Policies and procedures are mandatory institutional directives that establish the required standards and behaviors for the university.

  • Policies provide direction and guidance to members of the University community on issues relevant to the university's mission, values, governance, and operations. 
  • Procedures describe the processes necessary to operationalize, and enable compliance with, a university policy.

University of Alberta Policies and Procedures Online (UAPPOL) is the official institutional repository for university policies and procedures. UAPPOL is maintained by the Policy Standards Office.

All policy development (creation, revision, rescinding of policy) is governed by the processes and standards managed by the Policy Standards Office.

Standard Creation or Revision: this is the development, consultation, and approval process for creating most new policies and procedures, as well as for revisions to, and deletions of existing policies and procedures.

Editorial Amendments ("Friendly Edits"): are non-substantive revisions to policy or procedure that do not change the intent or requirements of the policy or procedure. These amendments are led by the Policy Office and/or Office of Administrative Responsibility and include: changes to office names and contact information; document information changes (e.g. document title, renamed links or references); rearranging or rewording content to improve clarity. Campus-wide communications are not sent out for these types of updates.

Legislative / Regulatory Changes: are revisions to policy or procedure resulting from changes to federal, provincial, or municipal legislation or regulations and do not require full governance review or approval given the explicit requirement for the University Community to comply.