BAHIR DAR UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

(Senate Approved)

Academic Regulations

March, 2009

Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Article 1: Short Title .................................................................................................... 1

Article 2: Issuing Authority ....................................................................................... 1

Article 3: Definitions ................................................................................................... 1

Article 4: Semester Load for Regular Students ..................................................... 2

Article 5: Semester Load for Continuing Education Students ............................ 2

Article 6: Courses Validity and Study Duration ..................................................... 3

Article 7: Credit Requirements ................................................................................. 3

Article 8: Class Attendance........................................................................................ 4

Article 9: Undergraduate Grading System ............................................................ 5

Article 10: General Examination Provisions........................................................... 7

Article 11: Mid - term and Final Examination Administration ............................ 7

Article 12: Examination Rule Violations ................................................................. 7

Article 13: General provision on Remarking Final Examination and

Remarking Procedure............................................................................................ 7

Article 14: Make-up Examinations ........................................................................... 7

Article 15: Student Academic Achievements ......................................................... 9

Faculty of Engineering Academic Regulation

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

Article 16: Academic standing of undergraduate students .............................. 10

Article 17: Drop out, Withdrawal and Clearance ................................................ 10

Article 18: Graduation Academic Achievements ................................................. 10

Article 19: Repeating, Adding and Dropping courses ........................................ 11

Article 20: Re Examination Period...................................................................... 11

Article 21: Graduation with Distinction and Great distinction......................... 12

Article 22: The Bahir Dar University Medal .......................................................... 12

Article 23: Holistic Examination ............................................................................. 12

Article 24: Internship Evaluation .......................................................................... 13

Article 25: Credit Conversion Criteria.................................................................... 14

Article 26: Grade Conversion .................................................................................. 15

Article 27: Working Formats ................................................................................... 18

Article 28: The BDU Senate Legislation Affected by the Present

Regulation ............................................................................................................. 18

Article 29: Effective Date ........................................................................................ 18

Faculty of Engineering Academic Regulation

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

Article 1: Short Title

This regulation can be cited as Academic Regulation for Engineering

Programs.

Article 2: Issuing Authority

This academic regulation is issued by Academic Commission of the

Engineering Faculty.

Article 3: Definitions

3.1 Academic Commission means of the Academic Commission of the

Engineering Faculty.

3.2 Credit hour(s) means credit values to an individual course on the basis
of time allocated to lecture, tutorial, laboratory works or practices in the
conventional system.

3.3 Credit point(s) means values credited to an individual course on the

basis of hours allocated to lecture, tutorial, lab/practice, or home study in the
ECT system.

3.4 Student(s) means the students of Engineering Faculty.

3.5 Conventional system means the teaching learning, grading process

that existed at the faculty till it replaced with the European oriented education
process.

3.6 European Credit Transfer System means the European course credit
and grading scale that adopted at the faculty since year 2007.

Faculty of Engineering Page 1 of 18 Academic Regulation

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

3.7 The Holistic examination means an examination, which constitutes all

basic subjects studied by each engineering stream in the first five semesters.

3.8 BDU Senate legislation refers to the BDU Senate legislation of May 20,
2005.

Article 4: Semester Load for Regular Students

A minimum credit points (CPs) for full-time regular students shall be 25 per
semester. The maximum load shall not be exceeded 30 credit points unless
otherwise stated in the catalogue; a student who has justifiable reasons for
deviation from the normal load has to secure a special permission from a
department head in the charge of a program, the student is affiliated.
However, the total load even with the special permission shall not exceed 33
credit points.

Article 5: Semester Load for Continuing Education Students

5.1 The normal load in evening programs shall be 14 to 18 credit points

per semester unless otherwise prescribed in the course catalogue. A student
may be allowed to take up to 20 credit points when justifiable:
a) When the student secures a first class status: as per European
Credit Transfer System (ECTS) upon completion of an equivalent
course work corresponding to one academic year.
b) At his/her senior year /graduation year, if the student passes all
courses taken up to date.

