This is your community

New group proposals are currently on hold as Student Group Services works on system changes. Updates will be communicated via the SGS newsletter in the spring.

Physical Activity Clubs:
Students wishing to start a club that teaches or instructs members in physical activities, such as dance, taekwondo, or other sports and activities will no longer be reviewed by Student Group Services due to the high-risk nature (as of January 2016).

If you are interested in starting a physical activity club, please contact Campus and Community Recreation, through the Club Sports & Outdoor Programs Coordinator, to get started as part of their programming!

Deadlines

Your group’s training and registration are due by the end of the month following your election month, as written in your constitution. For example, if your constitution says your elections are held in April, your submission will be due by the end of May. Your group will receive an email the month before your election month and at the beginning of your election month to notify you of this deadline. Groups that meet this deadline will remain active until Student Group Services has reviewed your submission.

If your registration is not submitted by the initial registration or resubmission deadline, your group will be frozen. This suspends your student group’s benefits, including event approvals. If your registration is not submitted after 6 months from your initial registration or resubmission deadline, your group will be deactivated. Subsequent requests for resubmission will not reset the freezing or deactivation timeline.

To re-activate the student group's recognition status, you will have to first email Student Group Services.

What's GLO?

GLO is Group Leader Orientation: informational training sessions to help your club get started on the right foot, and continue to build skills throughout the year, too!

As of April 2025, all student groups must complete Group Leader Orientation training BEFORE submitting their student group registration. Group Leader Orientation courses must be completed by the following executives:

• GLO Essentials - Completed by the group’s President or equivalent role responsible for overseeing the group.
• GLO Finances - Completed by the groups treasurer, VP Finance, or equivalent role responsible for handling money. As all groups must have at least two signing authorities, we will not accept GLO Finances completion from the President only. We highly recommend that all signing authorities complete GLO Finances. If your group does not handle money, you are exempt from completing this module.
• GLO Skills - One module must be completed by any of the executive team. We recommend that each executive completes a GLO Skills module that is relevant to their portfolio.

Please confirm the date that relevant executives completed GLO BEFORE beginning registration.

Self-enroll in Group Leader Orientation

Please also confirm that at least two executives completed Event Organizer Training (EOT) BEFORE beginning registration. Completion is valid for two calendar years from the date it was completed.

Find more information about Event Organizer Training and how to enrol

The Online Application

For existing groups (Renewing Recognition or "Re-registering") There are 2 methods to accessing the application, but both require you to Log on to BearsDen first.
If you are listed on the Executive roster:

• Click on the top left corner to access the main navigation
• Click the group's name under "My Organizations"
• Click on the group and go to "Manage organization" on the top right
• On the group's page, a blue button to Register This Organization should be available. Click on this to access the student group registration form
• Submit your completed application.

If you are not listed on the Executive roster: Please ask the previous primary contact to add you to the roster and give you primary contact status

• Log-in to Bearsden
• Click on the top left corner to access the main navigation
• Click the group's name under "My Organizations"
• Click on the group and go to "Manage organization" on the top right
• Click "roster" and check that the next president is on the membership roster. If not, add them.
• Change the primary contact to the next president so they can access the group's page.

The following documents must be completed based on templates provided by SGS. All templates and resources can be found in our resource drive.

Officer roster - a roster of your group’s executives and directors must be submitted using our template.

Membership roster - a roster of your group’s members must be submitted using our template. Fraternities and sororities will need to use a different template, also provided by SGS.

• U of A Liability Agreement - all groups must complete this document for registration
• UASU Liability Agreement - for groups who are eligible for UASU recognition
• GSA Liability Agreement - for groups who are eligible for GSA recognition
• External Affiliate Letter - for groups who are affiliated with an external organization

The following documents must be obtained from other units or service providers. Not all groups will have these items.

• Certificate of Insurance - for groups who have insurance; this would be provided to you by your insurance provider.
• License Agreement - for groups that have an agreement to use University of Alberta trademarks outside of generally permitted ways; this would be provided to you by the Office of External Relations.

Additionally, your group must upload its constitution to ensure it is in compliance with recognition requirements and available to your group members.

Student Group Services will review your online application within 3 weeks. Applications are always reviewed in the order in which they are received. Once we have reviewed the application, we will notify you with one of the following messages, via BearsDen:

• Application Approved: This means your student group is officially recognized by the University of Alberta (and any other recognition level you applied for).
• Application Denied: This means some parts of the application need to be changed. We will always leave explanations on how to fix any errors. Once you’ve made the required changes, you can re-submit the edited application and we will review once more.

If your group’s registration is incomplete or requires changes, your submission will be denied and you will be given 1 month from the date of denial to resubmit it, as indicated in a BearsDen message. For example, if your group’s registration is denied on June 5th, your resubmission will be due by July 5th to remain active. Groups that are still active will remain active until this deadline passes. Groups that are already frozen due to missing the registration deadline will not be unfrozen. Please note that staff may provide a different timeline for new groups who are registering for the first time.