants) unless special approval is given.

Minor: Limited concentration of courses in an area other than the major and relating to an approved baccalaureate degree.

Part-Time Students: For academic purposes, undergraduates carrying fewer than 12 credits per semester, or graduates carrying fewer than 8 credits per semester.

Participation Verification (No Show): Students who do not participate in an academically related activity (i.e; emailing instructor about a class assignment) within the first week of classes and failing to attend class. Financial aid and veterans educational benefits may be affected and recalculated accordingly.

Placement Examinations: Noncredit tests used to measure a student’s proficiency in a specific subject area in order to determine the appropriate level of courses in which to enroll.

Post-baccalaureate Unclassified Students: Those who have earned a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university and wish to enroll as unclassified students.

Pre-professional Programs: Programs designed to prepare students to pursue admission into professional programs, such as dentistry, law, medicine, or veterinary medicine.

Prerequisite: A necessary condition for enrollment in a course. Prerequisites for courses usually consist of a previous course or courses in a related subject and/or the instructor’s consent. Prerequisites are specified in the course descriptions.

Residence: This word is used in several ways in this Catalog: (1) to denote registration in a regular session (i.e., when a student is “in residence” during the fall or spring semesters); (2) to denote the period of time that a student must be registered at UH Mānoa in order to be eligible for graduation (i.e., academic residence); (3) to denote a student’s state of residence (e.g., Hawai‘i) to determine if nonresident tuition must be paid (i.e., legal residence); (4) to indicate the student’s place of residence (i.e., living quarters).

Residents: Individuals at any level of post-graduate medical education in a program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

Returning Students: Students resuming studies after staying out of school for one semester or longer.

Sabbatical: A leave of absence granted to UH Mānoa faculty members for research, professional improvement, etc.

Seniors: Students who have earned 90 or more semester credit hours.

Sophomores: Students who have earned 30–59.99 semester credit hours.

Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL): Test required of students whose first language is not English.

Transcript: Official record of courses and grades earned at a secondary or postsecondary institution.

Transfer Students: Students admitted to UH Mānoa who have previously attended another college or university.

Tuition Waiver: An exemption from the requirement to pay UH Mānoa tuition. Waivers awarded by UH can range from partial to full waivers and do not include student fees.

UH System: The State of Hawai‘i’s postsecondary education system, comprised of 10 campuses and other research and learning facilities throughout the islands. In addition to UH Mānoa, it includes UH Hilo, UH West O‘ahu, and the seven campuses of the UH Community Colleges.

Unclassified Students: Students who have not been accepted into a degree or certificate program but who have been admitted into Outreach College and may enroll in regular credit courses and graduate courses with the permission of the instructor.

Undergraduate Students: Students who have not earned a bachelor’s degree.

Upper Division Courses: Junior- and senior-level courses, numbered 300–499 (300+), which generally have prerequisites.

Variable Credit Courses: Courses in which the number of credits to be earned is determined in advance by the student and instructor.

Withdrawal Grades: Grades of W are given for courses from which the student has officially withdrawn with the approval of the instructor and the student’s college dean. Withdrawals are only approved until the deadline to withdraw.