5.2 The normal load for extension students in a summer semester shall be
10 -14 credit points.

5.3 The normal semester load in the continuing Education for Kiremt
students shall be 20 - 22 credit points.

Faculty of Engineering Page 2 of 18 Academic Regulation

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

5.4 For the purpose of determining academic status of Kiremt students,

one Kiremt session is counted to a Kiremt Semester, but three Kiremt
semesters are connoted to one regular academic year.

5.5 The semester grade point average calculated at the end of each
Kiremt Semester (KSS), in conjunction with cumulative student status (CSS),
shall be used to determine the academic status of a student.

Article 6: Courses Validity and Study Duration

Students enrolled in the faculty shall pursue his/her study for maximum
lengths of duration of a program as follows:

6.1 The duration of study for undergraduate degree in the regular

program shall be five years. The maximum length of time students may stay
in such programs calculated from the date of initial enrolment, shall not
exceed ten years for a regular engineering degree program.

6.2 The duration of study for undergraduate degree in the continuing

education programs shall be seven to eight years. The maximum length of
time students may stay in such programs, starting from the date of initial
enrolment shall be 12 years.

6.3 A student who fails to complete his/her studies before the expiration
of the maximum length permitted shall be dismissed from that program.

Article 7: Credit Requirements

7.1 A credit is defined as 50 minutes in lecture, laboratory/practical or

tutorial work guiding activity.

7.2 The minimum total credit points for five years a baccalaureate program
shall be 295 credit points, the maximum 305.

Faculty of Engineering Page 3 of 18 Academic Regulation

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

7.3 The proportion of time to be given to lectures, laboratory works

tutorials, exercises, etc, shall be determined for each course by a department
offering that course and follow the approval of the facultys Academic
Commission.

Article 8: Class Attendance

8.1 Both regular and extension students are required to attend all lectures,
laboratory/practical sessions, as well as, field activities.

8.2 In a situation where reasons beyond his/her control, a minimum of

85% attendance is tolerated for the lecture/tutorial sessions, but it is
compulsory to attend 100% of time of laboratory/practical class sessions.

8.3 A student who has missed more than 15% lecture/tutorial attendance
shall be given a grade I (Incomplete attendance) and the student or his/her
representative shall be required to provide acceptable reasons for his/her
failure to attend the classes with in two weeks from the commencement of
the following semester.

8.3.1 If a students incomplete attendance is proven to have been for

valid reasons, his registration for the course shall be cancelled
and permitted to retake the course afresh.

8.3.2 If a students incomplete attendance was due to reasons that

were not valid, his/her registration for the course shall be
considered as repeated course and the I grade shall be changed
to I* at the end of the second week of the commencement of
the subsequent semester.

Faculty of Engineering Page 4 of 18 Academic Regulation

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

8.3.3 If a student obtains an I*, he/she shall retake the course and if
he/she scores a passing grade for this repeated course, the
maximum grade registered shall be C. If he/she scores an F
for this course, he/she shall be allowed to sit for supplementary
exam only once.

Article 9: Undergraduate Grading System

9.1. Academic achievement in all undergraduate engineering programs at the

faculty shall be graded on the letter and number grade systems as follows:

Corresponding Interval of
Raw Mark fixed Number Corresponding Number
[100 %] grades Letter grade Grade

[98,100] 1.0 A+ = 1.0

1.0 < X
[95, 98) 1.3 A 1.3

[91, 95) 1.7 A- 1.3 < X 1.7

[88, 91) 2.0 B+ 1.7< X 2.0

[83, 88) 2.3 B 2.0< X 2.3

[76, 83) 2.7 C+ 2.3< X 2.7

[66, 76) 3.0 C 2.7< X 3.0

[56, 66) 3.3 D 3.0< X 3.5

[50, 56) 3.7 E 3.5< X< 4.0

[0, 50) 4.0 F = 4.0

9.2 For any course having lecture, laboratory/practice and tutorial, raw mark
evaluation should be treated independently from 100 %.

