University Rules and Regulations

Admissions

Transfer from Other Universities: Students enrolled at a recognized institution of higher learning  may apply for transfer to the sophomore/first year professional level of any of the faculties if they have completed a class equivalent to that of the freshman class of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at AUB. Admission in the above mentioned cases is based on the SAT I scores, and school and university grades.  Transfer applicants to the junior or senior classes in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, or to the second or third years within any of the other faculties, need not submit SAT I results. All transfer applicants should consult the appropriate faculty sections of the catalogue, taking particular note of the residence requirement and any particular admission requirements of that faculty. All admitted transfer applicants must submit the most recent transcript of their grades and must meet the English Language Proficiency Requirement before registration.

 All transfer applicants need to submit the syllabi of the courses for which they expect to receive credit at AUB together with the application form to the Office of Admissions before April 30 if applying for the fall semester. The deadline for receipt of additional/missing syllabi is May 30, after which no equivalence will be given for courses. Transfer applicants for the spring semester are required to submit the syllabi of the courses by November 30. Courses comparable to AUB courses that have been satisfactorily completed at other institutions are given transfer credits only (not grades) pending review by the relevant departments and faculties at AUB. Credits alone may be transferred; grades are not transferable.

 Credit for University Work Done at the Secondary Level  With approval of the academic departments concerned, freshman credits may be given for high grades on higher level (HL) examinations of the International Baccalaureate, on advanced placement (AP) examinations of the College Board, or on advanced level (A-level) examinations of the General Certificate of Education (GCE).

Readmission   

The following factors govern students seeking readmission:

• Students in good standing who withdrew voluntarily shall be granted readmission to their former faculty if the period between the end of the semester or session of withdrawal, and the beginning of the semester for which readmission is sought, is not more than four regular semesters. The readmission request (reactivation form), available on the Registrar’s Office web page at http://staff.aub.edu.lb/~webregist/pdfdoc/reactivation-form.pdf, must be submitted to the same office at least one month prior to the beginning of the semester or summer session to which readmission is sought. Readmission is then automatic.
• Students who have left the University for more than two years must submit the readmission request (readmission form) available on the Registrar’s Office web page at to the same office, and must receive readmission approval from the admissions committee of their faculty/school.
• Students who have left the Faculty of Arts and Sciences while on probation remain on probation for one semester and are required to take 12 or 13 credits. If students do not remove probation at the end of that semester, they are dropped from the faculty.

 Deferred Registration of Admitted Students   

Undergraduate applicants who are offered admission for the fall semester and who do not register for that semester may be eligible for admission to the spring semester of the same academic year, pending availability of places. A petition should be submitted to the Office of Admissions by December 15 of the same academic year. Applicants who have been admitted to the fall semester or to the spring semester in two different faculties, and who actually register in one of these, must petition the Office of Admissions by July 31 for fall, and December 15 for spring, if they intend to use their second admission to register for the following semester. Admission to the second faculty depends on availability of places.

General University Academic Information

Academic Advisers: Each student has an academic adviser who must approve the student’s schedule each semester. Freshmen are assigned an adviser from a group of advisers appointed by the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The adviser continues advising the student until s/he has been accepted into a major. Names of advisees and their respective advisers are available through the Student Information System (SIS).

Attendance Classes and Laboratories

v     Students are expected to attend all classes, laboratories, or required fieldwork. All missed laboratory or fieldwork must be made up. A student is responsible for the work that is done, and for any announcements that are made during his/her absence.

v     Students who, during a semester, miss more than one-fifth of the sessions of any course in the first ten weeks of the semester (five weeks in the case of the summer term) are dropped from the course if the faculty member has stated in the syllabus that attendance will be taken.

v     Students who withdraw or are forced to drop a course receive a grade of W.

v     A student cannot withdraw, or be withdrawn, from a course after the announced deadline unless approved by the appropriate faculty committee.

v     Without prior approval of the appropriate faculty committee, a student cannot withdraw, or be forced to withdraw, from a course at any time if this results in the student being registered for fewer than 12 credits.

