Courses Regulations
Curricula and Courses
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The faculty adopts the credit hours system
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The Departmental Boards are committed to provide a complete list of the courses they offer to postgraduate students with a full description of their content. The number of credit hours assigned for each course should be specified and the curricula approved by the PSRA committee prior submission to the Faculty Board.
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The courses are distributed among the semesters as indicated for each program.
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The Departmental Boards are allowed, on consent of the Faculty Board, to modify their own curricula or to offer new courses within the credit hour limits of each program.
Course Encoding System
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Postgraduate courses are encoded based on a three-digit system and classified at three levels:
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Code 700 courses for diplomas degree.
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Code 800 courses for M.Sc. degree.
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Specialized courses are encoded by designating the program type by the tens digits followed by the code number of the particular course at the unit digit.
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Courses indicated as common faculty's requisites for MSc programs are designated by the code number 8 at the hundreds digit followed by the course's number at the units digit. The tens digit are here zero.
Credit hours
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Each credit hour (i.e. unit) is equivalent to any of the following: a lecture of 1 hour / week, a laboratory session of 2 or 3 hours / week or Practice and clinical rotations of 6 hours / week, throughout the whole semester.
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Each credit hour is assigned 50 marks during evaluation.
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Each credit hour should be assessed by a written examination of at least 1 hour duration. Time allowed for any exam should not be shorter than 1 hour and not exceeding 3 hours for any of the taught courses.
Transfer of credit
The Faculty Board may, upon recommendation from the interested Departmental Board and consent of the PSRA committee, approve a number of postgraduate credit transfers. This is applicable to courses successfully attended by the student, at any faculty or institute recognized by the Supreme Council of Universities (SCU), throughout the last 5 years preceding his admission to M. Sc. degree.
Courses Registration Guidelines
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A. Students enrolled in a specific program should register for required courses 2 weeks ahead of the beginning of the new semester. Registration is closed by the end of the 1st week in each semester.
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B. Students may add / drop any course before the end of the second week after the start of each semester. However, students have to bear in mind that they should register for courses representing a minimum of 6 credit hours offered in each semester.
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C. Students are eligible to withdraw from any course before the end of 6th week. No credit is earned for this officially withdrawn course. Its grade, designated by W, will remain on the transcript without affecting the Grade Point Average (GPA).
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D.
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Repeated registration for score improvement, in case of success in a particular course, is available for once in case of compulsory courses. Student's higher grade points will be included in computation of his CGPA.
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Re-registration in case of failure is allowed only twice for a particular course. Student's higher grade points will be included in computation of his CGPA.
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E. Students having attended less than 75% of the total hours specified for a particular course are subjected to a forced withdrawal. This based on the course instructor's report submitted to the Departmental Board and approved by the PSRA Committee and the Faculty Board. A probation notice is sent to the student through the PSRA Administration Office. The course is considered as a failure (F).
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F. The Faculty will alert any student who has got a GPA less than C +, in any of his courses, in order to register it for another time ( up to 2 times maximally) or substitute it by a new one with a maximal GPA of C+ in it.
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G. Any student who got a grade less than C in 3 different courses or F more than once in any course or did not attend the final examinations without accepted excuses, is ruled out and consequently, he has no right to re-enter or register in neither the course nor the higher program.
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H. Any student who was not able to attend the final examination of any course, or complete its requirements, due to coercive reasons which are accepted by the faculty and has accomplished at least 75% of the course, he gets the grade Incomplete (I) to be completed before the end of the second week of the next semester.
Examinations and Evaluation System
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The first semester examinations are held in February and those of the second semester in July.
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The faculty board may consent to a student's petition(s) for course withdrawal before the end of the 6th week of the starting semester. Petitions should be supported by a documented excusable motive acceptable by the PSRA committee and the faculty Board.
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To succeed in a particular course, students must score at least 30% of the mark specified for the final written examination and 60% or better from the total mark specified for the course.
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Students absent from the final exam of a particular course without an excusable accepted motive are graded failed (F).
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Students failing to perform in a compulsory course(s) should repeat registration and examination at the same semester of the following academic year.
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Students failing to perform in an elective course(s) may substitute this (these) course(s) by another (others). Credits earned in the selected new course(s) are those computed in the GPA.
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Grade Points are numerical units used to evaluate the students' achievement standards that are expressed in term of marks. Therefore, results obtained for individual courses are given in points.
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A four-point system of grading (4 points / credit hour), that includes (+) grades, is adopted. Grades are evaluated in terms of grade points as displayed below.
Grade Point Scale
| Qualification Standard
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Grade
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Grade Point Average
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Equivalent Percentile
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| Excellent with Honor
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A
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4.0
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90 - 100
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| Excellent
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A-
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3.7
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85 - < 90
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| Very Good
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B+
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3.3
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80 - < 85
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|
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B
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3.0
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75 - < 80
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| Good
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B-
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2.7
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72 - < 75
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|
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C+
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2.3
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70 – < 72
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| Acceptable
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C
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2.0
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67 - < 70
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|
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C-
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1.7
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65 - < 67
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| Probation Notice
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D+
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1.3
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62 - < 65
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|
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D
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1.0
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60 - < 62
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| Failed
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F
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0.0
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< 60
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| Incomplete
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I
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-
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-
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| Withdraw
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W
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-
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-
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The semester Grade Point Average (GPA) represents the courses (or credit hours ) completed within this semester and is computed as follows:
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The Cumulative GPA (CGPA) is the average of all final grades obtained within an academic program.
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Courses for which exemptions have been granted will not be included in the GPA computation, but those transferred for credit will be included. The GPA reported on the final transcript displays 2 decimals and is truncated not rounded. The official faculty GPA for postgraduate students is 2.00
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Probation notices are addressed to students whose CGPA values have fallen below 2.00. A student on probation must raise his CGPA to a minimum of 2.00 within 2 semesters. Students with a CGPA below average (value = 1.00) will be dismissed from the program.
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Other grade symbols displayed in the transcript and not included in computation of averages (GPA and CGPA) are:
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I (Incomplete): approved extension of time to complete the final examination or other requirements of the course.
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W (Authorized withdrawal): approved withdrawal without credit.