The arrangement of the material into sub- and sub-sub-series is based on the original file classification system used by the VP Academic's Office to organize the records. Separate sub-series exist for each faculty, and within these there are individual sub-sub-series for each department in the faculty. Sub- and sub-sub-series are generally arranged chronologically. File lists are arranged chronologically.

Note that in 1998 the VP Academic's Office discontinued its practice of organizing faculty correspondence into separate series for each department; instead, from 1998 on it filed this material together under a general "Departments, schools, programs" category under the faculty.

Note also that some departments have transferred faculties over time (e.g. with the dissolution of the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies in 1985, its departments were redistributed to the other faculties). As departments changed faculties, the VP Academic's correspondence with them was shifted accordingly in the file classification plan. As a result, records relating to individual departments may be dispersed through time over several different archival series. See Appendix A, Access Points Index, to cross-reference archival series by department name.