Course Restrictions

Full details about course restrictions and prerequisites are also available in the Exchange Course Selection Guides.

Courses that Exchange Students Cannot Take

Exchange students cannot register for courses in the following faculties / campuses:

  • Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (VETM)
  • Masters of Business Administration
  • Masters of Hospitality and Tourism
  • Masters of Leadership
  • Master of Cybersecurity and Threat Intelligence
  • COOP – Co-op Education (internships that are part of UofG degree programs)
  • DTM – Turf Management Diploma
  • Diploma Courses at the Ridgetown campus of University of Guelph – course codes beginning with DAFL,DAGR, DENM, DEQN, DFN, DHTM. 
  • It is also not possible for exchange students to take courses at the University of Guelph - Humber. This a separate institution from the University of Guelph. Guelph-Humber course codes start with AHSS, BADM, ECS, FCSS, JUST, KIN, MDST, SCMA.
  • In general, exchange students cannot take (SART) Studio Art courses unless it is related to their main area of study at their home university.
  • Exchange students cannot take the following Human Anatomy courses at University of Guelph: HK*3401 Human Anatomy: Dissection, HK*3501 Human Anatomy: Prosection, HK*3502 Human Anatomy, HK*4441 Advanced Study in Human Anatomy, HK*4442 Advanced Study in Human Anatomy

Course Prerequisites

Prerequisite courses are courses that students at the University of Guelph must have completed before being able to register for a higher level course. In short, a prerequisite is the required background knowledge needed in order to understand the course material and do well in the course.  Most upper-year, but not all, UofGuelph courses have prerequisites. 

For most courses, exchange students are not required to prove that they meet each of the course prerequisites for their desired courses (with some exceptions - see below). However, it is up to you to make sure that you have completed similar prerequisite course(s) at your home institution or have the equivalent background knowledge.  The prerequisites for a course are listed in the course description in the Academic Calendar.  You can click on the prerequisite course(s) to see a short description of what topics were covered, and you should make sure that you have previously covered similar material in your courses at your home university. The Centre for International Programs and the University of Guelph are not responsible for academic problems that exchange students may encounter because they did not have the appropriate prerequisites for a course.

Courses that Require Approval

Some courses require the approval of a U of Guelph Program Counsellor and/or the course instructor before the Centre for International Programs can register exchange students for the courses.  If you submit the course selection forms to us before your arrival, the Centre for International Programs will contact the Program Counsellor and/or instructor and give them a copy of the academic transcript from your home university so that they can assess whether you have completed the prerequisites.

Exchange students will require the Program Counsellor and/or course instructor's approval for registration in most of courses in the following faculties:

CIS - (Computer Science)
ENGG (Engineering)

HROB (Human Resources and Organizational Behaviour)
HTM (Hotel and Tourism Management)
IDEV (International Development)
MCS (Marketing and Consumer Studies)
MGMT (Management)
MUS (Music)
SART (Studio Arts)

Some courses in the Biological Sciences have restrictions, please see the complete list.

Some courses in other faculties may also require the approval of the Program Counsellor and/or course instructor.  This is usually the case if, next to Restrictions in the course description, it says “Instructor consent required,” "This is a Priority Access Course" or “Restricted to students registered in the ----- major”.

You may still be able to register for courses that require approval, but we will have to seek approval for you from the department or the course instructor.  However, some of these courses give preference to University of Guelph students who require the course in order to graduate, so your ability to register will depend on whether any spots are available.