UPEI Community Bulletin: Collective agreement ratified, classes to resume on April 17

The University of Prince Edward Island Board of Governors ratified the new collective agreement with the UPEI Faculty Association (UPEI FA), Bargaining Unit 1 and Bargaining Unit 2, at a special meeting on Friday, April 14, 2023. The agreement was ratified earlier in the day by the members of UPEI FA’s two bargaining units, which represent faculty members, sessional instructors, librarians, clinical nursing instructors, and clinical veterinary professionals at UPEI. 

The collective agreement is effective July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2026, and will be posted in the coming weeks on UPEI’s website. 

The University’s immediate focus is ensuring students are supported and can successfully complete the 2023 Winter Academic Semester. An emergency meeting of the University Senate took place late Friday afternoon to finalize the return-to-class plan, which included a number of required changes to academic regulations.  

Important aspects of the return-to-class plan include the following. 

• Classes will resume on Monday, April 17, 2023.
• There will be no formal final examination period, which allows instructional and assessment time to be extended while not changing the semester end date. 
• The last day of instruction for 2023 Winter Semester will be April 28, 2023, with the exception of the Atlantic Veterinary College. 
• The last day of instruction for the Atlantic Veterinary College will be May 5, 2023.
  • Any instruction or assessment after April 28, 2023, will be virtual. 
  • Any instruction or assessments after April 15, 2023, for the classes of 2023 and 2024 will be virtual.  
• The remaining assessment and teaching processes in the 2023 Winter Semester will be conducted at the discretion of the individual instructor. 
• Assessments may occur during class time, through take-home, or online, until the end of the scheduled teaching period, April 28, 2023. 
• Instructors agree to make every reasonable effort to accommodate the needs of individual students as related to issues that have arisen from the labour action for the remainder of the academic year.
• The deadline to discontinue without academic penalty has been extended to April 18, 2023. 
• Students will have the option, once their final numerical grade has been determined, to appeal to the Registrar's Office to have the grade shifted to a pass/fail. More information will be communicated directly to students about this process.
• Dates of Convocation 2023 will not change. 

More detailed information will be communicated to faculty members by their Deans. Students should also contact their instructors or their Dean if they have questions regarding their individual circumstances.   

Further updates will continue to be posted on the UPEI Labour Relations website at upei.ca/labour.