Education System

Application General Conditions

In general, the Credit Hour system applies to all programs, except for Medicine Programs, which depends on the integrated program. In the Programs Preparation Terms of Reference, there will be a link between the three systems (Semester-Based, Credit Hour, European Credit Transfer Systems), and the program design will be based on the Student Workload (SWL).

Study Regulations based on Credit Hour System

Article (1): Programs’ System

• The official teaching Language is English, and each program will ascertain the student's English Language proficiency. Textbooks, assignments, and examinations are all in English
• The Programs follow the Credit-Hour (CH) system, which is used in the United States of America, Canada and several other countries. This is a measure of the contact hours between the instructor and the student per semester. One Credit Hour is equivalent to the course contact hours as follows:
• One-hour weekly lecture for a semester of 15 weeks.
• Two hours weekly tutorial for a semester of 15 weeks.
• Three Hours Weekly Laboratory work for a semester of 15 weeks.
• One Contact Hour is divided into 50 minutes actual teaching and 10 minutes’ break.

• For each course and Program in this curriculum, the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is given as a numerical descriptive value of qualification expressed in terms of Student Workload (SWL). It is defined as “the number of working hours typically required to complete the learning activities of course units in order to achieve their expected learning outcomes”. This system was adopted through the Bologna declaration in 1999 at the University of Bologna in Italy to facilitate the mobility of students through Europe.
• The total SWL comprises two components:
• The structured SWL which is the scheduled teacher-contact hours’ interventions.
  The unstructured SWL (USWL) which is the time spent by students in their own self-study, completing course assignments, and preparing for all types of exams, e.g. assessment workload.
• It has been considered as an essential description of the educational qualification recommended in the European Higher Education Area as a key element of the Bologna and Europeans Framework Qualifications in terms of total SWL.
• One ECTS credit corresponds to 25 hours of total student working, and each 15-weeks academic semester should meet 30 ECTS. As an agreed requirement, 750 hours of total SWL are necessary in a full academic semester, or about 50 hours of total SWL/per week.
• Expected values for each semester

• 16-19 CH
  25-28 Contact hours per week for 15 weeks
• 750 hours of total student work load
  30 ECTS

• The distribution of marks is left to course designer to decide. It depends on the nature of the course. Some courses are theoretical, and therefore give more marks to the exams, and some courses are more practical and therefore give more marks to the projects, assignments and labs.

Article (2): Study Levels

• Whenever the student completes 20%-25% of the Program
  requirements, he will be transferred from one level to the next.
  Some Programs require 5 Levels instead of 4 based on the
  nature of Study, and its total duration.

Article (3): Academic Semesters & Course Registration

The academic year comprises two main semesters, and one summer semester:

• First main semester (Fall): Begins on Saturday of the third week of September and lasts for 15 weeks of teaching followed by 3 weeks of examinations. Course registration takes place within 3 weeks before the starting day of the semester.
• Second main semester (Spring): Begins in February and lasts for 15 weeks followed by 3 weeks of examination. Course registration takes place within 1 week before the starting day of the semester.
• Summer semester: Begins late June or early July and lasts for 7 weeks followed by 1 week of examination. Course registration takes place within 1 week before the starting day of the semester.
• Registration is not final until the acceptance of the Academic Advisor and the approval of the Program Coordinator.
• New students' enrolment in the programs takes place all year long, after fulfilling all the programs requirements and paying the enrolment fees, per the student status.
• Registration in the Summer semester is optional.

Article (4): Program Study Duration (Depends on each Program)

• The minimum allowed study duration depends on the Program Study Duration and the fulfillment of all graduation requirements
• The maximum allowed study duration is double the number of study semesters, which does not include frozen semesters for reasons accepted by the University, after which the student is dismissed from the University.

