Academic Rules & Regulations

Academic Rules & Regulations

Semester Duration

 There shall be two semesters of 18 weeks each in a year. i.e. Spring semester Jan –May Fall semester Aug – Dec

The semester break up shall be as follows:

  • 16 weeks teaching 2 weeks for examinations, declaration of results.
  • The semester break and summer session shall be observed in the University as promulgated by the University.

General

1. The medium of instruction as well as of examination shall be English for all subjects except Islamic Studies and Pakistan Studies, for which medium shall be either Urdu or English.

2. Non-Muslim students may be allowed to take Ethical Studies course in lieu of Islamic Studies.

Semester Schedule

  • Registration and orientation 1 day
  • Classes 8 weeks
  • Mid-Semester Examination 9th week
  • Classes 8 weeks
  • Final Examination 18th week
  • Semester Break 2 weeks
  • Internships/Makeup courses/Industrial visits during summer vacation
  • Gazetted Holidays as per Govt. Announcement

Program Duration

1. Students shall be required to complete four-year undergraduate degree programs in minimum of 8 regular Semesters (four years) and maximum of 12 regular semesters (six years).

2. At the expiry of 12th semester from the date of enrollment, students shall not be allowed to appear in any subsequent university examination.

Degree Requirements

All four years undergraduate degree programs consist of 130-140 credit hours of approved courses depending upon the requirements of a particular discipline.

Graduation Rule

 The degree shall be awarded to those students who would satisfy the following conditions:

1. Successful completion of total number of courses approved by the Board of Studies. There should not be an ‘F’ grade in any course.

2. Maintain a minimum CGPA of 2.00 during the entire period of his/her studies in the University.

3. Achieve a minimum of “C” grade in Project/Thesis work. (Refer to thesis/project rules).

4. Passing the comprehensive viva voce examination. Fulfill other requirements outlined in the academic and disciplinary rules & regulations.

Course Registration

1. Students shall be required to register for the courses before start of each semester on the prescribed registration form.

2. Course/s registration shall be allowed as announced by the university.

3. Any change of the course/s shall be allowed only within the first week from the date of commencement of the semester.

Maximum/ Minimum Course Load in a Semester

1. The maximum course load for an undergraduate student in a regular (Fall & Spring) semester shall be 18 credit hours (six courses).

2. The minimum course load for an undergraduate student in a regular semester shall be 9 credit hours (three courses).

3. Students can take up to 6 credit hours (two courses) during summer semester.

Adding/ Withdrawing Course

1. A student, with the consent of concerned Director/HOD, may be allowed to withdraw a course/s within 10 weeks of the commencement of semester.

2. Student shall be awarded grade 'W' for the respective course/s if withdrawn within the 10 weeks of the commencement of semester with prior permission from the university.

3. Course/s withdrawn within 10 weeks shall be recorded on the transcript with a grade 'W.

4. Non-attendance will not constitute an official withdrawal.

Add / Drop Of Course/s

 A student may add/drop course\s with the consent of concerned Director/HOD within 4th Week of the commencement of semester.

Attendance Requirement

1. Students are required to adhere to the university academic calendar and attend regularly all lectures, laboratory sessions, seminars, discussions, library sessions and field work as may be specified for each course in a semester.

2. Students shall be required to maintain minimum of 75% of class attendance in each course, otherwise the student shall not be allowed to appear in the final exam of that course. There shall be no relaxation what so ever for any reason.

3. Failure to meet the attendance requirements shall render the student ineligible for appearing in the final examination of the concerned course and he/she shall be awarded an 'F' grade in that particular course.

Examination, Grading and Evaluation

1. There shall be two examinations: mid semester and final exam for each course during each semester. Same criteria shall be followed in the Summer Semester.

2. The performance of a student shall be evaluated through a continuous testing procedure spread over the entire period of his/her studies.