Examinations and Quizzes Students who miss an announced examination or quiz must present an excuse considered valid by the instructor of the course. The course instructor should then require the student to take a make-up examination. Medical reports and/or qualified professional opinions issued by an AUB employee, AUH doctor, or by the University Health Services are accepted. Should there be a question about the validity of any excuse presented by the student, the matter should be referred to the appropriate faculty committee.

Categories of Students

Full-Time Students

To be considered full-time a student must carry a minimum load of 12 credits per semester. For the required number of credits for summer full-time, refer to the summer session section for each faculty.

Special Students

The category of special students is restricted to the following students:

• Those who are not working for a degree. Such students should be accepted by the University Admissions Committee.
• Those who have an undergraduate degree from AUB but who want to work for another undergraduate degree. Such students need permission from the appropriate faculty committee and must carry a minimum of 12 credits per semester.

Part-time Students

The category of part-time students is restricted to the following students:

• AUB staff members who are working toward a degree.  Those who need fewer than 12 credits to complete work for an undergraduate degree.
• Those who are granted permission by the appropriate faculty committee for one of the following reasons: Health; family problems that may influence academic performance of the student

Course Loads  

To be considered full-time, a student must carry a minimum load of 12 credits per semester. (See the required number of credits for summer full-time status under summer term for each faculty.) If a full-time student wishes, or is forced, to reduce his/her load to fewer than 12 credits, the issue must first be referred to the appropriate faculty committee.  Students can normally register for up to 17 credits per semester and nine credits during the summer term. Students in the following categories must petition the appropriate faculty committee but are, however, normally granted permission to register for more than 17 credits:

• Freshman students intending to go into medicine or engineering, and who have an average of at least 80 in the first semester, may take an additional course in the second semester.
• Junior and senior (third and fourth year in the professional schools) students who have completed their English communication skills requirements at the level required by their major departments may register for a maximum of 18 credits per semester (a maximum of 19 credits per regular semester in FEA).
• If the program requires that students register for more than 17 credits in a particular semester. In all other cases, students who wish to register for more than 17 credits must petition the appropriate faculty committee for permission to do so. Their requests are handled on a case-by-case basis.

Correct Use of Language

Facility in clear, correct, and responsible use of language is a basic requirement for graduation. Papers (term papers, essays, or examinations) that are ill-written, no matter what the course, may receive a lower grade for the quality of the writing alone. The final grade in any course may be lowered for consistently substandard written or oral expression; in extreme cases a failing grade may be given for this reason alone. See information on the English Language Proficiency Requirement (ELPR)

Plagiarism

Students who fail to credit properly ideas or materials taken from another commit plagiarism. Putting your name on a piece of work—any part of which is not yours—constitutes plagiarism, unless that piece is clearly marked and the work from which you have borrowed is fully identified. Plagiarism is a violation of the University’s academic regulations and is subject to disciplinary action. All AUB students are required to complete a plagiarism tutorial and pass a plagiarism test during the first semester they join the university. You can reach the “Plagiarism Tutorial and Test” by following this path: AUB Homepage > A-Z > Academic Computing Centre > Plagiarism Tutorial and Test.  You can take the test as many times as necessary. When you achieve 100% on the test, a notification will be generated and saved in your files in the Office of the Registrar. This notification will become part of your permanent record as evidence of your understanding of plagiarism and how to recognize it. Failure to pass the plagiarism test will prevent your registration for the next semester at AUB.

Dean's Honor List 

To be placed on the dean’s honor list at the end of the semester, a student must

• be carrying at least 12 credits • not be on probation
• have passed all courses and attained an overall average of 85 or be ranked in the top 10 percent of the class and have an overall average of 80
• not have been subjected to any disciplinary action within the University during the semester
• be deemed worthy by the dean to be on the honor list

Directed Study (Faculty of Arts and Sciences Only)  

A student with an average of at least 85 in his/her major at the beginning of the senior year may elect to pursue a course of directed study. Students with averages below 85 may be admitted to directed study at the discretion of the department. Students who elect a course of directed study choose their courses in consultation with a faculty member selected by the student, with the department’s approval. These courses may include a three- or six-credit course directed by the faculty member. This tutorial may consist of independent research, original creative compositions, or directed reading, and include the presentation of a report or thesis.

