Overview
The Enable Educational Program Categories setting controls whether institutions can attach an extra, fully customizable classification – called an _Educational Program Category_ (also labeled ‘Academic Registry Category’, and commonly known as a Specialization, Study Type, or Study Mode) – to a Student’s Educational Program.
An Educational Program, in Classter, is the specific combination of _Grade_ (Year, Level, Program) and _Stream_ (Pathway, Semester) that a Student is enrolled in for a given academic period. Normally, Grade and Stream are enough to describe where a Student belongs. This setting adds one more optional layer on top of that: an Educational Program Category, which the institution defines, names, and orders itself.
By default, this setting is switched off, meaning Educational Program Categories are not used anywhere in the system until an administrator explicitly turns this setting on.
What This Setting Does
This is a simple on/off (Yes/No) switch. When it is turned on:
- A new ‘Educational Program Category’ field becomes available wherever a Student’s Educational Program is displayed or edited, alongside the existing Grade and Stream fields.
- A dedicated management screen for Educational Program Categories becomes available, next to the Grade and Stream management screens, under the Educational Programs area of the system. On this screen, staff can create, name, order, and date as many categories as needed.
- Each Educational Program Category can optionally be restricted to specific Grade and Stream combinations, so that only the categories that make sense for a given Grade/Stream are offered when enrolling a Student.
- Each category can optionally be given a start date, an end date, a duration (in weeks), and a maximum number of places.
- Staff gain the ability to filter Subjects (Courses/Modules) and Student lists based on the Educational Program Category chosen for a Student.
When this setting is turned off, none of the above is available: the Educational Program Category field, the management screen, and all related filtering options are hidden, and Students are organized only by Grade and Stream.
The Educational Program Category has been added as a new column.(Figure 1)
Educational Program Category won’t show up even if enabled in Column Options.(Figure 2)
Where It Is Used
Once enabled, the Educational Program Category option appears and is used in the following places:
- Student profile – on the Educational Program (school registration) section of a Student’s profile, where staff can view and assign the Student’s Educational Program Category.
- Grade management – on the Grade setup screens, where an Educational Program Category can be linked to a specific Grade and Stream combination.
- Group (Class) management – in the advanced search filters for Groups, and in the automated registration of Students to Groups, so Groups can be filtered or auto-populated based on Educational Program Category.
- Period-to-period transfer – in the wizard used to move Students from one academic period to the next, where the Educational Program Category is shown, checked, and optionally carried forward or promoted alongside Grade and Stream.
- Financial settings – in pricing, discounts, and mass billing/mass arrangement screens, where charges can be defined or adjusted per Educational Program Category.
- Annual results, report cards, and the per-Student gradebook – where results can be grouped or filtered by Educational Program Category.
- Admission and online application forms – where the Educational Program Category can be offered as a choice to applicants, and used to control acceptance/rejection rules.
- Re-registration screens – where returning Students keep or change their Educational Program Category for the new period.
- Teacher screens – such as the allocated teaching hours grid, where hours can be organized by Educational Program Category.
- Bulk ‘Add Educational Program’ tool – used by staff to register many Students into an Educational Program at once, including its Category.
- Student/Parent Portal – if separately configured, Students or Parents can self-select their Educational Program Category directly from the portal during a defined registration window.
Business Logic / Behavior
The following rules can be confirmed from how this setting and its related Educational Program Categories behave:
- If this setting is off, Educational Program Categories are completely unavailable; Students are organized and matched only by Grade and Stream everywhere in the system.
- Each Educational Program Category can be limited to one or more specific Grade and Stream combinations, so staff are only offered the categories that are relevant to the Educational Program they are working with.
- Categories can be placed in a specific order and linked across academic periods. This allows a Student’s category to be automatically carried forward, or promoted to the next category in the sequence, when the Student is transferred to a new academic period – in the same way Grade and Stream can also be promoted.
- During period-to-period transfer, when this setting is on, the system checks the Educational Program Category in addition to Grade and Stream before allowing the transfer. This means two Students (or the same Student twice) can be registered in the same Grade and Stream at the same time, as long as they are placed in different Educational Program Categories – something that is not possible when this setting is off.
- If a category has a Duration (in weeks) configured, and the related automatic end-date calculation setting is also enabled, the system uses that duration to automatically work out when a Student’s Educational Program is expected to end.
- On admission and online application forms, the categories offered to applicants can be restricted, and accepting an applicant into a specific category can automatically reject that applicant’s other pending applications, if configured to do so.
- Pricing, discounts, and billing can be set up to differ from one Educational Program Category to another, allowing institutions to charge different fees for different specializations, tracks, or study types, even within the same Grade and Stream.
Example(s)
Example 1 – Study mode categories within the same Grade
Bright Path Institute runs an English Language program under Grade ‘Intermediate English’ and Stream ‘General Track’. The institute enables Educational Program Categories and creates two categories for this Grade and Stream: ‘Morning Group’ and ‘Evening Group’. When registering a new Student, Maria P., staff assign her to the ‘Evening Group’ category in addition to her Grade and Stream. Later, the institute uses this category to automatically place Evening Group Students into the correct Groups (classes) and to apply a slightly different fee for evening sessions in the Financial settings, without needing to create a separate Grade or Stream just for scheduling and pricing purposes.
