Academic Periods Data Standard

Intended Audience and Contact Information

Contact	Chief Data Officer, Office of the CIO
UDM Domain	Academic
Intended Audience	Internal UBC
Data Standard ID	DG0002

Change Log

Standard Version Date	Change Log
2023-02-08	1.0 Removed Academic Year section 2.0 Added Academic Period Data Elements section: 2.1 Updated the following definitions: Academic Calendar, Academic Year, Academic Period 2.2 Added the following data elements: Academic Calendar Name, Academic Calendar Year Code, Academic Year Name, Academic Session, Academic Term, Academic Period Type, Standard Academic Period Type, Non-Standard Academic Period Type, Academic Period Code, Academic Period Name 3.0 Added Academic Period Types section 4.0 Updates to Standard Academic Period section: 4.1 Changed heading name to "Standard Academic Period Types" 4.2 Changed column heading from "Academic Period" to "Academic Period Type" 5.0 Updates to Non-Standard Academic Period section: 5.1 Changed heading name to "Non-Standard Academic Period Types" 5.2 Changed column heading from "Academic Period" to "Academic Period Type" 6.0 Removed Date Representations for Academic Periods section
2021-06-10	1.0 Definition of Standard vs Non-Standard Periods 2.0 Academic year start and end dates updated
2020-02-10	Data standard published

Purpose

This standard aims to achieve consistency around Academic Periods and the format in which it is collected and stored.

An Academic Period is a period such as a session or term, with a defined start date and end date as per the governing Senate. Academic Period Types are the unique Academic Periods that when combined define the Academic Year.

The UBC Senate for each campus sets the policy that informs the official dates for the Academic Year for that campus, which is published in the relevant Academic Calendar.

This standard is derived by UBC and applies to all applications collecting Academic Periods. Exceptions are listed in the Dispensation section.

Standard

Academic Period Data Elements

The following are the data elements and accepted values associated with creating an Academic Period:

Data Element	Definition	Format
Academic Calendar	The comprehensive guide to all programs, courses, services and policies at the University of British Columbia as legislated by the University Act. There are two Academic Calendars for the University of British Columbia: the Okanagan Academic Calendar, and the Vancouver Academic Calendar. Each is governed by the relevant UBC Senate. The Academic Calendar is informed by Policy O125.2 for the Okanagan Senate and Policy V125.1 for the Vancouver Senate which informs the Academic Year for the respective campuses.	N/A
Academic Calendar Name	The name of the Academic Calendar.	<Senate> + Academic Calendar Where: Senate = UBC-O or UBC-V e.g. UBC-O Academic Calendar, UBC-V Academic Calendar
Academic Calendar Year Code	The twelve-month period that spans from September 1 of a given year to August 31 of the following year. This does not exist as a separate data object in Workday, but is a component of the Academic Year Name.	<yyyy>-<yy+1> e.g., 2022-23
Academic Year	The basic calendar structure to which Academic Periods are added for each twelve-month period which is inclusive of the Summer Session and the Winter Session. The Academic Year is informed by Policy O125.2 for the Okanagan Senate and Policy V125.1 for the Vancouver Senate.	<Academic Calendar Year Code> + <Senate> Where: Academic Calendar Year Code = <yyyy>-<yy+1> Senate = UBC-O or UBC-V e.g., 2022-23 UBC-O
Academic Year Name	The name of the Academic Year in the system.	<Academic Calendar Year Code> + <Senate> + Academic Year Where: Academic Calendar Year Code = <yyyy>-<yy+1> Senate = UBC-O or UBC-V e.g., 2022-23 UBC-O Academic Year
Academic Session	One of two defined periods of time that together span the Academic Calendar Year. The two defined Academic Sessions at UBC are the Winter Session and the Summer Session. The dates for the Academic Sessions are set by the governing Senate.	N/A
Academic Term	A defined period of time that takes place within an Academic Session. There are two terms within each Academic Session: Term 1 and Term 2. The dates for the Academic Terms are set by the governing Senate.	N/A
Academic Period	A period, such as a session or term, with a defined start date and end date as per the governing Senate. An Academic Year is comprised of one or more Academic Periods.	N/A
Academic Period Type	The unique Academic Periods that when combined define the Academic Year.	Reference List - see the Academic Period Types section below for the list of accepted values.
Standard Academic Period Type	The Academic Period Types that define the following: the reporting windows of the Academic Year; the application of credit load rules, financial aid rules, and financial rules for fee assessment and collection; and the view of registered courses for the Academic Period.	See the Standard Academic Period Types section below for more details.
Non-Standard Academic Period Type	The Academic Period Types that utilize the specific dates set every year by the Okanagan Senate for the Okanagan Campus and the Vancouver Senate for the Vancouver Campus that are different from the Standard Academic Periods.	See the Non-Standard Academic Period Types section below for more details.
Academic Period Code	The code of the Academic Period.	See the Academic Period Types section belowfor accepted codes
Academic Period Name	The name of the Academic Period.	For Winter Session, Winter Term 1 and Winter Term 2: <Academic Calendar Year Code> + <Academic Period Type> + (<Senate>) e.g., 2022-23 Winter Session (UBC-V) 2022-23 Winter Term 1 (UBC-V) 2022-23 Winter Term 2 (UBC-V) For Summer Session: <yyyy+1> + <Academic Period Type> + (<Senate>) e.g., 2023 Summer Session (UBC-V)