Disclosure of Student Records 

The University may disclose routine information without prior written consent from the student.  This information is of a directory nature and includes only the following items: student’s name, degrees received, major field(s) of study, awards received, and participation in officially recognized activities and sports.  With the exceptions specified below, the University releases other information, including information from academic records, only upon written consent from the student. This consent must specify the information that is to be disclosed, state the purpose of the disclosure, and provide the names and addresses of the individuals or institutions to whom disclosure is to be made. However, the University may disclose information, including information on academic records, without prior written consent of the student:

• upon the request of officers of other educational institutions where the student seeks to enroll (in such cases the student is given, upon his/her request, a copy of the information sent to the institution)
• as necessary to academic officers, academic advisers, and faculty members within the University
• to parents of a dependent student
• in compliance with a judicial order
• to financial aid services in connection with financial aid for which the student has applied or which the student has received

General Education Requirements

AUB is committed to offering its students a broad undergraduate liberal arts education that enables them to acquire the analytical skills and habits of life-long learning that they will need to compete successfully in the twenty-first century. The general education distribution requirements are intended to expose students to a range of intellectual experiences during their time at AUB. We want to give our students the opportunity to make choices and to question and to test what they believe are their career goals and their intellectual interests. In addition to courses in their academic majors and the opportunity to take minor concentrations in specific fields, all AUB students must take a minimum of 36 credits of general education requirements distributed in the following fields: English and Arabic (9 credits); the humanities (12 credits); economics and social sciences (9 credits); and science, math, and technology (6 credits).  We believe that a student who has chosen to follow a course of study at AUB leading to a degree in a professional field such as engineering should be exposed to the humanities and social sciences. By the same token, a student who plans to major in history should have the opportunity to take science courses and to work in a lab. While being exposed to various fields of knowledge, we also want our students to have the opportunity to experience different modes of learning (lectures, seminars, labs, and independent research projects). Different modes of analysis are designed to enhance students’ verbal and interactive skills (seminars), writing and analytic skills (research projects), and hands-on experimental skills (laboratories). These distribution requirements may be met by either required or elective courses.

Graduation 

Students are strongly advised to prepare their registration schedules with their advisers to ensure graduation requirements are fulfilled. Failure to do so may mean that a student has to spend an additional semester, or more, to complete graduation requirements.

Commencement Exercises

Commencement exercises are held at the end of the academic year. Students who graduate in October or February may participate in the commencement exercises. Graduates of October or graduates of February who wish to participate in the July commencement exercises should notify the Office of the Registrar of their intention by completing Form CE1 and submitting it to the Office of the Registrar no later than June 10. Students who graduate in June have places reserved for them in the June commencement exercises.

July graduates who opt not to participate in the commencement exercises should complete Form CE2 and submit it to the Office of the Registrar no later than June 10. July graduates who do not receive their degrees during the commencement exercises and who have submitted Form CE2 within the above-indicated deadline can receive their diplomas at the Office of the Registrar at a date subsequent to commencement.

Graduation with Distinction and High Distinction

To graduate with distinction a student must

• have an average of 85 or higher in all work of his/her final academic semesters, including summers: (two summer sessions are equivalent to one semester) during which 60 credits or more (65 credits or more in the Faculty of Health Sciences) have been completed at AUB.
• be recommended by his/her department for distinction To graduate with high distinction a student must.
• have an average of 90 or higher in all work of his/her final academic semesters, including summers: (two summer sessions are equivalent to one semester) during which 60 credits or more (65 credits or more in the Faculty of Health Sciences) have been completed at AUB.
• must be recommended by his/her department for high distinction.

For purposes of graduation with distinction or high distinction, when a student repeats a course, all grades enter into the computation of the student’s overall average.

Dual Degree

Students may, upon approval of the Faculty concerned, complete the requirements for a second degree while registered in another Faculty at AUB. In such a case, a student will be granted two degrees at the same time of graduation. If tuition differs, students will pay the higher of the tuitions.

Information about deadlines and applications are available on the following link: http://staff.aub.edu.lb/~webregist/pdfdoc/dualdegree.pdf.

