Senate approves revised policy on academic accommodations (AC1205)

June 24, 2024

At a special meeting of Senate on June 6, 2024, Senate approved revisions to UVic's Academic Accommodation and Access for Students with Disabilities (AC1205) Policy, effective September 1, 2024. 

The revised policy better aligns AC1205 with current law and best practices while also advancing the priorities of UVic's Accessibility Plan and Equity Action Plan.

The revised policy will be available on the University Secretary website in the coming months. In the meantime, you are welcome to download the Senate docket that includes:

• A cover memo outlining background, process, context, etc.
• Key revisions to policy AC1205
• Wayfinding guidance for the draft revised policy
• Academic Accommodation and Access for Students with Disabilities
• Appendix A: Procedures for Academic Accommodation and Access for Undergraduate Students with Disabilities
• Appendix B: Procedures for Academic Accommodation and Access for Graduate Students with Disabilities

Key revisions to AC1205

Section	Changes
Title	The title has changed from Academic Accommodation and Access for Students with Disabilities to Academic Accommodation Policy. This change is intended to clarify the policy’s purpose, which is to provide a framework for providing academic accommodation to students with disabilities.
Definitions	The definitions have been moved from Appendix A to page 1 The revised policy modernizes the definitions of Academic Accommodation, Disability, Essential Requirement, and Undue Hardship, and defined Barrier. To support the UVic community’s understanding of the intended scope of the policy, the definition of Student has been revised and definitions of Non-credit learner and Academic Concession added. To clarify responsibilities under the policy, definitions of Administrative Head, Instructor, and Unit have been added
Scope	Current Policy AC1205 does not have a Scope section. The revised policy adds a Scope section (section 3) and clarifies to whom this policy applies.
Advisory Committee	The Advisory Committee on Academic Accommodation and Access for Students with Disabilities (ACAAASD) appointed under by the Office of the Vice-President Academic and Provost under current AC1205, section 3.1(a), has been eliminated in light of the new University-wide Accessibility Committee established at UVic in 2022 to comply with the Accessible BC Act. The revised policy assigns responsibility to the Vice-President Academic and Provost to produce an annual report to Senate addressing issues relevant to the implementation and improvement of AC1205: see revised policy, section 13.1.
Responsibilities	The previous AC1205 (section 3) addresses responsibilities of the University, CAL, and students. The revised policy includes and clarifies those responsibilities, and articulates responsibilities of the LTSI, Instructors, Administrative Heads, and Units offering Field Education or Practicums: see revised policy, sections 4 to 10.
Process for resolving disagreements	The revised policy moves the processes in current AC1205 sections 4.2 and 4.3 to the procedures. The Undergraduate Procedures (Appendix A) and Graduate Procedures (Appendix B) revise and elaborate the dispute resolution mechanisms available to students and instructors and shifts responsibility from the Associate Vice-President Academic and Student Affairs to the Deputy Provost.
Procedural Authority & Officer	The revised policy retains the Procedural Authority as Senate but changes the Procedural Officer from the Associate Vice-President Student Affairs to the Deputy Provost.