Frequently Asked Questions

The ENGAGE certificate is an official university document. ENGAGE is designed to verify and validate a student’s leadership positions, organizational memberships, and other significant involvement in activities outside of the classroom, not documented on the academic transcript. This program is administered by the ENGAGE Coordinator and is considered an official document when signed by the Dean of Student Affairs. Enrolment in the ENGAGE program is completely voluntary and must be initiated by the student.

The ENGAGE certificate provides students a credible, official listing of their accomplishments outside the classroom.

The ENGAGE certificate complements an academic transcript and CV for applications to graduate school and prospective employers.

Having an ENGAGE certificate can help you to demonstrate your acquired skills, stand out to potential employers, get into Graduate school, receive grants and bursaries, etc.

See the page Types of Activities.

• Activities engage students in student life or provide a service to other students and possibly members of the community.
• Activities are associated with the Student Representative Council, a university department or service.
• Activities involve being an active member of a recognized club, group, committee or team.
• Activities must occur during a student’s academic term but may continue into regular breaks (i.e. summer months).
• The minimum requirements for validation are determined by the supervising group, club representative, advisor, faculty member or designated validator for the activity.

See the section What types of activities are not accepted? at the bottom of the page Types of Activities.

See the page How to get Involved? for complete instructions.

Space on the official certificate is limited to approximately 30 activities (with activities on both sides of the certificate). If students have more than 30 activities, the ENGAGE Coordinator will contact them in the month of May so they select the activities that will appear on their official document in their graduating year. You also have the option of printing your profile with all activities listed for your personal records. This could be useful when writing your CV.

Yes, you can add your off-campus activities as well (volunteer work only). Volunteer activities must take place in the local community (Lennoxville and Sherbrooke area only), and be validated by the contact person at the off-campus organization.
The minimum requirement for off-campus volunteer work is 15 hours of active involvement per academic year.

For approval of volunteer work off-campus, you must provide the program coordinator with the following information: name of organization, information about your immediate supervisor (name, job title, email, phone number), type of volunteer work, description of tasks and responsibilities, and number of hours worked as volunteer per semester. Your immediate supervisor must be able to validate that information in writing.

Many volunteer positions off-campus are already listed in the program. If your off-campus volunteer activity is not listed in the database, please contact the ENGAGE Coordinator to discuss its addition to the program.

First of all, you need to add the activity to your profile, and choose the SRC Clubs Manager as the Validator. See the page How to get Involved? for complete instructions.

Approvals are up to the assigned validator, in this case the SRC Clubs Manager.

The SRC Clubs Manager receives a list from the Club Representative at the end of each semester with the list of active members of each club. Then, the SRC Clubs Manager is in charge of approving (or rejecting if applicable) all the student entries based on that list, using the ENGAGE program.

The ENGAGE program does not give “credits”. The ENGAGE program provides a listing of your extra-curricular activities and does not include any type of mark or number of credits. It includes the following information: term, activity, position/role, and description of the activity.

You should submit an entry for each leadership position. However, for leadership and membership roles within the same club (during the same academic year) you should add the leadership position rather than the membership position, and not both. Example: You are the Club Representative for the Biology Club. It is understood that you are also a member, so you should not add ‘Member’ on top of ‘Club Representative’.

Validators for on-campus activities: faculty, staff, SRC Executive members and the SRC Clubs Manager are validators for on-campus activities.

Validator for off-campus activities: the ENGAGE Coordinator is the validator for all activities that involve volunteer work off-campus. In this case, the ENGAGE Coordinator will contact the resource person at the organization to confirm the involvement of the student as volunteer.

The verification and validation of different activities varies according to the type of organization or activity. To verify who the proper validator of any given activity is, you must login to the program and verify the list of activities, where you will see the name of the validator for each activity. The following are some examples:

• Membership of Clubs: the SRC Clubs Manager is the validator for all SRC clubs and most other clubs (BU-affiliated clubs)
• Leadership activities: group advisors, S.R.C. President
• Student work experience: your employer
• Professional/Educational development experiences: supervisor or advisor
• Participation in extra-curricular activities and university committees: the committee chairperson, club advisor, team coach
• Honors, Awards, Recognition: copy of the certificate or letter

Activities are pending until the validator approves the student entry. Once approved, the activity will appear on your profile. Normally, validators have until the end of December to approve the activities entered during the fall semester and until the end of April to approve the activities entered during the winter semester.

First of all, I recommend that you speak to your Club Representative to look for clarification and make sure your name was on the list submitted to the SRC Clubs Manager. After that has been confirmed, please contact the ENGAGE Coordinator by email to request a review or your entry. Your activity request will be re-opened and re-assigned to the SRC Clubs Manager for validation. The SRC Clubs Manager is the official validator for all members/roles within all clubs.

See the page Request to have a new activity recognized for complete instructions.

Only you and the ENGAGE Coordinator have access to view your profile.

Yes. Simply submit your request to the ENGAGE Coordinator. Please note that only those activities approved at the time of the request will appear on your certificate. All “pending” activities get validated at the end of each semester.

The ENGAGE certificate will be mailed to all graduating students a few days after the Convocation ceremony in June. The document will be mailed to the student’s home address (the address in the student file).

Yes, we keep records for a maximum of 5 years after graduation. Please contact the ENGAGE Coordinator to request a copy of your certificate. Provide your mailing address.

Yes. All students are eligible to obtain a certificate. If you are an exchange student for one semester or one year, please contact the ENGAGE Coordinator as soon as possible to inform of your departure date, so your document can be handed in to you before you leave Bishop’s. The ENGAGE Coordinator should be informed at least 2 weeks in advance before your departure to allow enough time for validation, review, printing, and signature of the official document.

Throughout the academic year, the ENGAGE Coordinator provides information about the program and the deadlines via different communication channels such as: BU email, The Dish, Facebook, Instagram, and posters on campus.

The ENGAGE Coordinator is also present at the Student Services Marketplace during Orientation Week, Club Day and at least twice per semester in the SUB Lobby to inform about this program.

All information about the program can be found on the ENGAGE website as well.

Unfortunately, ENGAGE activities are NOT retroactive. Activities are only accepted for the CURRENT academic year. Requests for previous academic years will not be processed.

Please make sure to add the current activities to your profile before the deadline, which is promptly announced by the ENGAGE Coordinator via different communication channels.