Faculty of Engineering Page 5 of 18 Academic Regulation

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

9.3 The final number grade is obtained based on the sum of the percentage
of independent raw mark with its weightage given for each course element

9.4. Grade point average is determined by dividing grade points earned in

semester by number of credit points in that semester.

9.5 The final number grade of module is obtained based on the sum of the
number grades of independent courses with its weightage given for each
course in a module.

9.6 The number grade is defined as follows:

Number Grade with

Letter Grade Description
Class Interval
1.7 A Excellent
1.7 < x 2.3 B Very Good
2.3 < x 3.0 C Good
3 < x 3.5 D Satisfactory
3.5 < x < 4 E Sufficient
4 F Fail

9.7 The student status is determined in cut-point grading technique as

follows:

Number Grade with Description

Class Interval
1.7 First class with great distinction
1.7 < x 2.3 First class with distinction
2.3 < x 3.0 First class
3 < x 3.5 Second Class
3.5 < x < 4 Pass
4 Fail

9.8 In case, where a student does not have full examination records,
he/she will be treated as per Bahir Dar University (BDU) Senate Legislation,
Articles of 85.3, 85.4, 85.5 and 85.6.

Faculty of Engineering Page 6 of 18 Academic Regulation

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

9.9 When a student repeats a course in which he/she earned an F or

obtained a grade below the minimum required, in a special consideration, the
credit points earned in the initial class for the same course be ignored in
calculating his/her grade point.

9.10 A students all required non-credit works shall be recorded with a grade
of P (pass) or F (fail), but neither shall be included in the grade point
average computation.

Article 10: General Examination Provisions

General provision on examinations shall be treated as per BDU Senate

Legislation, Article 86 with its entire sub articles.

Article 11: Mid - term and Final Examination Administration

Administration of the mid term and final examinations shall be carried out as
per BDU Senate Legislation, Article 87.

Article 12: Examination Rule Violations

Violations of examination regulations by students shall be dealt with on the

basis of BDU Senate Legislation, Article 88.

Article 13: General provision on Remarking Final Examination and

Remarking Procedure

Provision on remarking the final examination and remarking procedure shall

be treated as per BDU Senate Legislation, Articles 89 and 90 respectively.

Article 14: Make-up Examinations

14.1 Makeup examinations shall not be allowed for the purpose of raising
grade point averages. However, a student who unable to sit for a final

Faculty of Engineering Page 7 of 18 Academic Regulation

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

examination for reasons beyond his/her control, such as hospitalization or

accidents and, as a result, has made an I (incomplete) grade against a
course is allowed to take a make up examination.

14.2 Any student or a person representing the student shall submit in writing
valid and documented reasons for failing to take on the final examination on
the schedule, to the respective department chairperson within two weeks
after start of the subsequent semester.

14.3 Where the Academic Commission finds that the student has no valid
reasons for not sitting for the final examination, the I grade on the students
record shall be converted automatically to I* and he/she shall be treated
with article 8.3.3 of this document.

14.4 A student who allowed for a make up examination shall register for the
examination with the current batch for the upcoming final exam in same
subject. The head of the department shall immediately inform in writing the
instructor concerned with the Academic Commissions decisions on the
requested exam. So that, the instructor may produce a different test
questions for the student if he/she feels that a considerable change in the
subject content has been made, including the mode of delivery or course
activity.

14.5 A student who allowed to take a make up examination shall apply

and register for the examinations at least one month before the final
examination on the course is scheduled to be administered.