Article (5): Terms of Course Registration

• The student may register courses in the main semesters around 16 Credit Hours in each semester.
• The student may register courses with a maximum total Credit Hours according to the following rules (after approval of the Academic Advisor):

• Up to 21 Credit Hours or 7 courses, whichever is greater for a student with a GPA larger than or equal to 3.0
  Up to 18 Credit Hours or 6 courses, whichever is greater for a student with a GPA larger than or equal to 2.0, but less than 3.0

• The student who has a semester average less than 2.0, should have reduced number of credit hours in the following semester (and be warned) and may not exceed 14 credit hours.
• Students can register courses in the summer semester up to 6 credit hours or two courses, whichever is greater, after having been approved by the academic advisor.
• The student may register one additional course to the above limits if this will lead to his graduation after the approval of the academic advisor, if this course is offered in his program.
• Late registration is not final unless there is a vacancy in the course, in accordance with the recommendations of the Education and Students Affairs Committee and approval of the University Council regarding this issue.
• It is allowed that Non-Degree students can register courses provided that they pay the applicable regular tuition fees related to these courses. The student will be given a transcript of the courses he has joined, showing his grades as per these regulations.
• Degree and Non-Degree students can register courses as audit in some courses provided that there is a vacancy in these courses, and after paying the applicable academic service fee. Audit students are not eligible to enter the course final exam.

Article (6): Degree Awarding Requirements

• To obtain the Degree in a certain Program, the student must successfully complete the required Credit Hours in one of the programs according to the Program requirements, with a GPA at graduation of at least 2.0.
• The student must pass all zero-credit courses in his Program.
• A graduation project is an essential part of some programs for graduation. The graduation project may be completed over two successive semesters, as per the program requirement, and the student will not graduate unless he fulfills the project pass requirements. The student must earn at least a certain number of Credit Hours to register for the graduation project. If the project is divided along two semesters, the student must register them in their order.
• The student must perform Field Training during his study duration for a certain period as per the Program requirements
• The student can study a number of courses in another University which has a cooperation agreement with the University regarding the transfer of Credits. This requires prior approval from the University. The Credit Hours of these courses are included in the student's graduation requirements, provided that the total Credit Hours of these courses do not exceed half the number of Credit Hours required in his Program.

Article (7): Field Training (if applicable)

• The student must perform Field Training according to the Program requirement in an industrial or service facility related to the student's program and must be under the full supervision of the concerned Program. It is also possible to perform the training inside the University in a similar environment. The training is performed according to the following rules:

• The training follow-up will be handled by the academic advisor assigned by the Program Steering Committee.
• Identifying a company official contact person.
  The student must submit a technical report to his academic advisor at the end of the training period.
• The company should submit a student's training evaluation form to the academic advisor at the end of the training period.
• The training is divided into periods of 4 weeks at the end of the first, second, and third levels. (Can be in the fourth level as well – open during the semester)
• The field training is evaluated on pass / fail basis and does not count in the cumulative GPA calculation.
• The student should pay the supervision fees for the field training at a rate of 2 Credit Hours, if applicable, each academic year during which he is performing Field Training.

Article (8): Adding and Dropping a course

• The student may add courses in the first week of the main semesters, or the first three days of the summer semester.
• The student can drop courses with refundable fees, if applicable, until the end of the second week of the main semesters or the end of the first week of the summer semester.
• Adding or Dropping course(s) should not violate the minimum and maximum number of Credit Hours registered per semester.

Article (9): Withdrawal from a course

• The student may withdraw from any course within the first ten weeks of the main semesters or the first five weeks for the Summer semester.
• The student does not fail the withdrawn course, provided that the withdrawal application and approval are finalized within the time limit mentioned in the previous point.
• The student gets a (W) grade for the withdrawn course and is allowed to register that course (full attendance and performing all activities including examinations) in a following semester.
• For elective courses, the student is allowed to change it in a following semester if he fails to pass it or withdraws from it. This is subject to the approval of the academic advisor and the requirements of his program.
• For non-scholarship students, the tuition fees for this course will not be refunded for withdrawn courses. The next time the student registers this course, he will have to pay its fees in full.
• The student, who withdraws from a whole semester without registering any course must pay the minimum tuition fees which is equivalent to 12 CH.
• For scholarship students, the Credit Hours of the withdrawn course are deducted from his scholarship. The student will be allowed to register this course one more time for free.

Article (10): Incomplete course

• If a student does not attend the final exam of the course in a semester with an excuse that is accepted by the Student Affairs Committee and approved by the University Council, the course is considered Incomplete.
• The student will get a grade (I) in the course until the exam is carried out in that course. If the student fails to attend the final exam at the next available date, the student will get a grade (F) in that course. Grade (I) will not count in the student’s cumulative GPA.
• At the next available examination date, the student takes the exam, after paying a re-examination fees equivalent to one Credit Hour, if applicable. The marks of this final exam are added to the semester-work marks to calculate the overall grade of this course.