Introduction to the SOLUS Student Centre and Related Changes

Questions or problems with SOLUS?
Email solus@queensu.ca or phone the University Registrar's Office at 613.533.2040

1. New SOLUS Student Information System activates March 9 – Goodbye QCARD March 4 at 5:00 p.m.

QCARD (and its administrative alter ego PCICS) will be shutting down permanently on Friday March 4, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. The new SOLUS Student Center will activate on Wednesday March 9^,, 2011 at 7:00 a.m. 

Between the end of the business day on March 4 and March 9, QCARD will no longer be available to order transcripts, check grades or a fee statement, for authorized administrators to input a course drop or for applications to graduate. Therefore, if you need any of these services, you should complete those transactions on QCARD on February 28, especially if you are ordering a transcript.

To see an overview and demonstration of SOLUS, see the Bulletin Board on the homepage of the Office of the University Registrar at http://www.queensu.ca/registrar/index.html.

2.  New Queen’s Student Number 

All current students will have a zero added to the beginning of their current Queen’s student number for the new Queen’s Student Number needed for the SOLUS Student Centre. (PeopleSoft “EMPL ID”). All new incoming students will have a new Queen’s student number starting with the number 1.

3. How to Login to SOLUS and the SOLUS Student INFOCENTRE

You must login to the new SOLUS Student Centre via the Queen’s Portal at https://my.queensu.ca

To login, you will use your NetID and password. You will need to set a “strong password”. For more information, see http://www.queensu.ca/its/netid/goodpasswords.html.

Once you are in the Portal, click on the SOLUS Student Centre link to access SOLUS.

For more information and training materials on how to use the system, see

http://www.queensu.ca/registrar/OURInfoCentre.html. Scroll down so that you see the online tools, the training materials and the Q & As.

4. New Transcript effective May 1, 2011

In May 2009 Senate approved a new grading scale and at the November 19 Faculty Board meeting, the Faculty of Law adopted its own Grading Scale consistent with its usual system. The new transcript legend, which will print on the back of the new transcript, shows the Law grading scale. Please see http://www.queensu.ca/registrar/currentstudents/marks/GPAsystem/SCAP_Doc_Transcript_Legend_Final_Feb_2011.pdf.

The new transcript will provide alpha grades for law students, but no grade distributions for the course registrations. Students will be able to order a Law Grade Distribution Report through SOLUS and will be able to print off unofficial statements of grades obtained in course registrations. Historical course weights will be converted to credit units and a GPA calculated for previous terms. The transcript for new and continuing students will show a term and a cumulative GPA. GPAs will not print for students who are no longer registered.

See Transcript Q & As at http://www.queensu.ca/registrar/OURInfoCentre/TranscriptFAQ.html.

5. 2011-2012 Course Registration: Upper-Year Law Students

Students entering third-year J.D. will use self-service in the SOLUS Student Center to make course registrations for 2011-2012 starting on March 28 and continuing to March 29. 

Students entering second-year J.D will use SOLUS self-service to register in courses starting on March 31 and continuing to April 1.

All upper-year students will re-access the system starting on April 2 to complete their course registrations and access will continue until Friday April 29 at 11:59 p.m. The system does not reopen until the add/drop period in September.

TIP: Courses that are multi-term (have a fall term and a winter term) must be selected first with the fall term component: e.g. Law 590A Clinical Litigation Practice (fall term) and then Law 590B for Clinical Litigation (winter term).

The Information Session on SOLUS Course Registration will be held on Monday March 21 at 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in Room 001 Macdonald Hall. Please plan to attend. More information will be available at that time. 

To see training materials about course registration using the SOLUS system, go to the Introduction to SOLUS training materials online at https://www.queensu.ca/quasr/solus/toc.html. It will take you through the process of how to enroll in a course and how to drop a course or switch courses.  

6. Blind Grading for Winter 2011

A new system of blind grading developed by PeopleSoft will be used for grading of winter 2011 term and multi-term courses in the 2010-2011 academic year.

Faculty members will be able to enter grades into an Excel spreadsheet template and upload those grades to the Faculty Centre and signal that they are ready for review. The Student Services staff will assist instructors with the collation and compilation of blind grade grading spreadsheets for courses that have blind and non-blind evaluated components. Two faculty members participated in a User Acceptance Training session on Monday February 14. The Office of the University Registrar will be communicating further information about blind grading and providing training for faculty members and staff who will be administering blind grading on the new system later in March.

Students will be assigned a blind grade for each course and will need to bring that number, along with their Queen’s student photo ID card, to the exam hall. Only the blind ID number must be used on the exam answer paper. Students should use only their blind ID number on written coursework submitted for grading as well.

Once grades are approved and released, they can be viewed by students in the SOLUS Student Centre and Faculty will be able to see the approved grades in the Faculty Centre. Grade Distribution Reports may be ordered through SOLUS.

See http://www.queensu.ca/registrar/OURInfoCentre/SOLUSNavGuide.html and click on Grades at http://www.queensu.ca/registrar/OURInfoCentre/SOLUSNavGuide/how_to_view_grades_SOLUS.pdf.

7. Winter 2011 Examination Timetable

The April 2011 examination timetable can be accessed from the Office of the University Registrar’s website and was posted on February 11, 2011. Exam locations will be posted around March 11.  See http://www.queensu.ca/registrar/currentstudents/exams.html.

Law courses with examinations, other than take-home exams and with the exception of Law 5211 Corporate Tax, which has a true/false format, are offered a computer exam option. Please see the computer exam website for Law at http://law.queensu.ca/students/jdProgram/examInformation/pilotProject.html. The exam schedule is at http://law.queensu.ca/students/jdProgram/examInformation/pilotProject/2011WinterExamSchedule.pdf and the Computer Exam Request Form is at http://law.queensu.ca/students/jdProgram/examInformation/pilotProject/examRequestForms/Winter2011ComputerExamRequestForm.pdf. The due date for receipt of Computer Exam Request Forms is Friday March 25 at 4:00 p.m. An information session will be held on Friday March 25 at 1:00 p.m. in Room 202, Macdonald Hall.

8. 2011-2012 Tuition Payment and Commitment to Pay

Important changes have been put into effect concerning when and how tuition for 2011-2012 will be paid. Tuition fees will be due and payable on September 1, 2011. There will no longer be a minimum tuition payment made in August. However, students with a 2011-2012 OSAP entitlement will receive an automatic deferral of the September 1, 2011 date for the amount up to the value of the OSAP entitlement. Students with proof of funding from elsewhere (e.g. student loans from other jurisdictions, grants, external awards, third-party contracts, Band funding) must complete the Commitment to Pay in order to have the Late Registration Charge waived. For full details, please see http://www.queensu.ca/registrar/currentstudents/fees/newfeeschedule.html.

9. SOLUS Online Navigation Guide and Tools for Managing Academics, Finances, Contact Information etc.

SOLUS is designed to enable students to manage their own admissions, academic, financial and contact information during their academic career at Queen’s. See an overview of all the online tools at http://www.queensu.ca/registrar/OURInfoCentre/SOLUSNavGuide.html.

10. Notes from Law Town Hall about SOLUS February 11, 2011

See: Town Hall Faculty of Law: SOLUS.