3. The weightage of the exams and quizzes/assignments shall be as under:In each semester, students may be required to appear in quizzes, tests, mid-exam, final examination,Presentations(individual/group, group discussions, and submit projects/ assignments/lab reports etc. Appearance in the final examination is mandatory. These assessment marks (to be determined by the teacher concerned) will have different weightage contributing towards the overall assessment in percent marks. This weightage may be determined on the basis of following Guidelines:

 Nature of Examination  Weightage (%)
 Class Participation /  Assignments /  Quizzes /  Projects  30
 Mid Examination  30
 Final Examination  40
 Total  100

4. In order to complete/pass a course, a student shall be required to obtain minimum 'D' grade each in Theory and Practical work separately.

5. The teacher may give as a part of the course requirement, home assignments, quiz reports, and projects etc.

6. The number of activities mentioned in shall depend on the credit hour weightage of the course. One credit hour shall entail minimum of two class activities. e.g. Three credit hour courses shall have minimum of 6 activities (quizzes/ assignments or any other assessment activity).

7. Practical course is considered as a separate course of one credit hour equivalent to two/three Lab. contact hours. Practical courses shall be evaluated separately out of 100 marks.

8. Final Exam is mandatory, irrespective of the total marks obtained in the quiz/ assignments and mid semester exam.

Marks and Grading Criteria

Student’s performance is evaluated by following grading criteria. Course grades (letter grades) are awarded to students based on the relative performance in the course as shown in the table given below.

Relative Grading System

 Grade  Grade Point  Remarks
 A+  4.00  Exceptional
 A  4.00  Outstanding
 A-  3.66  Excellent
 B+  3.33  Very Good
 B  3.00  Good
 B-  2.66  Good Above
 C+  2.33  Average
 C  2.00  Satisfactory
 C-  1.66  Pass
 D+  1.33  Low Pass
 D  1.00  Marginal Pass
 F  0.00 Below  Fail
 I    Incomplete
 W    Course Withdrawn

Relative grading system will be applied if the class strength is 20 or more, if class strength is less then 20 then absolute grading system will be applied as given below.

Absolute Grading System

 Marks%  Grade Point  Letter Grade  Remarks
 90 and above  4.00  A+  Exceptional
 85-89.9  4.00  A  Outstanding
 80-84.9  3.66  A-  Excellent
 75-79.9  3.33  B+  Very Good
 71-74.9  3.00  B  Good
 68-70.9  2.66  B-  Good Above
 64-67.9  2.33  C+  Average
 61-63.9  2.00  C  Satisfactory
 58-60.9  1.66  C-  Pass
 54-57.9  1.33  D+  Low Pass
 50-53.9  1.00  D  Marginal Pass
 Below 50  0.00 Below  F  Fail
     I  Incomplete
     W  Course Withdrawn

Student obtaining less than 40 marks out of 100 in any course will be awarded “F” grade while applying the relative grading system.

“W” stands for withdrawn course and has no grade point equivalent and credit hours for withdrawn courses will not be count towards the credit hours taken in semester.

“I” stands for incomplete course.

Academic Honors

To earn the degree with honor, a candidate must pass all required courses in the first attempt maintaining a CGPA of 3.0 or above in each semester.

Merit Scholarship

Student obtaining GPA of 3.50 or above in any semester will be awarded merit scholarship.

Probation & Expulsion Rules

1. In order to continue in good academic standing a student must achieve a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of at least 2 on scale of 4 during the entire period of his/her studies.

2. If a student's GPA drops below 2 in the first semester he/she shall be on 1st probation in the next semester. He/she shall be required to makeup CGPA of 2.0 or more in the next semester.

3. If a student GPA drops below 1.0 in the first semester, he/she shall be expelled from the university.

4. If a student is unable to maintain the CGPA of 2.0 in the second semester, he may be promoted to the next semester and would be on final probation. If a student fails to maintain the CGPA of 2.0 in that semester, he/she shall be expelled from the University and cannot be readmitted.

5. If a student fails to pass certain courses, yet manages to maintain CGPA of 2 or above he/she may be allowed to repeat and clear the courses when such courses are offered.

6. A student on probation shall only be allowed to take maximum of 12 credit hours load in the next regular semester.

7. A student is allowed only two academic probations in a program after which he/she shall be expelled from the University.

Repetition/ Improvement of Grades

1. Students generally may not be allowed to repeat courses for improvement of their grades except probationer students with ‘D’ and ‘D+’ grades only.

