Appendix H: Guidelines for Use in Making Life of a Credit Decisions:

Life of a credit refers to the length of time a subject is considered current. Assessment of the life (currency) of a credit may be required in a number of different situations:

• As per Academic Policy 16.1 Conditions for Graduation, students who interrupt their studies for an extended period of time, or who take significantly longer than the normally prescribed program duration to complete their studies, may be required to take additional subjects and/or repeat subjects which have gone through significant change.
• Students with previously earned academic credits from other post-secondary educational institutions may be able to apply such credits toward completion of a Seneca College program, depending upon whether or not the credit is deemed current. (4.3 Advanced Standing/Transfer Credit).
• The currency of a credit may need to be assessed when a student who has completed requirements for a particular program, wants to apply any of the credits to a different credential at the College (Academic Policy 11.1 Change of Program).

When evaluating the currency of a subject the following should be considered:

a) The subject (learning outcomes and content) relevance in the context of the overall program learning outcomes.*

b) Subject learning outcomes of the subject submitted for consideration (whether from another institution or an aged Seneca course) compared to the subject learning outcomes of the current Seneca subject.

c) Changes to technology (hardware, software etc.) since the credit was earned.

d) Changes to regulatory and/or professional standards since the credit was earned.

*Note: Generally a decision will be based on the guidelines outlined above; however, a credit shown on the student’s transcript may be considered as current in one program, but not in another, depending on the requirements of each program.

When a credit is deemed to no longer be current, a student may choose to access the Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) process as outlined in Academic Policy 4.4.