14.6 A student who has three or more I grades in semester shall,

withdraw from the university for academic reasons and apply for make up
exam as stated in sub article 14.2 ,therefore. No cumulative average

Faculty of Engineering Page 8 of 18 Academic Regulation

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

number grade (CANG) and cumulative average letter grade (CALG) shall be
calculated and no academic status shall be determined for such a student
until the results of make up examination are known.

14.7 The I grades should not empower the student to extend his/her study
years. If the student has used for such purpose, he/she shall be forced to
withdraw as in line with article 14.6 following decision by the Academic
Commission.

14.8 A graduating student with an I grade (s) should take a make up

examination during the kiremt semester if the exam(s) is/are available.

14.9. If an I grade not removed within a year, as per the provisions of this
article, it shall be converted to an I* grade unless the student is in forced
withdrawal condition.

Article 15: Student Academic Achievements

15.1 At the end of each semester, the faculty will examine the case of student
who fails to achieve the required academic standard in line with the guideline
fixed by its academic commission in Article 18.2 of this document.

15.2 One semester in the regular program is equivalent to two semesters in

the continuing education program. The academic status of continuing
education student is, therefore, determined on every other semester.

15.3 Academic Credentials like 12+1, 12+2, etc., should be issued to

applicants only after the status is determined by the facultys Academic
Commission, however, universal regulations set by Ministry of Education for
vocational training and in force during the student admission should be taken
into consideration. Details will be included in the bylaws of the registrar
office.

Faculty of Engineering Page 9 of 18 Academic Regulation

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

15.4 The academic status of part-time students is determined for every 25-30
credit points, stating from the first admission date of the students.

Article 16: Academic standing of undergraduate students

16.1 A student who made an E grade or above in all courses of a semester

shall be in good standing.

16.2 The Dean shall warn a student, who made an F grade in any course
at the end of the semester.

16.3 A student who scored 3Fs at the end of each semester with less than
or equal to 12 total credit points (CP) is allowed to continue to the next
semester study.

16.4 A student who scored more than 3Fs per semester shall be dismissed
for academic reasons.

Article 17: Drop out, Withdrawal and Clearance

Drop out, withdrawal and clearance activities shall be treated as per BDU
senate legislation sub article 92.6.

Article 18: Graduation Academic Achievements

18.1. A degree candidate is required to have a minimum E grades in

his/her all major and minor area of studies (while it applies) as well as in the
overall courses to be eligible for graduation.

18.2. A degree or diploma candidate shall not graduate with an F grade in

any course unless the course is a phased out, or a minimum requirement is
possible without this particular course, or it is not required for the program of
the study.

Faculty of Engineering Page 10 of 18 Academic Regulation

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

Article 19: Repeating, Adding and Dropping courses

19.1. A student who has obtained F grade in a course with fulfilling the
required attendance shall be allowed to take re-exam. A student who scored
an F for any course for the third time will be dismissed academically.
However, graduating class student who scored F grade in any course for the
third time can apply for course allergic if he/she fulfils minimum credit points
required for graduation.

19.2. The maximum grade for repeated exam is registered as C. If a student

scored grades less than C from the repeated exam, the repeated grade shall
be accepted as it is. A previous F grade shall be shown as cancelled on
transcript to indicate that the exam has been repeated and the new grade
shall be included in computation of the ANG and ALG in the reporting period.
19.3 Adding and dropping of the courses shall be treaded as per BDU Senate
legislation sub article 94.2

Article 20: Re Examination Period

20.1 Re-Examination shall be administrated within two weeks after the

commencement of the subsequent semester.

20.2 A student who scores F in any course for the second time shall be
forced to withdraw and he/she can apply for the last re-examination after a
year.

20.3 A student shall not be allowed to sit for a re-examination more than
twice.

20.4 A Student who fails in his final year thesis shall be allowed to register
for the new thesis to have completed during the subsequent semester.
However, his/her grade on the course shall be recorded as it is.

