Academics

Learning Expectations

Language of Instruction: English

Course Load: Exchange students are recommended to take a minimum of 15 credits per term; 30 credits for the full year. As an example, 60 ECTS credits is usually considered a full course load in most European institutions and is equivalent to 30.0 Queen’s units.

Course Weight: Course weights in Engineering and Applied Science varies. A weight of 1 credit unit is assigned to one 50-minute lecture per week and 0.5 units are assigned to 1 hour of laboratory assignments, tutorial, and significant project work per week.

Course Types: LECT – Lecture; LAB – Laboratory; TUT – Tutorial

Grading:

Letter Grade Grade Points Numerical Equivalent
A+ 4.3 90-100%
A 4.0 85-89%
A- 3.7 80-84%
B+ 3.3 77-79%
B 3.0 73-76%
B- 2.7 70-72%
C+ 2.3 67-69%
C 2.0 63-66%
C- 1.7 60-62%
D+ 1.3 57-59%
D 1.0 53-56%
D- 0.7 50-52%
FR 0.0 40-49%
F 0.0 0-39%

Course Choices: Most Engineering and Applied Science courses are open to exchange students who have the prerequisite courses. Please note that some courses may not be available due to limited spacing and/or because the course is core for degree-seeking students. Please see the “Course Selection” section for details.

Examinations: Requirements vary for each course. Accommodations are available for exchange students whose first language is not English. Students will need to request for this.

Course Selection

The Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science offers degree programs and courses in ten disciplines. The codes for these programs and for the courses in those disciplines are given in the “General Information” section.

Students should visit the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Calendar, which lists all courses offered in the last five years. Exchange students admitted into the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science are eligible to take up to two courses outside of the Faculty. When viewing courses in the academic course calendar it is important to understand the details in the listing: “MECH 452 Mechatronics Engineering F 5” means that MECH 452 is offered in the Fall term only, and is worth 5 credits. “W” means Winter term only, “FW” means Fall and Winter and “F/W” means Fall or Winter. If you don’t have the prerequisites to a course, you will need to obtain permission from the professor to be registered.

Many of our core courses are only open for general enrollment after our undergraduate students have completed their enrollment selections. Project courses are often problematic for exchange students and should only be considered if the student is extremely proficient at English for report writing and presentation.

Below you will find some very specific recommendations regarding some of our most popular courses.

  • APSC courses

    APSC 100 level courses
    First year courses are open, dependent on enrollment numbers. For the past several years, we have had full enrollment capacity in these courses, therefore they generally are not viable option for exchange students.

    APSC 200/221/293
    APSC 221 is open to exchange students who have a standard 1st year math course and English Proficiency.

    APSC 200 and APSC 293 - Enrollment for these courses is not open to exchange students due to their pre-requisite requirements.

  • CIVL courses

    Exchange students are not eligible to take either CIVL 200, CIVL 300, CIVL 400, or CIVL 460

  • CHEE/ENCH courses

    Most CHEE courses are open to exchange students, dependent upon their academic background. Queen’s enrollment may have priority, but if there is room in the class and students are eligible, they are welcome to attend.

    • CHEE 218 - Only available when course enrollment below max capacity, with instructor approval and student has required background.
    • CHEE 315 - Only available when course enrollment below max capacity, with instructor approval and student has required background.
    • CHEE 331 - Must be taken at the same time as CHEE 361, with instructor approval and student has required background.
    • CHEE 471 - Only available when course enrollment is below max capacity, with instructor approval and student has required background.

    Unavailable to Exchange Students:

    • CHEE 408 - Not available due to limited supervisor and project capacity.
    • CHEE 415 - Not available, only for students in Engineering Chemistry (ENCH) program.
    • CHEE 420 - Not available due to limited supervisor and project capacity.
    • CHEE 421 - Not available due to limited supervisor and project capacity.

