Academic Policies & Regulations

• 1.       Student shall be awarded the following in the mentioned Table only if he/she meets the graduation requirements stipulated by the College and successfully completed, these instructions shall not be exceeded:

  Major	Minimum Credit hours	Credit Hours from Core courses	Credit Hours from Elective courses	Typical number of study years for general high school students	Maximum number of study years for all students
  Bachelor of Computer Science – BSc CS	126	99	27	4	6
  Bachelor of Computer Engineering – BEng CE	144	117	27	4.5	7
  Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communication Engineering – BEng ECE	144	117	27	4.5	7

  (Note: Graduation requirements for the three programs’ Courses details are available in KCST Course Catalogue)

   

  2.       Maximum & minimum number of years shall not include the foundation year(s).

  3.       A student shall not be allowed to continue in a Bachelor’s Degree program beyond seven years (14 regular semesters), including leave of absence, but excluding the time spent on the Foundation program. The limit of seven years shall apply to all students except when otherwise mandated by the Government. Any exceptions shall be approved by the AAC.

  4.       Students enrolled for a bachelor's degree at the levels shown in the following Table are classified as Number of free hours per school level:

   

  Academic Level	Number of Completed Credit Hours
  First Year	1-32
  Second Year	33-64
  Third Year	65-96
  Fourth Year	97-128
  Fifth Year	129-144

The academic year of the University is from September to August each year.

1.       The University operates on a five-day schedule, from Sunday to Thursday, with an opening hour from 8:00 AM till 8:00 PM.

2.       The student version of the Academic Calendar shall be hosted on the University website and in portal before the start of the upcoming Academic Year.

3.       Student shall be responsible for login in to his/her portal account and signing an acknowledgement that he/she has read and understood the Academic Calendar.

4.       The Fall semester and the Spring semester shall be sixteen weeks in duration each, and it shall consist of:

a.       Fourteen weeks (Seventy working days) of instruction.

b.       Two weeks set aside for a Midterm exam and a Final exam.

5.       The Summer semester shall be eight weeks, suitably divided into:

a.       Seven weeks of instruction at twice the pace of that in a regular semester.

b.       One week set aside for a Midterm exam and a Final exam.

• Credit Hours Structure:

  1.       The structure of each course is determined as follows:

  a.       Course teaching method.

  b.       Number of credit hours.

  c.       The number of hours the student is expected to allocate to study each week.

  2.       Each course has its structure, and the number of Credit Hours for that course is determined by the structure specified for that course as the following:

  Credit Hours	Teaching Method
  One Credit Hour per lecture hour	L	Lecture
  Half a Credit Hour per lecture hour	H	Hands-on

  Note:

  1.       Example of calculation of credit hours of the course:

  a.       (L*1) + (H*0.5)

                                                                 i.      The course with a 2-2 structure: (2*1) + (2*0.5) shall be a number of three Credit Hours.

                                                               ii.      The course with a 3-0 structure: (3*1) + (0*0.5) shall be a number of three Credit Hours.

                                                             iii.      The course with a 3-2 structure (3*1) + (2*0.5) shall be a number of four Credit Hours.

LECTURES, INTERACTIVE AND HANDS-ON SESSIONS

•  A lecture is the traditional delivery by the instructor, while adequate opportunity for students to ask questions, raise doubts or react to instructor's points is also provided. The extent of interaction will depend upon the instructor, the class size, and on the subject being taught.
•  A tutorial session is wholly devoted to resolving doubts, helping students to solve problems, or in some cases discussing case studies. Students are expected to contribute to the discussion in a significant way. Each session will involve no more than 20 students.
•  Hands-on activity takes place in a laboratory at appointed dates/times, where the student is expected to successfully complete an assigned hands-on experiment, or successfully design/assemble/build an assigned sub-system, under supervision of an instructor, and submit a report before a specified deadline.

• Core courses are compulsory courses and students are required to successfully complete them as part of graduation requirements. Core courses are offered as per a fixed schedule that will be specified for each program and discipline.
•  Students are expected to earn additional credits by taking and successfully completing elective courses in specific areas. This is part of the credit requirements for each program. The University will publish the list of elective courses offered for each semester.
•  One or more elective courses may be offered each semester. The set of elective courses that are offered will depend upon a) the need for students to take elective courses b) available expertise amongst faculty. Students, on their part, may opt for those courses that help satisfy the credit requirements and are of interest to them.
•  The college will make every effort to offer as many elective courses as possible under various categories and in various disciplines so that students are able to complete their credit requirements within the stipulated duration of the program.

1.       Students shall register, pay the required fee for the course they are repeating and attend their course classes regularly.

2.       Students must repeat courses in which they have received a grade of “F” or “FA”.

3.       Students shall have the chance to repeat courses for grade improvement only if they have obtained a grade of “C-“ or lower. In this case, the last grade received shall appear in the student’s transcript and be counted for the GPA. The word 'Repeated' shall appear against this grade, and the credit hours for the repeated course shall be counted only once.

4.       Students shall not repeat a course more than three times when the purpose of repeating is to increase the CGPA.

5.       Where a student repeats a course, credit hours of that course shall be counted in the number of hours required to graduate only once, and the latest grade shall be counted.

6.       Students shall compulsorily attend all the lectures, lab sessions, etc., of the repeated courses.

7.       KCST students shall only be allowed to repeat courses outside KCST in exceptional circumstances and after approval by the AAC.

The student counsellor is providing individual counseling sessions on improving academic and studying skills and helps the students achieve smart goals to overcome academic challenges and to get out of the probation.