Faculty of Engineering Page 11 of 18 Academic Regulation

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

Article 21: Graduation with Distinction and Great distinction

The following shall constitute the requirements for graduation with academic
distinction:

A student who maintains Aggregate Number Grade (ANG) 1.7 upon

completion of the requirements for the engineering baccalaureate degree
shall graduate as first class with great distinction. If his/her grade point
average is greater than 1.7 and less than or equal to 2.3, he/she shall
graduate as first class with distinction.

Article 22: The Bahir Dar University Medal

The university medal is a prize awarded every year at the commencement to

one out standing regular student at the faculty. The student should score an
Aggregate Number Grade less than or equal to 2.3 for qualification. In
addition, the award is determined on the basis of individual character and
participation in extra-curricular activities. The academic commission of faculty
shall recommend to the senate its out standing students for the approval
every year.

Article 23: Holistic Examination

In line with the new engineering curriculum design, there is holistic exam
shall be conducted at the end of the 6th semester study. The following
conditions should be taken into consideration for the holistic exam
qualification:

23.1 A student who has completed all basic studies with PASS grades shall be
qualified for the exam.

23.2. Students shall be registered for holistic exam two weeks before the
commencement of the seventh semester.

Faculty of Engineering Page 12 of 18 Academic Regulation

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

23.3. Holistic exam should be identified with course title & code.

23.4. The grade point of holistic exam should not include either semester or
cumulative status of student.

23.5. The holistic exam result shall be rated as PASS or FAIL status. A
student who scores 50% mark at the holistic exam shall pass and continue
the internship in the coming semester.

23.6. Holistic exam shall be given once in a year and the period shall be as
indicated in the academic calendar.

23.7. A student who failed the holistic exam can repeat it twice. The student
shall be academically dismissed if he/she fails for the third time.

Article 24: Internship Evaluation

24.1 Internship shall be in the 7th semester of the study.

24.2 Internship is fully done in an industry.

24.3 The students performance in the internship should be evaluated by the

industry that employs the student, the assigned department advisor and jury
formed by the department.

24.4 The final result of students internship performance report result shall be
converted to a letter grade as per article 9.1. of this academic regulation.

24.5 If a student fails, he/she shall be allowed to repeat the internship only
for the second time.

Faculty of Engineering Page 13 of 18 Academic Regulation

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

Article 25: Credit Conversion Criteria

Both systems (ECTS and conventional system) are used credits to measure
the course through contact hours. Hours are billed to course element in order
to complete the targeted course objectives. These course element hours may
be indicated as following in both systems:
a) Lecture hours
b) Tutorial hours
c) Laboratory /practical work hours.
d) Home study hours.

No hours given for home study in conventional curriculum course time

breakdown structure. The rest are common in both systems. However; the
method of appliance varies in tutorial, laboratory and practical work hours in
both systems.

In conventional system 2/3 tutorial hours or 2/3 laboratory/ practical work

hours anticipated equivalent to 1 credit hour lecture time. Whereas in ECTS
the time used up for all course elements are equally measured as per lecture
hour too. The inference of tutorial and laboratory/practical hours and the
inclusively/exclusivity of home study hours in course study element hours of
both systems of curriculum structure escort use to establish one-way
conversion criterion of grades from ECTS to conventional grading system.
Therefore, seeing all possible course study element hours in both curriculum
breakdown structures the following conversion criteria are established for
credit altering:

25.1 A Course having only lecture hours in ECTS curriculum structure is in a

straight line identical to conventional credit hour system by rejecting home
study hours billed in ECTS. Therefore:

Faculty of Engineering Page 14 of 18 Academic Regulation

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

Credit po int (CP ) in ECTS = Convention al Credit Hours (C .Hr )

= Lecture contact Hours

25.2 A course have been lectured and tutorial hours in ECTS equals to
conventional credit hours system, dividing tutorial hours by 2/3 and adding
dividend hours of tutorial to lecture hours of ECTS. Therefore:

