Course Substitution Policy
[based on the UPOU Academic Policies and Procedures Manual, March 2021]
Courses may be substituted on the following grounds:
a. When a student is following a curriculum that has been superceded by a new one and the substitution tends to bring the old curriculum in line with the new;
b. When the required subject is not offered during the semester when the student needs it. This is applicable to graduating students only. The student should submit a Plan of Study (it will affect graduation and comprehensive examination)
[revised during the UP Open University Academic Policies and Procedures Workshop in April and May 2019]
A substitution shall be valid when:
a. The courses involved are within the same program, or the two courses are allied to each other.
b. The course being used as a substitute has credit units equal to or greater than the credit units of the required course.
c. All applications for substitution must be submitted to the Office of the Dean concerned before or during the registration period.
d. No substitution shall be allowed for any course prescribed in the curriculum where the student has failed or received a grade of 5.0 except when, in the opinion of the Program offering the prescribed course, the proposed substitute covers substantially the same subject matter as the required subject.
e. All applications for substitution shall be acted upon by the Dean concerned. In case the action of the Dean is adverse to the recommendation of the Adviser and the Program Chair concerned, the student may appeal to the Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs, whose decision shall be final.
[approved during the 1st University Council Meeting of the UP Open University]
Note: Based on the E.O. No 1. and E.O.2, the action on appeal of the dean’s decision on applications for substitution of courses is within the authority of the Chancellor (UP OSU Handbook of Existing Delineation of Authority in the University, 2008, p. 24).
Procedure:
Step 1: Student accomplishes the Application for Course Substitution Form and submits it to the respective Faculty Office (FO)
Step 2: FO processes the application for course substitution
(1) FO forwards the application document to the Program Chair (PC)
(2) PC initially approves/disapproves the application
(3) Secretary to the Faculty (FS) makes the final approval of the application
(4) FO forwards the approved document to OUR
Step 3: Electronic and Data Processing (EDP) Section of the OUR encodes the evaluated document in the student database
Step 4: Records Section of the OUR compiles then files the evaluated document