Starting this registration period for Fall 2016/ Winter 2017, students will find it easier to register in upper level business courses. The School of Business and Economics has removed the need for “Program Advisor” approvals for 3000 and 4000 level business courses allowing instead for the computer to check course prerequisites.

“By third and fourth year, students have learned to navigate the system and this change should make registration more convenient for them.” says Alana Frymire, the newest Academic Advisor on the SoBE Student Service Team.

Alana does caution students to continue to touch base with an Academic Advisor on a regular basis to ensure they stay on track for graduation.

Prerequisites are cited in the course descriptions, and those can be found on the TRU course schedule under “View Catalog Entry”: http://www.tru.ca/campus/current/registration/course_schedules.html

“Although I enjoy the personalized service provided by Academic Advisors, I see the value in the automated prerequisite checking system for course registration, “ says BBA Accounting major Doug Hansen, “I still intend, though, to check in with my Academic Advisor for direction to make sure I don’t take any courses I don’t need.”

That is a good idea, as the computer will not stop a student from re-registering in an equivalent for a second time. Many of business courses have recently changed numbers and acronyms, so it is critical that students make sure they do not take the same course twice if they don’t need to.

Students can find current and old campus course equivalencies on this chart: http://www.tru.ca/business/program-information/corresponding_tru_campus_and_ol__courses.html

Something else the computer will not be able to do is identify if prerequisites have been met by transfer credit. Students such as Linda Bvekerwa, a Post-baccalaureate diploma in Human Resource Management who received transfer credit from the University of Cape Town, will need to contact her Academic Advisor to request “prerequisite waivers” for her upper level HRMN courses.

But Linda also sees the automated prerequisite checking as a positive. She says, “With more people being able to register themselves it will give Advisors more time for personalized service for those who need their assistance.”

Upper level business students may contact their Academic Advisor through email at sobedadvisor@tru.ca or by phone at 250-852-7635 or in person at Trades and Technology 155.