A full-time student must carry a minimum load of 12 credits per term. If a student wishes or is forced to reduce her/his load to fewer than 12 credits, s/he must first apply to the UGCA-SA Committee for approval. This should be done no later than 10 weeks after the start of the term.

Students on probation for the first time are allowed a maximum load of 17 credits. Students who continue on probation beyond one term can register for a maximum of 13 credits per term.

Students can normally register for up to 18 credits per term and 9 credits during the summer term. Students who wish to register for more than 18 credits (or 9 credits in summer) must petition the appropriate faculty committee for permission to do so.

All undergraduate students who entered AUB in AY 2023-24, including those who did not do the Lebanese Baccalaureate, must take one Arabic course to fulfill the Arabic Communication Skills requirement. Students are no longer exempted from Arabic under the new General Education requirements. Students are required to take only one Arabic course during their undergraduate degree, and may take the exam and course at any time before they graduate.

Students who did not do the Lebanese Baccalaureate must take a placement exam to place them in an Arabic course which is appropriate for their Arabic skills.

The Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies (CAMES) at AUB will conduct the placement exams. Based on the exam result, we will place each student in one of the courses below:

·       ARAB 203 Beginner Arabic as a Foreign Language I

·       ARAB 204 Beginner Arabic as Foreign a Language II

·       ARAB 205 Intermediate Arabic as a Foreign Language III

·       ARAB 206 Intermediate Arabic as a Foreign Language I

·       ARAB 207 Advanced Arabic as a Foreign Language I

·       ARAB 209 Advanced Arabic as a Foreign Language III

·       ARAB 201 Issues in Contemporary Arab Culture

 For more information, please check the CAMES page.

 Classes and Laboratories

• Students are expected to attend all classes, laboratories or required fieldwork.. The student is responsible for all course material and for any announcements made during class time, lab time or fieldwork
• Students who miss more than one-fifth of the sessions of any course prior to the withdrawal deadline can be withdrawn from the course by the instructor.
• Students who withdraw or are withdrawn for excessive absence from a course receive a grade of “W”.
• An instructor who withdraws a student from the course because of excessive absence must have stated in the syllabus that attendance will be taken.
• Students who do not withdraw or cannot be withdrawn for excessive absence from a course will receive a grade of F.
• A student may not withdraw from a course if the withdrawal results in being registered for fewer than 12 credits for regular terms and 6 for the summer.

Examinations and Quizzes

Students who miss a scheduled examination or quiz must present an excuse considered valid by the instructor of the course. Unless stated otherwise in the course syllabus, the course instructor should then require the student to take a make-up examination. Makeup quizzes, midterms and class assignments must be completed before the final grade of the course is issued at the end of the term.

Only medical reports and/or qualified professional opinions issued by an AUB employee, an AUB Medical Center (AUBMC) doctor, or by the University Health Services will be 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. Instructors should make sure there is no time conflict between an exam and a regularly scheduled course.

Students who refrain from following the assigned course curriculum will automatically be given the status of majorless. Majorless students in the Environmental Health program are required to take ENHL 220. Majorless students are given two academic terms to transfer to the desired major. If by the end of the second term the student does not secure acceptance to the desired major, s/he is dropped from the faculty.

Placement on Academic Probation 

A student is placed on academic probation if the student’s overall average is less than GPA: 2.1 at the end of the second regular term, if the term average is less than GPA: 2.2 at the end of the third or fourth regular term, or if the term average is less than GPA: 2.3 in any subsequent term, excluding the summer term.

It is to be understood that the term in which the student is considered to be ‘on probation’ is the term that immediately follows the term 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 second regular term at the university should be 24, including all repeated courses, and 12 in each subsequent fall or spring term, including all repeated courses. 

Courses/credits taken during a summer term are counted towards the term average of the next regular term. If the number of credits taken in any one regular term is less than 12 (for approved reasons), courses/credits taken during that term are counted toward the term average of the next regular term.

Credit for incomplete courses will be included in the term in which the incomplete courses were taken. The evaluation for that term 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:

  0: clear status

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

  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 the student has been placed on probation.

Students who are placed on probation are not eligible to receive financial aid.

Students who are placed on second continuous probation or third non-continuous probation will have their credit load dropped down to 13 credits in a regular term and 6 credits in summer term

Removal of Probation

Probation is removed when the student attains a term average of GPA 2.2 or more in the third or fourth regular term or a term average of GPA: 2.3 or more in any subsequent regular term. The student is off probation during the term following the one in which such grades are earned.

Probation should be removed within two regular terms, excluding summer, after the student is placed on probation or when the student completes her/his graduation requirements (see Graduation Requirements).

Dismissal and Readmission

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

• if the student’s overall average is less than 1.0 at the end of the second regular term
• if the student fails to clear academic probation within two regular terms, excluding the summer term, i.e., the student’s academic status is (2,2) or (2,3), and the student has failed to remove the probation
• if the student is placed on academic probation for a total of four regular terms (a student can be dismissed for this reason even if s/he is in the final year at AUB); i.e., the student’s academic status is (0,3) or (1,3), and the student is again placed 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 through an online reactivation petition. Exceptions may be made for students who left the university for personal or health reasons. Transfer of credit is considered after departmental evaluation of a student’s coursework.

Incompletes

A student who receives an incomplete grade for a course must complete the course work within one month of the start of the next regular term. In the Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, a student who has received incomplete grades will not be permitted to register for more than 16 credits.

Incomplete coursework is reported as “I” followed by a letter grade or a numeric grade reflecting the evaluation of the student based on the grade calculated as per the course syllabus where a grade of zero is computed for all missed work. If the work is not completed within the period specified, the “I” is dropped and the grade becomes the final grade.

A grade of “I” may be assigned by the appropriate faculty committee in cases where they extend the incomplete beyond the normal reporting period based on an approved petition.

Withdrawals

• Full time students can withdraw from courses to a minimum of 12 credits per regular semester (6 credits for summer) by the withdrawal deadline specified on the University calendar. Students receive a grade of ‘W’ for the course.
• Students who withdraw from a course will not be reinstated in that course and are not allowed to take the final exam.

At least 40% of the overall course assessment is expected to be issued by the instructor
before the last day of withdrawal.
 

For class promotion, a student must complete a minimum number of credits per year as listed in the table below:

                                    For class promotion                                                          For class promotion 

  UG Major             from year I to year II                                                          from year II to year III 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

EH                                         30 credits                                                                            63 credits

MLS                                      31 credits                                                                            66 credits

MAS                                     33 credits                                                                            68 credits

MIS                                      34 credits                                                                            65 credits

HCOM                                 32 credits                                                                            66 credits