SFU Records Retention Schedule and Disposal Authority (RRSDA)
Entrance Award Application Files

Description | PIB | Authorities | Retentional rational | Rentention and filing guidelines | Status

RRSDA number

2001-011

Record series

Entrance Award Application Files

Office of Primary Responsibility (OPR)

Student Services

Retention periods

Records Active retention (in office) Semi-active (records centre) Total retention Final disposition
Non-shortlisted candidates' files CY application adjudicated + 1 year Nil CY application adjudicated + 1 year Destruction
Shortlisted candidates files CY application adjudicated + 5 years 10 years CY application adjudicated + 15 years Full Retention by Archives

CY = Current calendar year; CFY = Current fiscal year; CS = Current semester; S/O = Superseded or obsolete; OPR = Office of Primary Responsibility; Non-OPR = All other departments.

Description, purpose and use of records

Records relating to applications for university entrance bursaries, awards, and scholarships.

Records consist of candidates' application packages. Each package contains an application form containing biographical information, grades, and rankings by nominators, referees and adjudicators; letters of reference and referees' report forms; authorization for the release of information, and an autobiographical essay / statement of interest / academic intent by the applicant. The file may also include updated student information including transcripts, memoranda and email, appeal forms, and supporting documentation.

Applications are required for major university entrance scholarships and a limited number of other types of entrance bursaries and awards, including H.Y. Louie and Lohn Entrance Award, Fairfax Entrance Bursary, Eyre Entrance Bursary, and Youth in Care Tuition Assistance Program. There are also a number of awards that all incoming students are automatically considered for based on academic performance. This RRSDA applies only to awards requiring an application.

See also:

Personal Information Bank (PIB)

This series is a Personal Information Bank; click here for PIB description.

Authorities

These records are created, used, retained and managed in accordance with the following authorities:

Retention rationale

The FOI / POP Act (RSBC 1996, c. 165, s. 31) requires that personal information used to make a decision that directly affects an individual must be retained for at least one year. Beyond that time period, records have no further administrative value. Files of shortlisted candidates have archival value as a sample of the series as a whole, for documenting the university's application of award criteria and for documenting students' views and perceptions in free narrative formats. Total retention period of "CY + 15" provides for a passage of time sufficient to allow the sensitivity of the personal information contained in the records to diminish.

Retention and filing guidelines

Financial Aid and Awards maintains separate files for non-shortlisted and shortlisted candidates.

Files of non-shortlisted candidates will be retained in Financial Aid and Awards for the remainder of the calendar year in which applications were adjudicated, plus one additional year, then destroyed. Records contain sensitive personal information and must be destroyed. Paper records must be destroyed by confidential shredding; contact Facilities Management to make arrangements.

Files of shortlisted candidates are organized by year and maintained in Financial Aid and Awards during their active period and are then transferred for semi-active storage. At the end of the total retention period, the records will pass to the control of Archives and will be processed into the university's permanent archival holdings.

ELECTRONIC RECORDS

Records creators should note that this RRSDA applies equally to paper and electronic records and that they are responsible for deleting any records maintained in electronic form at the expiration of the total retention period (e.g. PDF versions, spreadsheets, database records, e-mail correspondence, etc.). Maintaining electronic copies of records with personal information after the recommended retention period places an undue burden on the University to continue to protect against unauthorized acces, use and disclosure of that personal information in accordance with the FOI/ POP Act and the records series' status as a PIB.

TRANSFERRING PAPER RECORDS TO THE URC

At the end of the active retention period, box and transfer the paper files to the University Records Centre (URC). For each box prepare a box contents listing, itemizing all files contained in the box. Always include ONE copy of the file list inside the box sent to the URC taped to the underside of the lid; keep ONE copy for your own records; and send ONE copy (paper or electronic) to the Archives (see Procedures for Transferring Records to the University Records Centre).

TRANSFERRING ELECTRONIC RECORDS TO THE ARCHIVES DIGITAL REPOSITORY

Electronic records of shortlisted applications can be transferred to the archives' digital repository. Please see "Electronic records transfer procedures" on Archives' website for details (TBD) in 2015/2016.

Status

RRSDA is in force.

Approved by the University Archivist: 3 May 2001

Last revised: 18 February. 2015

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