Academic Period Types

The following are the accepted values for Academic Period Types:

Accepted Value	Code	Definition
Winter Term 1	W1	The period that normally begins in September and ends in December of the same Gregorian calendar year.
Winter Term 2	W2	The period that normally begins in January and ends in April of the same Gregorian calendar year.
Winter Session	WS	The period that normally begins in September and ends in April of the next Gregorian calendar year, and is inclusive of Winter Term 1 and Winter Term 2.
Summer Term 1	S1	The period that normally begins in May and ends in June of the same Gregorian calendar year.
Summer Term 2	S2	The period that normally begins in July and ends in August of the same Gregorian calendar year.
Summer Session	SS	The period that normally begins in May and ends in August of the same Gregorian calendar year, and is inclusive of Summer Term 1 and Summer Term 2.

Standard Academic Period Types

Standard Academic Period Types define:

Reporting windows of the academic calendar;
The application of credit load rules, financial aid rules, and financial rules for fee assessment and collection;
View of registered courses for the period.

The following are the accepted values for Standard Academic Period Type:

Academic Period Type¹	Period Start Date	Period End Date
Winter Term 1	September 1 of the current Gregorian calendar year	December 31 of the current Gregorian calendar year
Winter Term 2	January 1 of the next Gregorian calendar year	April 30 of the same² Gregorian calendar year
Summer Session	May 1 of the same² Gregorian calendar year	August 31 of the same² Gregorian calendar year

¹ Periods are contiguous and do not overlap in dates.
² Refers to the same Gregorian calendar year in which Winter Term 2 begins.

Non-Standard Academic Period Types

The Non-Standard Academic Period Types utilize the specific dates set every year by the Okanagan Senate for the Okanagan campus and the Vancouver Senate for the Vancouver campus. The following are the accepted values for Non-Standard Academic Period Types:

Academic Period Type	Period Start Date	Period End Date
Winter Session	See the approved start dates for the Okanagan campus and the Vancouver campus for the current Winter Session.	See the approved end dates for the Okanagan campus and the Vancouver campus for the current Winter Session.

Compliance

The above guidelines must be complied at every stage of the data lifecycle with the exception of any dispensations (see Dispensation section):

All applications must collect data as recommended in this standard.
Enterprise Data Integration must adopt this standard.

Reference Data Compliance for Data Integration

The use of accepted reference data values in this standard for data integration among applications must comply with the enterprise integration pattern of leveraging the reference data common service API (Application Programming Interface) published in UBC MuleSoft Exchange.

Any application that intends to access real-time, case-level reference data should have the application owner or manager complete and submit a Request API Access form.

MAPPING OF INVALID VALUES FROM SYSTEM(S) OF RECORD (SOR) TO COMMON SERVICES

A common service can only accommodate standard reference data enumerations that are available in the SoR as approved by the Data Governance Steering Committee or Data Trustee.

A reference data value that does not match any of the standard reference data value enumerations is considered ‘invalid’. Any records from a SoR containing an invalid reference data value for a given data element or attribute must be mapped as an ‘empty’ value in common service(s). Where a reference data value may potentially have the same meaning as a standard enumeration but named differently in the system of record can be corrected to match the appropriate standard enumeration. Please consult with the EDG team in such cases.

Additional Reference Data values in a SoR that are not part of the standard reference data enumerations are to be omitted in the common service.

Dispensation

Legacy systems are exempt from this data standard. As systems are replaced, adoption of this standard is required. Examples of legacy systems are:

Student Information System (SIS)

For any compliance questions or requests for a temporary dispensation, please contact the Enterprise Data Governance Team.