Incompletes

A student who receives an incomplete grade for a course must petition the appropriate faculty committee within two weeks from the date of the scheduled final exam for permission to complete the course. Coursework must be completed within one month of the start of the next regular semester. In exceptional circumstances, the appropriate faculty committee may decide to give the student additional time to complete a course. In the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture a student who received incomplete grades will not be permitted to register for more than 16 credits. Incomplete course work is reported as an “I”. Normally, “I” is followed by a numerical grade reflecting

the evaluation of the student available at the end of the semester. This evaluation is based on a grade of zero on all missed work and is reported in units of five. If the work is not completed within the period specified, the “I” is dropped and the numerical grade becomes the final grade.

Major-less Status (Faculty of Arts and Sciences)

A student in good academic standing, who has not yet chosen a major or is in the process of selecting a new major, is given the status of major-less. A student who is asked, or opts, to change his/her status to major-less must communicate this decision to the student affairs officer in the Office of the Dean. A student should be admitted to a major by the end of their junior year.

Premed Requirements Students seeking eligibility for admission to the Faculty of Medicine must complete the premedical requirements detailed on pages 325-26 in the 2009–10 Graduate Catalogue.

Placement on Academic Probation

A student is placed on academic probation if the student’s overall average is less than 68 at the end of the 2nd regular semester, if the semester average is less than 69 at the end of the 3^rd or 4^th regular semester, or if the semester average is less than 70 in any subsequent semester, excluding the summer term. It is to be understood that the semester in which the student is considered to be ‘on probation’ is the semester that immediately follows the semester in which the student has earned the grades leading to that placement. For evaluation purposes, the minimum number of credits at the end of the 2^nd regular semester at the university should be 24 including all repeated courses, and 12 in each subsequent fall or spring semester including all repeated courses. Courses/credits taken during a summer term are counted towards the semester average of the next regular semester. If the number of credits taken in any one regular semester is less than 12 (for approved reasons), courses/credits taken during that semester are counted towards the semester average of the next regular semester. Credit for incomplete courses will be included in the semester in which the incomplete courses were taken. The evaluation for that semester will be carried out as soon as the grades for the incomplete courses have been finalized. For implementation purposes, the academic standing of a student is represented by two attributes (a, b).

• The first attribute (a) represents the student’s current academic status as follows:

i.                    0: clear status

ii.                 1: student is currently on probation but was not on probation in the immediately preceding regular term

iii.               2: student is currently on probation and was on probation in the immediately preceding regular term

·          The second attribute (b) represents the probation history of a student, i.e. the number of times that the student has been placed on probation.

Removal of Probation

Probation is removed when the student attains a semester average of 69 or more in the 3^rd or 4^th regular semester, or a semester average of 70 or more in any subsequent regular semester. The student is off probation during the semester following the one in which such grades are earned. Probation should be removed within two regular semesters, excluding summer, after the student is placed on probation, or when the student completes his/her graduation requirements (see Graduation Requirements).

Dismissal and Readmission

A student may be dismissed from the faculty for any of the following reasons:

• if the student’s overall average is less than 60 at the end of the 2nd regular semester.
• if the student fails to clear academic probation within two regular semesters, excluding the summer term, after being put on probation; i.e. the student is on the academic status (2,2), or (2,3) and failed to remove the probation.
• if the student is placed on academic probation for a total of four regular semesters (a student can be dropped for this reason even if s/he is in the final year at AUB); i.e. the student is on the academic status (0,3), or (1,3) and placed again on probation.
• if the student is deemed unworthy by the faculty to continue for professional or ethical reasons.
• A student is normally considered for readmission only if, after spending a year at another recognized institution of higher education, the student is able to present a satisfactory record and recommendation. Exceptions may be made for students who left the University for personal or health reasons. Transfer credit is considered after departmental evaluation of a student’s coursework.

Recognition of AUB Degrees 

The Lebanese Ministry of Education recognizes all degrees awarded by the American University of Beirut provided students are admitted on the basis of the Lebanese Baccalaureate, or its equivalent, as determined by the Lebanese Ministry o

f Education