GPA Warning

Students must maintain a Cumulative GPA >=2.00 at all times during their study at KCST.

•  Any student with a cumulative GPA falling below 2.00 in any regular semester (Fall or Spring) after registering more than 15 credits will receive an academic Warning (GPA Warning 1)
•  The second consecutive regular semester with a cumulative GPA of less than 2.00 shall result in a second warning letter. (GPA Warning 2)
•  In the third consecutive regular semester with a cumulative GPA of less than 2.00, a notice of academic probation will be sent to the student, explaining the consequences of continued low performance. (GPA Warning 3). In the case of sponsored students, sponsoring organisation will be informed for the appropriate action as per their rules.
•  If the student’s GPA continues to be below 2.00 for four consecutive regular semesters, he/she will be dismissed from the college.
•  If, at the end of any semester on Warning or Probation, the cumulative GPA rises above 2.00, the student returns to normal.
•  Results obtained in the Summer term will not trigger either GPA Warnings or Probation status, but if the GPA rises above 2.00 as a result of the Summer term, the student will return to normal.

A.   Course Registration:

1.       The Course Registration process shall be an online service where the student can register for the courses through their Student Online Portal.

2.       Degree students shall register their schedules on the Student Online Portal during the Registration period before the start of each semester.

3.       Self-funded students shall register for a minimum of nine hours per regular semester.

4.       PUC-sponsored, CSC-sponsored, and other ministries-sponsored students shall register for a minimum of twelve Credit Hours per regular semester.

5.       Students with CGPAs between 2.00 and 3.66 shall be allowed to register a maximum of eighteen Credit Hours in the Fall and Spring semesters each and a maximum of ten Credit Hours in the Summer semester.

6.       Expected-to-graduate students shall be allowed to register a maximum of twenty-one Credit Hours in their last regular semester (Fall/Spring) or a maximum of twelve Credit Hours in the Summer semester.

7.       Distinguished students with CGPAs between 3.67 and 4.00 shall be allowed to register a maximum of twenty-one Credit Hours in the Fall and Spring semesters each and a maximum of ten Credit Hours in the Summer semester.

8.       Students under Academic Probation (CGPA below 2:00) shall be allowed to register a maximum of fourteen Credit Hours in regular semesters (Fall/Spring), and a maximum of seven Credit Hours in the Summer semester.

9.       All students shall have an Academic Advising session with their SSC Academic Advisors before Course Registration.

10.   All students shall mandatorily register for the planned core and elective courses for each semester upon the selection of their Major.

B.      Pre & Co-requisites:

1.       Students shall be able to register for a course only after completing and achieving the passing grade in the pre-requisite course as required and described in the study plan if any.

2.       Where the student has a course that has a co-requisite, he/she shall register them together.

3.       The student shall not be able to withdraw from the co-requisite; if this happens, the student shall automatically be removed from the other course.

KCST has a clear and transparent policy for changing programs within KCST:

Policy on Changing Major Programs within KCST

Students are only permitted to change their degree program once throughout their years of study at KCST. Students must follow the following criteria:

Changing into Engineering Programs:

•  Approval on the change program request is determined upon the availability of seats in the selected program according to the capacity.
•  The total number of successfully passed credit hours in the enrolled program must be at least 24 and no more than 75. (transferred credits are excluded).
•  The minimum CGPA should be 2.67 for self-funded and sponsored students.
•  Sponsored students are not permitted to change program before the official approval of the sponsor.
•  Sponsored students must pay the fees of the courses that are not in the study plan of the desired program.
•  Students who are granted KCST scholarship are not permitted to change program.
•  In case the student has transferred credits from a previous institution (college/university), the transferred credits shall be reviewed and modified by the Transfer Credit Committee in KCST.
•  Note: Applying for change program is through the student portal and according to KCST Academic Calendar.

A.      General:

1.       The final grade for each course shall be the total of Midterm and Final examination grades and In-Course assessment grades (including Lab activities).

2.       The minimum passing grade is “D”, and the failing grade is “F” and “FA” in each course.

3.       Students shall be deemed to have earned the corresponding number of Credit Hours once they complete a course with a "D" or higher grade.

4.       Students shall repeat a course if they are given a grade of "F" and “FA”, and they shall complete the same course with a minimum grade of D so it can be counted in the total earned Credit Hours before they can use the Credit Hours towards Graduation Requirements.

5.       Students shall check their Grade Point Averages on the Student Online Portal, and they can monitor their progress throughout their studies.

B.      Grade Appeal:

1.       Student shall have the right to submit a Grade Appeal Request Form, if he/she feels that there is an error, via the Student Online Portal within two working days of the announcement of the final grades for each course.

2.       Grade Appeal Form shall only be applied by the student themselves.

3.       Where the Grade Appeal is linked to a core course and relates to a failure result, the student shall not be allowed to register in the subsequent course(s).

4.       Grade Appeal Request Form shall be allowed only after the announcement of the total Final Course Grade.

5.       The Course Instructor may decide on one of the following outcomes after reviewing the students’ exam paper(s):

a.       Increase the grade.

b.       Keep the grade unchanged.

c.       Decrease the grade.

The above decision shall be approved by the Head of the Department and the Academic Dean. Such a decision will be final.

C.      Grading system:

1.       Passing grades shall be A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, and D.

2.       Student shall be given Credit Hours only once for any course passed at KCST and counting toward their Degree or in the calculation of their GPA.

3.       Final grade of every course shall be computed out of 100 and rounded to the nearest highest integer which is then translated to its equivalent letter grade and grade point automatically as per the below table: