STUDENT PROMOTION

The academic performance of each student will be considered by the relevant Year or Term committee who will recommend that a student be:

• Promoted,
• Required to Repeat a portion of the program, or
• Required to Discontinue.

Year or Term Committee Meetings are held at the end of each promotion period to consider student performance. Promotion recommendations will be forwarded to the Student Academic Management Committee (Promotion committee for the MD program) for a final determination of the student’s status. [Note that, although numeric grades are often used within the college to delineate standards of achievement for promotion and awards, the final transcript will indicate only pass (P) or fail (F).  A student who has been not been promoted due to being unsuccessful in one or more course will receive a fail (F) on his/her transcript for the relevant course(s)].

Promotion and graduation decisions will be made in keeping with the principle that a student must demonstrate academic performance and professional attributes sufficient to support their success in subsequent portions of the program or post-graduate education.  The Student Academic Management Committee will make promotion and graduation decisions in accordance with the Promotion standards and this principle.  Notwithstanding the Standards, the Student Academic Management Committee can make decisions that uphold the principle.   Students who meet the Standards for unconditional promotion and for whom there are no professional behaviour concerns that would prevent promotion will be considered by definition to have met the principle outlined above.

MD PROGRAM PROMOTION STANDARDS – PRE-CLERKSHIP

For students enrolled in the MD program the following promotion standards will apply:

In the pre-clerkship period (Years 1 and 2), students must achieve the following in order to be promoted to the next term of the program:

Successful completion of each course in each term in the pre-clerkship period, as described in the course syllabus for each course.

1. Students who have successfully completed all courses will be promoted unconditionally.
2. Students who have been unsuccessful in any one course will be required to either remediate the course in which they were unsuccessful, repeat a portion of the program, or discontinue, based on the following considerations:
   • academic performance in all courses of that term, including performance on individual in-course assessment components and modules
   • academic performance in previous terms in the MD program
   • other mitigating circumstances
3. Students who have been unsuccessful in more than one course will be required to either repeat a portion of the program or discontinue.
4. Students may be required to remediate a portion of the program, repeat a portion of the program, be suspended for a period of time, or be required to discontinue on the basis of unprofessional behaviour.

Students will be allowed to repeat no more than two terms (or portions of terms) of the pre-clerkship curriculum due to failure of promotion based on academic reasons or academic withdrawal. 

In addition, students will be allowed a total of no more than six years for completion of the MD Program for reasons of academic failure/academic withdrawal. This will not apply to withdrawal/leaves for medical or personal reasons in which academic performance is not a concern or for approved degree programs in which the student is in good academic standing. SAMC will determine appropriate duration of withdrawal periods and placement on return to program in order to support student success.

MD PROGRAM PROMOTION STANDARDS – CLERKSHIP

For students enrolled in the 2+2 curriculum the following promotion standards will apply:

In Year 3 of the clerkship period, students must achieve the following in order to be promoted to Year 4:

Successful completion of each course in Year 3, as determined by that Course’s policies as per the Course Syllabus.

1. Students who have successfully completed all courses will be promoted unconditionally.
2. Students who have been unsuccessful in any one course (with the exception of Core Clinical Rotations – see “c” below) will be required to either remediate that course, repeat a portion of the program, or discontinue the program, based on the following considerations:

• academic performance in all courses of that year, including performance on individual in-course assessment components and modules
• academic performance in previous terms in the MD program
• other mitigating circumstances

1. Students who have been unsuccessful in the Core Rotations Course, or in more than one of the other Year 3 courses (Selected Topics in Medicine; Success in Medical School III) will not be promoted, but will be required to either repeat a portion of the program or discontinue.
2. Students may also be required to remediate a portion of the program, repeat a portion of the program, be suspended for a period of time, or be required to discontinue on the basis of unprofessional behaviour.

In Year 4 of the clerkship period, students must achieve the following in order to graduate:

Successful completion of each course in each Year 4, as determined by that Course’s policies as per the Course Syllabus.

1. Students who have successfully completed all courses will graduate unconditionally.
2. Students who have been unsuccessful in one or more Year 4 course(s) will not graduate, but will be required to either repeat a portion of the program, or discontinue.
3. Students may also be required to remediate a portion of the program, repeat a portion of the program, be suspended for a period of time, or be required to discontinue on the basis of unprofessional behaviour.

Students will be allowed to repeat each year of the clerkship program (or portion of that year) no more than once due to failure of promotion based on academic reasons, or academic withdrawal.

In addition, students will be allowed a total of no more than six years for completion of the MD Program for academic failure /academic withdrawal reasons. This will not apply to withdrawal/leaves for medical or personal reasons in which academic performance is not a concern or for approved additional degree programs in which the student is in good academic standing. SAMC will determine appropriate duration of withdrawal periods and placement on return to program in order to support student success.

Update approved Faculty council Jan 2020