Example 2 – Specializations in Higher Education Mode
Lakeside Business College operates in Higher Education Mode. Under the Grade ‘Bachelor of Business Administration and Stream ‘Year 2’, the college enables Educational Program Categories to represent two specializations: ‘Marketing Track’ and ‘Finance Track’, each configured with its own duration. A Student, George S., is registered in the ‘Finance Track’ category. Based on this category, the college automatically filters the Subjects available to George to those relevant to Finance, applies an additional lab fee that only appears for the Finance Track in Financial settings, and, when George is transferred to Year 3 at the end of the academic period, the system automatically keeps him in the Finance Track category for the new period.
When to Use
When to Enable
- The institution needs an extra classification on top of Grade and Stream to group, filter, price, or report on Students – for example, specializations, tracks, study types, study modes, or intake cohorts.
- The institution wants Students’ Educational Program end dates to be calculated automatically, based on a duration that differs by category.
- The institution wants different pricing, discounts, or billing rules for different specializations or tracks within the same Grade and Stream.
- The institution wants applicants to choose a specialization or category on the online admission form, or wants acceptance into one category to automatically reject an applicant’s other pending applications.
- The institution wants Students or Parents to be able to self-select their Educational Program Category directly from the portal during a defined period.
- Higher Education institutions that organize Students into specializations, tracks, or study types alongside their Grade and Stream will typically find this setting highly recommended.
When to Disable
- Grade and Stream alone are enough to describe and organize all Students’ Educational Programs, with no need for a further layer of classification.
- The institution does not need to price, filter, or report on Students by any classification other than Grade and Stream.
- The institution prefers to keep the enrollment and registration forms as simple as possible, without an additional field for staff (or Students/Parents) to fill in.
Notes
K-12 Mode versus Higher Education Mode
This setting works the same way whether the institution is running in K-12 Mode or in Higher Education Mode (controlled separately by the Higher Education customization setting). Turning it on makes Educational Program Categories available in exactly the same places and with the same behavior in both modes.
In practice, usage tends to differ by mode rather than functionality: Higher Education institutions most commonly use Educational Program Categories to represent specializations, tracks, or study types (for example, distinguishing degree-seeking Students from exchange Students, or one specialization from another) that also affect Subject/course eligibility. K-12 institutions more commonly use it for lighter groupings within the same Grade and Stream, such as study mode, session time, or an intake cohort. The two settings do not switch each other on or off; they can be used independently or together.
Prerequisites
- The institution’s Grade and Stream structure should already be set up, since every Educational Program Category is defined against one or more specific Grade and Stream combinations.
- After turning this setting on, at least one Educational Program Category must be created on the Educational Program Categories management screen before it can be assigned to any Student.
- To have Educational Program end dates calculated automatically from a category’s duration, the related automatic end-date calculation setting (see Related Settings) must also be configured.
- To let Students or Parents self-select their category from the portal, the related Student/Parent self-selection settings (see Related Settings) must also be configured, including the availability window.
Related Settings
- Increase Grade or Stream during transfer /Kata_Thn_Metafora_na_auxanei_h_Taxh_Kateuthinsi (Configuration > Main Settings > General Settings > Period-to-Period Transfers tab > Transfers Basic Settings section) – chooses whether Grade, Stream, or Educational Program Category is the field that advances a Student forward during a period-to-period transfer.
- Auto-calculate Educational Program end date based on Category duration /Auto_Calculate_Ed_Program_End_Date_Based_On_Math_Category_Duration (Configuration > Main Settings > General Settings > Student Form & Registration tab > Educational Program Parameters section) – works together with this setting to automatically calculate a Student’s Educational Program end date from their category’s configured duration.
- Set specific day for automatic end-date calculation /Set_Specific_day_For_Auto_Calculation_Of_Ed_Program_End_Date (Configuration > Main Settings > General Settings > Student Form & Registration tab > Educational Program Parameters section) – fine-tunes the automatic end-date calculation described above.
- Enable Educational Program Categories on admission form /Admission_EducationProgramCategoriesEnabled (Admission > Admission Settings > Application Submission tab) – controls whether applicants can choose an Educational Program Category on the online admission form.
- Auto-reject other applications based on Educational Program Category /Admission_Status_On_Acceptance_BasedOnEducationProgramSpecialization (Admission > Admission Settings > Application Acceptance & Rejection tab) – automatically rejects an applicant’s other pending applications once they are accepted into a specific Educational Program Category.
- Students Selection of Educational Program Category Settings (Configuration > Main Settings > General Settings > Student & Parents Portal tab > Students Selection of Educational Program Category Settings section) – a group of settings that lets Students or Parents self-select their Educational Program Category from the portal, including the available date window and optional PIN validation.
