Academic Support and Policies
Academic Integrity
As a Summer Sessions student, you are responsible for maintaining the high academic standard expected by the University of California, Berkeley, by ensuring that all academic work reflects your own ideas or properly attributes the ideas to the original sources.
Carefully review the Student Code of Conduct for policies related to academic integrity.
Academic Residency Requirements
Attendance at Berkeley Summer Sessions does not constitute continuous residence. You need to apply for readmission to any succeeding semester if you did not complete the previous spring term.
Consult the Berkeley Academic Guide for more information.
Prerequisites
Many Summer Sessions courses have prerequisites in their descriptions. However, prerequisites for Berkeley students vary course to course and student to student. Visiting students should assess their background in light of prerequisites.
Contact the department offering the course and/or the instructor if you’re unsure about your situation.
Course Numbering
1-99 (Lower-Division Courses)
Open to freshmen and sophomores; not acceptable for upper-division credit.
100-196 (Upper-Division Courses)
Open to students who have completed at least one lower-division course in the given subject or two years of college work.
200-299 (Graduate Courses)
Preparation is subject to instructor's approval, but is normally 12 upper-division semester units of work in the subject matter of the course.
300-399 (Professional Courses)
For teachers or prospective teachers.
400-499 (Professional Courses)
Like teaching courses, acceptable toward academic degrees only within the limitations prescribed by the various colleges, schools, or Graduate Division.
Independent Studies
Certain courses are not listed in the Class Schedule because enrollment requires special arrangements. To enroll, you must have completed at least 60 units of undergraduate study and be in good academic standing. Enrollment in any combination of these courses is restricted to four units per semester and grading is Passed/Not Passed, Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory only.
Consult with the academic department directly for more information.
Graduate Students
Courses Accepted Toward a Master's Degree
If you plan to take Summer Sessions courses in partial fulfillment of the master's degree, select only courses specially designated as acceptable for this purpose. Consult your adviser before enrolling.
Academic Residence Graduate
One Summer Session, if it is consecutive with a regular term, may be counted toward the master's degree academic residence. An exception is the MBA degree in the Graduate School of Business Administration. No degrees will be awarded for work completed during summer terms only.
Graduate Student Fees
UC Graduate students pay a different per-unit charge. If you plan to enroll in Summer Sessions to file your dissertation, you will need to enroll in one unit with your faculty adviser to be eligible.
Consult with your Graduate Student Affairs Officers (GSAO) before enrolling.
Student Rights
Access to Student Records
You are entitled by law and University policy to examine and challenge most of the records that the University maintains on you. These records are confidential, and in most circumstances, may be released to third parties only with your prior consent. Such matters are detailed in the Berkeley Campus Policy Governing Disclosure of Information from Student Records, available in the Office of the Registrar, 120 Sproul Hall. Summer Sessions retains student records (print and electronic) for five years.
Student Right to Know
Public Law 101-542, more commonly referred to as the Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act, was signed into law on November 8, 1990. The federal legislation requires institutions of higher education receiving federal financial assistance to provide information regarding graduation rates of its students to prospective and current students, and crime statistics and security information about the campus to current students and employees.
Nondiscrimination Policy Statement
The University of California, in accordance with applicable Federal and State Law, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including sexual harassment), gender identity, pregnancy/childbirth, and medical conditions related thereto, disability, age, medical condition (cancer-related), ancestry, marital status, citizenship, sexual orientation, or status as a Vietnam-era veteran or special disabled veteran. This nondiscrimination policy covers student admission, access, and treatment in University programs and activities. It also covers faculty (Senate and non-Senate) and staff in their employment.
To report racial or sexual harassment, visit the Office of the Chancellor's Sexual Harassment Reporting Procedures page.
To report disability discrimination, visit the Office of the Chancellor's Disability Resolution page.
For other inquiries regarding discrimination or harassment, visit the Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination page.
Accommodation of Religious Creed
It is the official policy of the University of California, Berkeley to permit any student to undergo a test or examination, without penalty, at a time when that activity would not violate the student's religious creed unless administering the examination at an alternative time would impose an undue hardship that could not reasonably have been avoided. Requests to accommodate a student's religious creed by scheduling tests or examinations at alternative times shall be submitted directly to the faculty member responsible for administering the examination.
Reasonable common sense, judgment, and the pursuit of mutual goodwill should result in the positive resolution of scheduling conflicts. The regular campus appeals process applies if a mutually satisfactory arrangement cannot be achieved.
Code of Student Conduct
All summer students are expected to abide by the Berkeley Campus Code of Student Conduct as published by the Vice Chancellor's Office of Undergraduate Affairs.