2. In case a student repeat the course which has already been taken, the old grade will be substituted with the new grade (for CGPA calculation), but in case a student takes a new course in lieu of the course in which he/she failed, both the grades will reflect on his/ her transcript, i.e. old course grade and new course grade.

3. A student can be allowed to repeat a maximum of six courses (18 credit hours) to improve his/her grade.

Incomplete Course

 (projects, seminars, and special cases only)

1. An ‘I’ grade is given to a student in a project/ seminar, if he/she does not complete course requirements within the prescribed time-limit, and the supervisory committee is satisfied that it was because of circumstances beyond his/her control (special case), and that only a minor component of the course is outstanding.

2. Incomplete grade ‘I’ shall not be considered in GPA/CGPA calculations. However, it is responsibility of the student to complete the remaining work of 'I' grade course not later than 3rd week of the next semester.

Summer Semester

Summer semester is not a regular semester. It provides opportunity to students who have failed in course/s and those who wish to improve their CGPA to qualify the next semester:

1. During any summer semester normally, a student may enroll a course/s with ‘F’, ‘D’ and ‘D+’ grade up to a maximum of 6 credit hours.

2. A student may be enrolled only if the particular course/s is offered with minimum class formation of 5 students in each course.

Comprehensive Viva Voce

The comprehensive viva voce is mandatory requirement for the award of undergraduate degree. This viva voce is scheduled at the end of the final semester in which the student is completing his course work, in order to judge the understanding, articulation as well as application of the knowledge gained by the student. The idea is to see that students are able to digest what is being taught in four full years and see their relevance not only in the practical field but also their inter relationship.

Make-Up Examination

1. If a student fails to appear in the Mid or Final Exam due to unavoidable circumstances i.e. death of blood Relations (mother, father, brother or sister), Personal severe accident, severe illness (hospitalization) (onus of proof entirely on the student), but otherwise complies with other course requirements such as attendance, completion of assessment activities, then on the recommendations of the course teacher and the student advisor

2. Mid semester or final exam may be rearranged by University, only after the approval and determination of the modalities of the case.

3. Any such exam if allowed shall be held with in the 3rd week of that semester's final exam of which the student is defaulter.

Semester Freeze Rules

1. A student may freeze a semester with prior permission and approval from the university within the first week of the commencement of a semester and only his/her 75%tuition fee will be refunded. 25% of tuition fee will be charged as service charges. Students freezing semester after the first week will not get any dues refunded.

2. If a student freezes a semester, he/she will be admitted in the same semester.

3. No freezing in the first semester is allowed.

4. A student freezing a semester has to complete his/her program in a maximum of 12 regular semesters (6 years). His/her registration will not be cancelled.

5. If a student drops a semester without prior approval of the university, his/her admission shall stand cancelled.

Cancellation of Admission

If a student fails to attend any lecture during the first four weeks of the commencement of the semester as per announced schedule, his/her admission shall stand cancelled automatically without any notice.

Cheating/ Unfair Means

NTU maintains a very strict policy on academic improprieties. Any student found cheating or using unfair means in the exam, quizzes and assignments will be dealt severely which may lead to expulsion from the university. (Please consult disciplinary/misconduct rules)

Student Grievances

A committee comprising all HOD's will redress the grievances of the students about any course instructor or grades. A student must approach the Director for a grievance on grade within 5 days of the receipt of the grade.The Director shall forward the grade grievance to the committee and it will be binding on the committee for hearing both sides (student and the instructor), and will give a final decision within 5 days or before the start of registration for the new semester which comes early. The decision of the committee will be final.

Course File

Course file will be maintained for every course by the course teacher. It will have a complete record of everything that happened during the semester. The course file will contain:

  • Course Specifications
  • Weekly Teaching Schedule
  • Academic Calendar
  • Time Table
  • Office Hours for Students
  • List of Studies
  • Class Activity Report with Class Attendance
  • Copy of all Quizzes / Assignments
  • Copy of Question Papers (Mid and Final Exams)
  • Award List (Quizzes/ Assignments / Mid Exam / Final Exam)
  • Difficulties/problems faced during classroom/course delivery

The course file of each subject will be made available to Student in the office of the HOD and also in the library.