Admission

Diploma Degree Instructions

Article No. (1)

  • These study instructions for diploma programs at government and community colleges for 2015 AD take effect in the first semester of 2015/2016.

Article No. (2)

The following terms and phrases have the meanings below unless the context indicates otherwise:

1-     Ministry Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
2-     Minister Minister of Higher Education
3-     College Smart College for Modern Education
4-     Dean / Director Dean of the College / College Director
5-     Department A department that provides one or more degree-granting educational programs.
6-     Program A four-semester post-secondary education and training program with one or more majors.
7-     Major A program of educational subjects in one field that leads to college accreditation if the major has been approved by the National Commission for Accreditation and Quality.
8-     College Student Each student registered and attended classes during the specified semester.
9-     Course A course of study (either without or with a practical part) that is offered for one semester and is assigned a certain number of credit hours.
10-  Credit Hours 50 minutes of theoretical study per week for 16 weeks.
11- Semester Sixteen academic weeks, including exams and evaluations.
12-  Summer Semester Eight weeks of study, including exams and evaluations.
13- Academic Year The academic year includes two semesters and an optional summer semester.
14- College Requirements College students of all majors must take and succeed in these courses.
15-  Department Requirements The courses that all students in the relevant department must successfully complete.
16-  Major Requirements The courses that all students in the relevant major must successfully complete.
17- Dropping / Withdraw A student withdraws the registration for a specific course during the add/drop period (per the instructions).
18-  Adding Adding a student to a specific course during the add-and-drop period
19- withdrawal from a course Withdrawal of a course or courses from the semester after the withdrawal deadline (as specified by the instructions).
20- Postponement Postponement registration in a course or courses from one semester to the next with official approval.
21- Drop-out Not registering for the semester or missing studies without official approval (per instructions).
22- Course Prerequisites According to the study plan, there are specific courses that the student must complete and pass before registering for that course (no student may register for a course that has a prerequisite that was previously failed due to absence).
23- concomitant course These are courses that the student must study in a previous semester or register for in the same semester, either according to the study plan or if his graduation depends on this course and its requirements (with the head of the academic department and dean approval).
24- The course’s passing grade The student gets a grade of at least 50 percent in the course.
25-  Zero grade The minimum grade for failure is (35%).

Article No. (3)

  • Based on college council recommendations, the Ministry authorizes study programs for intermediate university degrees (diplomas) in college majors.

Article No. (4)

  1. A student with an overall GPA of at least 50% on the secondary school certificate (Tawjihi) or its equivalent may apply to one of the college’s diploma majors.
  2. The admission and registration period for students starts with the beginning of the first semester of the academic year, and the admission and registration period for the second semester may be opened if there are sufficient resources and vacant place to study.
  3. Students are admitted to colleges based on the following criteria:
    • The subfield of the student’s general secondary school degree, depending on the admissions requirements.
    • student’s desire
    • College capacity.
    • The sequence of students’ secondary school averages of grades.
    • To be healthy for the accepted major in it.
    • The student has to pass any aptitude exam.
    • Following the Ministry’s instructions that are decided in this regard.
  4. The student’s admission or registration is canceled in the following cases:
  • If the student doesn’t complete the registration procedures within the specified time period.
  • If the student did not join the program within the specified enrollment period. 
  • If the submitted documents prove to be incorrect.
  • If the acceptance contradicts the instructions.

The college’s period of study and academic quorum

Article No. (5)

  • One major requires four to seven semesters, excluding summer semesters.

Article No. (6)

  1. The maximum semester academic quorum is 18 credit hours.
  2. The maximum quorum for a student’s semester might be 21 credit hours in the following situations:
    • If the number of specialization hours reaches 70 credit hours or more.
    • If the semester is the semester of graduation.
    • If the student’s overall GPA is at least 80%.
  3. The summer semester quorum maximum is 10 credit hours. Only if the summer semester is the student’s graduation semester may the quorum reach 11 credit hours.
  4. The minimum quorum for a semester is 12 credit hours; however, the dean may make 9 credit hours if no other courses are available.
  5. The student’s quorum after the fourth semester may be less than 12 credit hours.
  6. The course of physical education is not included in a semester’s maximum quorum requirement.
  7. A student may get one exceptional semester if he completes all the main requirements and wants to raise his average to 60%.