    Other Important Factors to Note:

    • Students must ensure they use the up-to-date course listings from the new academic course calendar for the year of their exchange. Course offerings vary from year to year.
    • CHEE courses with prerequisites require the student to have the required background and instructor approval. The best way to do this is to email a current copy of your unofficial transcript to the Undergraduate Program Assistant, Liann Joanette, who will arrange to determine if the student has the necessary background for the CHEE course(s) they would like to take.
    • Full year courses require students to attend BOTH semesters.
  • ELEC and CMPE Courses

    Enrollment of exchange students in the following 2nd year ELEC courses will only be considered if space is available:

    ELEC 221, ELEC 271, ELEC 278, ELEC 252, ELEC 274, ELEC 280, ELEC 292

    Unavailable to Exchange Students:

    4th year CMPE courses;

    ELEC 425 Machine Learning

    ELEC 472 AI

    ELEC 475 Computer Vision with Deep Learning

    ELEC 477 Distributed systems

    ELEC 290 – 2nd year engineering design course

    ELEC 490/ ELEC 498 – final 4th year capstone design project course

    Subject to Department approval:

    ELEC 497 – The student registered in this course works on a research project under the supervision of ECE faculty member. The project is designed for completion in one session, with a project proposal describing the research submitted at the beginning, and a major report and presentation of the work at the end of the session.

    ELEC 421, 431, 433, 436, 443, 448, 475, 486, 483 – the department has limited lab components to accommodate a larger number of students in these courses. Enrollment into these courses will be considered only with the course instructor’s approval.

    All other ELEC courses are available to exchange students. Registration is dependent on the student meeting necessary prerequisites for the course and the number of available spots in the class.

  • ENPH courses

    The following courses are NOT available to exchange students: ENPH 455, ENPH 555.

    The capstone thesis project courses are not available to exchange students as we don't have enough supervisors to offer one-on-one supervision to students from other universities.

  • GEOE courses

    All courses are open to exchange students, dependent upon their academic background. Queen's enrollment may have priority, but if there is room in the class and students are eligible, they are welcome to attend.

  • MECH courses

    The following courses are final year capstone design courses and are NOT available due to limited supervisors and project capacity:

    MECH 460, MECH 462, MECH 464

    The following courses are NOT available due to limited lab component capacity:

     MECH 212, MECH 210, MECH 217, MECH 273, MECH 310, MECH 323  

    The following courses have limited capacity and may only be considered IF space allows. In some cases, permission of the course instructor is also required:

    MECH 230   

    MECH 350

    MECH 396 – Only available if students take MECH 370 at the same time as a co-requisite.

    MECH 397 – Only available if students take MECH 371 at the same time as a co-requisite.

    MECH 398

    MECH 399

    MECH 452 – Enrolment very limited. Students must receive permission of the course instructor.

    MECH 463 – This is solely a mark/completion holder for summer research students visiting the department sponsored by an MME faculty member in collaboration with their homeschool research supervisor.  Typically, not available to exchange students.

    MECH 465 – Students must receive permission of the course instructor.

  • MINE courses

    Most course are open to Exchange students, if they have the necessary pre-requisite knowledge. It is often best to speak directly to the instructor to obtain final approval.

    The courses with the MINE prefix that are not suitable for most exchange students are:

    MINE 445 – Not a suitable course as it is the final-year project course for all final year mine-mine students and most exchange students will not have the necessary design software experience to complete this course.

    MINE 471 – Not a suitable course as it is the final-year project course for all final year mine-mech students and most exchange students will not have the necessary mechanical engineering background to complete this course.

    MINE 448 – Not a suitable course as it is the final-year project course for all final year mine-mine students as few exchange students will have all the pre-requisites.

  • MREN courses

    There is no 4th year MREN courses available in AY2023-2024. If you are interested to take 1st- 3rd year MREN courses, please email to Lauren Hare, mre.undergrad@queensu.ca, to inquire course availability.

  • MTHE courses

    Most courses are open to Exchange students, if there is room in the course and they have the pre-requisites. It is often best to speak directly to the instructor to obtain final approval. Exchange students are not eligible to take MTHE 493 and MTHE 494.

Academic Advising

Please see our Academic Advisors page for information on who to consult for academic guidance.