2
Credit Hours (C.Hr ) in Conventional system = a + (b )
3

Where: a = lecture hours in ECTS system

b = tutorial hours in ECTS system

25.3 A course have been lectured, tutorial and laboratory /practice hours in
ECTS equals to conventional credit hours system, dividing each hour specified
in tutorial & laboratory/ practice by three and adding the dividends to lecture
hours of ECTS. Therefore:

2 2
Credit Hours (C.Hr ) in Convention al system = a + [(b ) + (c )]
3 3

Where: c = laboratory/ practical hours in ECTS system

Article 26: Grade Conversion

In the ECTS system grade is expressed in number and letter grades (using
the 4-point scale letters and A to E, for pass grade and F for failed grade),
whereas in conventional grading system, it is expressed only in letters A to D
for pass and F for failed grades. Furthermore the ECTS grading system

Faculty of Engineering Page 15 of 18 Academic Regulation

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

follows the fixed scale approach and while in the conventional system grading
is flexible and it depends on an individual instructors systematic decision.
Therefore, in order to convert grades from ECTS to the conventional system,
some commonly accepted trend or established data is essential, which
initiated from the practice of the facultys conventional grading trend with
reference of other the universitys conventional grading system in consistent
with the ECTS grading system.

For this reason, data has been collected on scoring and scaling trend from
different departments at Engineering Faculty. In Addition, grading trend of
Addis Ababa University is studied for allusion purpose. After all these activity,
the conversion criterion is established for purpose of grade conversion from
ECTS to conventional grade system, as indicated in the following table.

Established grade conversion criterion from ECTS to conventional credit hours

system
Established data to convert grade
ECTS Grading system of
from ECTS to conventional grading
Engineering Faculty
system

Exam Score Number Letter Exam score Grade

grade grade
[98 ,100] 1.0 A+

[95,98) 1.3 A
[83-100] A
[91-95) 1.7 A-
[88,91) 2.0 B+

[83,88) 2.3 B
[76,83) 2.7 C+
[66-83) B
[66,76) 3.0 C
[56,66) 3.3 D
[50-66) C
[50,56) 3.7 E

Faculty of Engineering Page 16 of 18 Academic Regulation

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

26.1 Conversion is performed when request by the student. However it should

be approved by Academic commission of the faculty

26. 2 After conversion the status of the student shall be determined as per
BDU Senate legislation.

26.3 For conversion the following consideration should be taken into account.

a) Respective department should confirm course content equivalence

in both curriculums before course has taken.
b) The conversion is used only for one way i.e. from ECTS to
Traditional system.
c) No conversion of grade for students who scored F grade in ECTS
d) Conversion is worked -out only for passing grades of ECTS i.e. A, B,
C, D & E.
e) The minimum grade earned after conversion is C.

26.3 The class average of exam- score corresponding to a number grade

taken as an exam-score for conventional grading (see Illustration below)

26.4 If a student scores C grade with 2.7 number grade and having a
corresponding exam score ranging from 76 to 82; then the actual mark for
2.7 number grade is calculated by taking the average of 76 and 82, i.e.
(76 + 82)
= 79 . Therefore, 79 exam score corresponds to B grade in
2
conventional credit hour system as per it is established in the table above.

Faculty of Engineering Page 17 of 18 Academic Regulation

 Faculty of Engineering
BAHIR DAR
Department of Textile Engineering
UNIVERSITY

Article 27: Working Formats

Grade reporting, holding, transferring and issuing formats for courses and
modules shall be prepared by the facultys concerning body and endorsed by
the Academic Commission before its implementation.

Article 28: The BDU Senate Legislation Affected by the Present

Regulation

Chapter eight to eleven of the BDUs senate legislation except those Articles
mentioned in this Academic regulation are affected.

Article 29: Effective Date

This academic regulation shall be effective after the endorsement by BDU

senate.

Faculty of Engineering Page 18 of 18 Academic Regulation