Article No. (7)

  1. The complete grade for the educational subject (100 percent). The theoretical material comprises the following parts:
    • Semester final examine (40%).
    • The examination grade for the semester is 40% if at least two exams are announced one week prior to their implementation.
    • Evaluation of research, reports, and participation (20 %).
  2. All corrected daily examination papers given to students during the semester are returned to them at least two weeks prior to the next examination date.
  3. The student gets informed of his semester work grade in all courses at least one week before the final examination period and has an opportunity to check the grades from the course lecturer through the department chairman’s.
  4. The Admission and Registration Department announces the final examination schedule on college bulletin boards two weeks in prior.
  5. The lecturer is responsible for correcting, transferring, and submitting exam papers.
  6. Final exam answer books are retained at the Admission and Registration Department or College Deanship for a semester after results are announced, then destroyed.
  7. The Admission and Registration Department announces the final results after College Council approval.
  8. The passing grade for the course is 50%.
  9. Do not register a final grade below zero (35%) for any educational course.
  10. The grade for a two-part course (theoretical and practical) is distributed equally to the credit hours assigned to each section, in accordance with items A and K of the same topic.
  11. The practical topic score (without a theoretical part) consists of the following:
  • Minimum (60%) grade for semester assignments.
  • Minimum grade (40%) on the semester’s final exam.

Article No. (8)

  • The semester average is calculated by dividing the sum of the product of each subject’s grade multiplied by the number of credit hours by the total number of credit hours studied during the semester.
  • Semester GPA = sum of (course grade x credit hours) / total (credit hours for that semester)
  • The accumulative average is calculated by dividing the sum of the results of multiplying the grade of each course by the number of its accredited hours by the total number of accredited hours that the student has studied up until the date of calculation of that average.
  • GPA = sum of (course grade (all courses in all semesters) x number of credit hours) / total (number of credit hours for all semesters)
  • The cumulative average is included in the calculation of courses the students took in another college, whether they transferred or studied there with the dean’s approval and as it suitable to the current college’s specialization study plan.

Article No. (9)

  1. Each college retains accurate semester-by-semester files of the grades students obtain in the different courses of study they have studied.
  2. Without an acceptable excuse from the college dean, the student will receive a zero on the end-of-semester exam. If the excuse is submitted within three working days of the absence, the dean will accept it. (If the excuse is submitted within three days of the start of the absence), then he will take a note (incomplete) for the course and be given an exam within two weeks of the start of the next semester.
  3. If a student misses a daily exam without an excuse accepted by the academic department head, the mark is zero, but if a student presents an acceptable excuse within three days of the start of the absence, the course lecturer will conduct the exam for the student.
  4. A student may request from the Dean (via the Admission and Registration Department) to review the final exam score in a particular course within a week after the results announcement and pay the relevant fees.
  5. A committee of the deputy academic dean of the college or his representative, the head of the concerned department, and at least one lecturer (who knew about this course) prepare the answer book correction again, make sure all marks correspond, and submit the result to the college dean for approval. If another lecturer is absent, he is summoned, and the same professor repeats the correction in front of the members.
  6. The concerned college dean audits, approves, and signs students’ grade files before sending them to the Ministry within three weeks of the semester.
  7. Evaluation of semester and cumulative averages, as well as course grade, are as follows:

   

Evaluation semester and cumulative averages
Minimum % Maximum % Appreciation
90 100 Excellent
80 89.9 Very Good
70 79.9 Good
60 69.9 Acceptable
55 59.9 Weak
Less than (55) GPA after the first semester Under warning 
Less than 50 in the first semester   Dismissal

 

Evaluation of the course grade
Minimum % Maximum % Appreciation
90 100 Excellent
80 89 Very Good
70 79 Good
60 69 Acceptable
50 59 Weak
35 49 Failed

Article No. (10)

  1. The student restudies any course content in which he did not succeed, and the new mark is added instead of the previous grade, whatever it was, with the symbol for the word repeated (M) added to the new grade.
  2. A student with a cumulative average below 70% may re-study any course to raise the average, and a new grade will be estimated for the student and defined with the word repeated (M).
  3. The student’s semester and cumulative averages include the number of hours and grades of the courses of study studied, so that the course material is included in the estimation for the cumulative average only once.
  4. A student can take a course that failed it in the same or a later semester with the department head and dean’s approval.(If the failure is due to absence, which is forbidden) and the Admission and Registration Department is notified in writing.

Registration, Withdrawal and Addition

Article No. (11)

  • The Ministry approves the annual academic calendar at the beginning of each academic year based on college council recommendations,  in order to determine the dates of admission, registration, withdrawal, addition, examination period, and vacations.

Article No. (12)

  1. A student can cancel a registration from the courses for whatever was previously registered and register for educational courses in their place. This is within the first week of the actual beginning of the academic semester or within three days of the actual beginning of the summer semester, and the fees he has paid are calculated.
  2. The student can withdraw from studying courses until the end of the 10th week of the regular semester and the end of the 6th week of the summer semester by submitting a written request (a special form) to the Admission and Registration Department and getting approval from the department head. However, they lose their ability to refund the fees paid for the course. The student is committed to the course if he does not withdraw within the specified time.
  3. A student can apply to withdraw from every course of study at least two weeks before the final examinations in the normal semester and one week in the summer semester from the Admission and Registration Department. That semester—(New students and transferees to the college must wait one semester to apply).

Attendance 

Article No. (13)

The student’s absence is taken into consideration from the start of the college semester and is valid in two cases:

  1. The student’s illness is supported by a medical report submitted within a three-day period of the student’s return date.
  2. Majeure circumstances require dean approval.

Article No. (14)

  1. If a student’s absence in any educational subject without an acceptable excuse exceeds two theoretical lectures or their practical equivalent for each approved hour of the hours scheduled for it, he is prohibited from applying for the end-of-semester exam for that subject, given zero colleges (35%), and cannot withdraw it as per Article (12) of these instructions.
  2. If the student’s absence with an acceptable excuse exceeds three theoretical lectures or their practical equivalent for each approved hour of any course, the student is considered to have withdrawn from it if he or she  submits evidence of his excuse within a week of returning to study.
  3. The Admission and Registration Department informs the student that he or she has attained the maximum absence (on time).

Study postponement

Article No. (15)

  1. The student is allowed to postpone his or her study for a duration of up to 4 semesters.
  2. The College Council may postpone the student’s study and notify the Ministry within two weeks.
  3. The student has to submit a written request with sufficient justification for postponement, and the decision has to be taken within two weeks.
  4. The period of postponement is not deducted from the maximum period  of time permitted to study at the college.
  5. Postponement rules apply to students who have registered for the semester and want to withdraw, under Article (12) Paragraph (c).
  • Paragraph (C) of Article (12) does not apply to new or transferred students, who cannot postpone their education until at least one semester has elapsed.

Dropping out

Article No. (16)

  1. A student is considered to have dropped out of the study if the semester begins and he or she was neither registered nor deferred for that semester. as well as the student’s registration is canceled, and they or they cannot return to study without the sanction of the College Council in accordance with the conditions listed below, and the semesters the student missed are subtracted from the maximum study period.
  2. To provide an acceptable excuse to the College Council.
  3. The dropping-out period should not be more than 2 semesters.
  4. The student should have passed at least 12 credits.
  5. The student should apply for re-registration within one week of the semester
  6. The student should commit to the applied study plan when come back to study.

Moving to another college

Article No. (17)

  1. A student can move to another college at the beginning of any semester (with the exception of the first one) to study the same or a different major under the following conditions:
    • The student’s GPA in high school should be in a range that is accepted for the new major in that year.
    • There must be a vacancy in the desired new major/college.
    • The cumulative average of the student cannot be less than 60%.
    • The student should not have been expelled from the first college for disciplinary reasons.
    • The student must apply to the dean of his college and get approval from the dean of the college to which he will move after attaching a certified transcript before the end of the first week of the new semester and notify the Ministry of Higher Education.
  2. All courses that the student completed at the college from which he or she transferred and that are included in the study plan at the college to which the student moved are calculated.
  3. The students should apply for the community college diploma (comprehensive) at the college where they finished 50% of the credits of the study plan.
  4. According to Article (6) of these instructions, the student may study no more than nine credit hours at another college for graduation following Dean approval.
  5. A student who has finished all of the study plans but has not graduated may not be moved due to failure in specific courses or a low GPA.

Moving from university to college

Article No. (18)

  • If an undergraduate student transfers to a college’s diploma specialization, the courses in which he earned an average of 60% or higher or the courses from his previous major’s pass category are counted for him and included in the study plan for the new diploma specialization after being equalized by a specialized committee—provided that:
  1. There is a place in the required major.
  2. The student’s GPA cannot be less than 60%.
  3. The calculated number of hours must not exceed (50%) the number of hours of major in the new diploma.
  4. The students dropping out period should not exceed 2 years.
  5. The student should apply for a moving request to the college before the semester starts.
  6. Submit a Ministry-approved university specialization transcript.
  7. The student should not be disciplinarily dismissed from his university.

Academic warning and dismissal

Article No. (19)

  1. After the first semester, a student will receive an academic warning if his or her GPA falls below 55% in any regular semester.
  2. A student given an academic warning may not register for more than 15 credit hours.
  3. In the following cases, the student is dismissed from the major:
    • If the first-semester average was below 50%.
    • After two academic warnings. 
    • If the student missed more than 20% of the semester studies without a College Council-approved cause.
  4. The summer semester extends to the second semester for warning or dismissal reasons.
  5. The following cases result in college dismissal:
  • If he dropped out of college for two or more successive semesters without an excuse approved by the College Council.
  • If a student repeats exam cheating in accordance with Ministry-approved control instructions, he or she will be dismissed.
  • If the student had been dismissed from a second major, he joined after being academically expelled from the first major.
  • If the student has exhausted all of the period given to study the major.
  • If the student’s behavior requires college dismissal under Ministry-approved rules for management.

Article No. (20)

  1. A student dismissed from his major under Article (19) Paragraph (c) can re-register in his or her college as a new student in another major once and in another college in a field other than the dismissed major, within the admission principles in effect at the time.
  2. A student who is dismissed from his major and registers in a new major in his college or another college can take the common subjects from his dismissed specialization plan if his marks in those subjects are at least 55% and no more than two years have passed since his dismissal.

Change of Major

Article No. (21)

  1. The student may change the major with the dean’s consent and follow the admission procedures.
  2. The student must submit a written request to the Admission and Registration Department before the start of any semester to change the major, with Dean approval within one week.
  3. If a student changes his major to a different major, all of the courses that studied and completed in the previous major will count towards the requirements of the new major.
  4. If a student graduates from a specific major and wants to study a new major, courses with a 60% or higher average in the previous major are counted in the study plan for the new major, provided:
  • The calculated number of hours should not exceed (50%) of the hours related to the new major.
  • Three years have passed since he or she graduated from that previous major.

Graduation 

Article No. (22)

  • A student is considered successful in a major (graduate) when he/she completes all necessary courses and has a 60% cumulative average.

Article No. (23)

  1. According to a form certified by the Minister of Education and Higher Education, the college awards the graduate student a certificate indicating the student has completed the major.
  2. According to a form approved by the Minister of Education and Higher Education, the college provides its students with a transcript that details all the credit hours they have achieved.

Article No. (24)

  • In accordance with the study plan in effect at the time, the graduate student is allowed to take the college general exam (comprehensive applied).

General Provisions

Article No. (25)

  • Cases where no text is provided are decided by the Ministry.

Article No. (26)

  • These instructions replace any previous rules in this regard.

Article No. (27)

  • These instructions are implemented by college deans, academic representatives, and admission and registration heads.
  • The college follows a higher education system, and one of our most significant instructions is on the website and in the college guide.

Admission requirements for the program

  • The study’s educational system is the same as the academic system that the Ministry of Education and Higher Education use for the diploma degree; it also includes homework, research, and laboratory work in addition to exams and assessments in the majority of courses. To qualify for the suggested program of study, students must possess a general secondary certificate for all branches.

Grades review

  • A student may request a grade revision for any course by submitting a revision request. During the semester, the student’s department receives and re-corrects exams and assessments through a committee consisting of the department head, course lecturer, and one of the other lecturers in the major.

Academic progress evaluation 

  • The academic adviser evaluates academic performance, guides students, and solves academic issues. The college’s student affairs section supervises students socially and psychologically.
  • The lecturer follows up and evaluates students through learning and teaching, especially technical skills, taking into consideration their unique peculiarities and characteristics, abilities, and talents. This helps talented students find their potential and develop them via projects, artwork, internal and external technologies, and educational skills. 
  • There is also a graduate follow-up unit within the Department of Public Relations, whose purpose is to monitor the graduates’ workflow, look for employment, grants, competitions, workshops, and exhibitions, and inform the graduates of them. In order to develop academic plans, the section also conducts an examination of graduates’ perspectives on the academic programs and plans that they have studied.

Program validity period and courses updates

  • The college develops a comprehensive strategy every five years to open new majors, close or change current ones, and develop academic staff through scholarships, training, research encouragement, and scientific research. All college departments make a comprehensive development plan every five years, at most, to update active majors’ academic plans based on the Quality Department’s recommendations from lecturers, alumni, and employers.