Institute of Theology

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Rules and Regulations

1. CREDIT LOAD

  1. To be considered as regular student, a student must register for 12 credits or more per semester.
  2. Students may be forced by the Faculty Council to drop their credit load below 12 in case of excessive absence in one or more courses.
  3. Students on faculty probation are allowed a maximum load of 16 credit hours during their probational period. Students who continue on probation beyond one semester may register for a maximum of 13 credit hours per semester.

2. CORRECT USE OF THE LANGUAGE

Good command of the language of instruction is a basic requirement for graduation. Grades on papers (theses, term papers, essays, or examinations) and oral presentations will take into account language proficiency.

3. GRADING SYSTEM

-          All final course grades are expressed in numbers ranging from 40 to 100.

-          The dean of the faculty concerned must approve transfer courses from other institutions.

-          The grading system is as follows:

 

Graded

Notation

95 to 100

Outstanding

85 to 94

Excellent

80 to 84

Very Good

75 to 79

Good

70 to 74

Fair

60 to 69

Weak

40 to 59

Fail

 

4. INCOMPLETE GRADES AND MAKE-UP EXAMINATIONS

  1. Course work must be completed by the date on which the semester ends. In exceptional cases, and with the approval of the instructor, the chairman of the department, and the dean, a student may be allowed to make up incomplete work before the end of the first month of the new semester.
  2. The time and date of make-up tests within the period specified in (1) above, will be set by the instructor concerned with due consideration for the student’s schedule. Approval of the head of the department is required in order to set the time and date.
  3. Failure to complete the requirements for incomplete courses within the periods specified above will result in a grade of zero for the missing work with the course grade computed accordingly. Failure to make-up a missing final examination will result in a final grade of 40 on the course.
  4. Students are expected to attend all classes and laboratory sessions.
  5. Absence, whether excused or not, from any class or laboratory session does not excuse students from their class responsibility or for any announcements made during their absence.
  6. A student who misses more than one-sixth of the course sessions will be dropped from the course. In such a case, a final grade of WF is given. A WF grade is counted as a 40 in computing the student’s averages.
  7. Students are permitted to withdraw from courses no later than 10 weeks after the start of the semester (four weeks in the case of the summer session).
  8. Students withdrawing from a course will receive a grade of “W” for this course. A “W” grade and the corresponding course credits are not included in computing the semester or the cumulative average.
  9. The student’s academic advisor must approve all withdrawals. Withdrawing from an entire semester requires the approval of the Faculty Council.
  10. If a student withdraws or is dropped (for any reason) from one course or more resulting in a credit load lower than 12 credits, the case will be reviewed by the Faculty Council. The Council will determine:

5. ATTENDANCE AT AND WITHDRAWAL FROM COURSES

5.1. Class Attendance

5.2. Withdrawal from Courses

  • The eligibility of the student to continue the semester
  • The withdrawal of the student from that semester
  • The dismissal of the student from the Faculty

5.3. Repeating Courses

  1. A student may repeat a course only once for a grade of W or  WF. On a transcript, it is counted, for this purpose, as a grade.
  2. Students may not repeat a course in which they have already achieved a grade of 70 unless department rules require a higher score.
  3. A student repeating a course more than once must seek the approval of the dean.

5.4. Academic Probation

If a student enters the Institute with a probational acceptance, the conditions for its removal must be fulfilled by the end of the first semester. Starting from the second semester, a student must maintain a cumulative major average of 70 or above. Failure to do so by the end of a semester places the student under academic probation. Under such circumstances, the student may be required to take a lighter course load, which may result in a delay in graduation. Such students will not be allowed to take more than 12 new credits in the semester during which they are on probation and will also be required to retake the courses they had failed the next time they are offered. Such students will be encouraged by their advisor to take courses in the Summer Semester.

5.5. Continuing Probation

Students placed on probation for the first time because of failure to achieve the required cumulative average in major courses will have one semester to meet these requirements. If they fail to do so, they will be granted another semester of continuing probation only if they had registered for at least nine major credits for the first semester on probation, and had a semester average of 70 or above in major courses. Removal of continuing probation depends upon the student achieving a cumulative average in major courses of 70 or above by the end of the second semester on probation.

Continuing probation is considered a second probation.

5.6. Strict Probation

A student placed on probation or continuing probation and who fails to mitigate it is placed on strict probation for one semester under the following conditions:

  1. The student is allowed to register for a maximum of 12 credits.
  2. The student registers only for courses in which the grade earned was less than 70.

To remove the strict probation the student must:

  1. Not fail any course.
  2. Obtain a semester average of 70 or above in major courses.
  3. Obtain the required cumulative major average.

5.7. Dropping from the Faculty (Institute)

Students will be dropped from the faculty (Institute) for either of the following reasons:

  1. They are subject to probation for a third time.
  2. They are on strict probation and are not able to remove the probation by the end of the next semester.

5.8 Scholastic Standing (Faculty Warning) for Undergraduate Students:

-          Unless students have a conditional acceptance they will receive a faculty warning if, at the end of any semester following the first, they fail to achieve a cumulative general average of 70.

-          Consequently, students who receive two successive faculty warnings have one semester to achieve a cumulative general average of 70 instead of 67.  If they fail to do so, they will be placed on strict probation.

5.9 Graduation Requirement in Undergraduate Degree Programs:

-          The cumulative general average requirement for graduation in undergraduate degree programs is now set at 70 instead of 67.  This regulation is to be implemented starting with students graduating in the summer semester of the academic year 2011-2012.

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Saint John of Damascus Institute of Theology
The University of Balamand

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