Admissions

Composition

Elected from Senate
9 Senators (including 2 student members and 1 convocation member)

Ex Officio
Chancellor
President
Registrar (voting, except in cases of Student Appeals)
An associate vice-president academic, as designated by the Academic Vice-President (voting)
Chair, Senate Curriculum Committee
Head of unit responsible for undergraduate admissions, as designated by the Registrar (voting, except in cases of Student Appeals)
One Assistant or Associate Dean from each Faculty (voting, except in cases of Student Appeals)

Quorum: 5 members who are members of Senate, except in the case of students appeals, where a quorum consists of 3 members who are also members of Senate.

Terms of Reference

• To consider and review admissions and transfer policy. To review performance in relation to admissions and transfer policy, and to make recommendations to Senate. To consider and review University and faculty enrolments of new and continuing students (Senate minutes May 20, 1998), and to make recommendations to Senate. To review and approve the terms of affiliation relating to student mobility with other universities, colleges, or other institutions of learning, and to modify or terminate the affiliation, in accordance with the policy of the Council of Senates* (Senate minutes, May 17, 2023).
• A quorum for student appeals consists of 3 members of the Committee who are also members of Senate;
  To examine and rule on applications for admission and transfer that are not clearly resolvable under the regulations governing admission; and to review and rule on appeals related to admission, re-admission, and transfer to the University:
  • Assistant or Associate Deans are to recuse themselves from the hearing of student appeals if the faculty decision under appeal is one of their own faculty.
  • Committee members who are not members of Senate are to recuse themselves from the hearing of student appeals. Decisions made on appeals brought before the Committee are reported to Senate for information on an annual basis.

*Under Section 38.2(4) of the University Act, the responsibility of considering affiliation agreements falls to the Council of Senates. The Senate Admissions Committee considers those agreements that the Council deems relevant to the Vancouver Campus.

Committee Summary

SAC has two main functions: approving proposals and hearing admissions appeals.

Proposals: The two main categories of proposals are the portions of curriculum proposals that detail the admissions criteria and processes for any given program, and agreements that involve student mobility or partnerships with other universities. The focus of the Committee is on ensuring that the calendar entries are clear and transparent, with an aim of ensuring that prospective students will find the entries helpful and that that in the case of admissions appeals that decisions made by the program in question are defensible. In addition to proposals that are destined for the academic calendar, SAC also approves mobility and partnership agreements (teaching and learning related), and reviews admissions targets and enrolment reports.

Appeals: Admissions appeals and admissions revocation appeals are processed by the Senator SAC members. Appeals are in written form and the majority of these are received during the summer months. Senators meet very regularly (currently via Zoom) in the summer to process appeals.

SAC is primarily an approval body for proposals form the faculties and administration, and as such does not typically generate policy itself. The Committee does look at its processes on a regular basis and makes recommendations on ways to improve the efficiency of the committee.

Senators may wish to join SAC if they want to know more about admissions practices at UBC or if they are interested in helping with appeals. Senators who have a role in their home Faculty that deals with related student issues may be particularly interested in the SAC.  Examples include associate deans, unit heads or associate heads, academic program directors, colleagues who assist with readmission after failed year appeals, and members of student services units. Those who are interested in curriculum approval may find that the Senate Curriculum Committee (SCC) and SAC are an efficient pairing. 

Membership

Elected from Senate
Dr. Agnes d’Entremont
Kevin Doering
Dr. Nancy Ford
Dr. Joanne Fox
Kareem Hassib (Student)
Samuel Kenston (Student)
Dr. Fawziah Lalji
Dr. Ingrid Price
Vacancy (1)

Ex Officio
Chancellor
President
Dr. James Charbonneau, Associate Dean, Faculty of Science (voting, except in cases of Student Appeals)
Dr. Bhushan Gopaluni, Associate Vice-President Academic, as designated by the Academic Vice-President
Dr. Carol Jaeger, Associate Dean, Faculty of Applied Science (voting, except in cases of Student Appeals)
Dr. Laurie McNeill, Faculty of Arts (voting, except in cases of Student Appeals)
Brendan Morey, Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (voting, except in cases of Student Appeals)
Rella Ng, Registrar (voting, except in cases of Student Appeals)
Dr. Marion Pearson, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences (voting, except in cases of Student Appeals)
Sam Saini, Head of unit responsible for undergraduate admissions, as designated by the Registrar (voting, except in cases of Student Appeals)
Elicia Salzberg, Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration (voting, except in cases of Student Appeals)
Dr. Shahin Shirzad, Faculty of Medicine (voting, except in cases of Student Appeals)
Dr. Zhaoming Xu, Faculty of Land and Food Systems (voting, except in cases of Student Appeals)

(VACANCY), Chair, Senate Curriculum Committee
(VACANCY), Faculty of Dentistry (voting, except in cases of Student Appeals)
(VACANCY), Faculty of Education (voting, except in cases of Student Appeals)
(VACANCY), Faculty of Forestry (voting, except in cases of Student Appeals)
(VACANCY), Peter A. Allard School of Law (voting, except in cases of Student Appeals)

Meeting Schedule

* Senators only for consideration of admission appeals.

Past Meetings

Admissions Appeal Form
Admissions Revocation Appeal Form