ACADEMIC GRIEVANCES REMEDIATION CHAIN

For any grievances related to the academic activities, like course registrations, examinations,
attendance, grading, results, etc. the following remediation chain has to be followed. If you
make any direct representation to any higher authority bypassing the immediate authority in
the line of the chain, your representation will be referred back to the bypassed authority.
Hence, you are advised to follow this remediation chain to resolve any academic issues.

DEAN
(ACADEMIC) DIRECTOR

HEAD OF THE
DEPARTMENT

CLASS COMMITTEE
CHAIR-PERSON

COURSE FACULTY MEMBER

STUDENT

It is always easy to resolve academic issues with the course faculty himself/herself. Only
intractable issues need to be taken up to the Class-committee chair-person or the Head of the
department. All issues related to the department are settled by the Head of the department.
Inter-departmental issues and serious matters that merit the attention of the Director are
referred by the Head of the department to the Director. Only the Director can refer an

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academic issue to the Dean (Academic) for an opinion. Hence, students should not directly
send any complaint to the Dean (Academic) bypassing the normal channel.

Teachers are human-beings. Do not expect the course teacher to act very nice and pleasant
towards you when you yourself are unpleasant, or disrespectful, or lazy, or causing
disturbance in the class or laboratory, or not putting enough effort to improve your academic
performance after repeated bad performances. Your professional training starts right here in
the class-room.
While NIT-Trichy has a good academic atmosphere, you must abide by the restrictions placed
to achieve it. Using mobile phones is not allowed in the academic areas and are strictly
prohibited particularly in the class rooms, laboratories, and exam halls.

Please read the following FAQs to further enlighten yourself about the academic activities and
how to resolve academic issues.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)

1. I have not registered for the course in the MIS during the registration period. What
will happen?
Your name will not appear on the rolls of the courses in the session. Even if you attend
all the classes and assessments, the course teacher can not upload the grade in the MIS
if your name is missing from the roll.

2. I did not read the course-plan in the beginning of the session. Now the course
teacher says that I got low grade because I did not follow the course-plan. What
shall I do?
A course is run by the course teacher according to the approved course-plan. All
course-plans for the session are available in the intra-net site http://courseplan.nitt.edu.
It is mandatory for each student to read and understand the course-plans of all the
courses he/she is attending. If you do not follow the requirements of the course plan,
you may not even pass the course.

3. I want to know how a course-plan is approved?

Each course has different objectives and different outcomes. This is given in the
syllabus of each course. NIT-T follows outcome-based courses.
Each faculty member who is allotted a course to teach has his/her way of achieving the
course outcomes based on his/her own experience. This is reflected in the course-plan
designed by the faculty member.
Each course-plan is vetted by the Class-committee Chair-person and the Head of the
department. They see to that the course-plan can be completed by the teacher and the
students in one session without undue hardship to the students and the teacher. They
examine whether the course-plan covers all aspects of the prescribed syllabus to
achieve the course outcomes. Only then they give their signature of approval. The
course-plans are improved over time.

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4. Can I see the evaluated answer scripts of the assessments?
NIT-T follows a transparent system of evaluation and grading. According to this, all
evaluated answer scripts of the assessments are shown to the students during a
prescribed period. Students can inspect their evaluated answer scripts during that
period and seek clarifications for any doubts in evaluation or correct any errors that may
have been inadvertently committed by the evaluator.

The answer scripts may not be returned to the students because these may be
preserved for a given period of time for academic audit. The teacher may also need the
answer scripts to justify the final grades awarded to you in the course.

After you have inspected the answer script, the teacher will ask you to sign on the
answer script for having inspected it. The teacher may not show the answer scripts to
the students as and when they like to see them. Hence, you must adhere to the time
frame given to inspect the answer scripts.

5. I am not satisfied with the marks awarded in an assessment. Whom do I contact

for remedy?
The first thing you should do is to inspect your answer script. Then and there itself you
may express your dissatisfaction to the course teacher himself/herself. The course
teacher will give his/her explanation for awarding low marks or no marks. If you are still
not satisfied, you may buttress your argument with other academic material like books,
journals, etc. But remember, you will be awarded marks only for what you have written
in the answer script, not for your arguments.
If you are still not satisfied, you may take the issue to the Class-committee Chair-person
or the Head of the department. They may settle your complaint by looking into the issue
independently or by asking a third faculty member to go through your complaint
anonymously.

6. Does attendance requirement matter for a course?

Each course has different attendance requirements. This is given clearly in the course-
plans. Attendance requirement is independent of the assessments to pass a course.
That is, it is possible that you may get good marks in all the assessments. But if you do
not satisfy the attendance requirement, you may still end up with a V-Redo' grade!

7. What is V - Redo' grade? What shall I do if I get a V grade?

If you do not attend the number of required classes in a course, you will be awarded a V
grade.

Those who are awarded a V grade have three options. They may register with the next
batch of students for the same course if it is a core course or take another elective
course if it is an elective course. For these two options, they will be graded along with
the next regular batch of students and they will get the normal grades.

The other option is to register for the a summer term course. Here they will have to
attend the required number of contact hours under the assigned faculty member during
the summer session. The faculty member may ask the student to sit for the

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 reassessment exam conducted for the course with the next regular batch of students. If
they pass, the redo candidates will get an E grade. If they fail, they have to register for
Formative Assessment (FA) in the next vacation and pass the course.

In all the three options, the students who get V grade have to pass the course with the
next or subsequent batch of students.

8. What is Formative Assessment (FA)? What are its benefits?

Due to the changing demographics of the country, a lot of students who do not have any
real aptitude for engineering, get admitted in NIT-Trichy. Sometimes this number can be
quite large in some classes. Once inside the Institute, these students feel trapped
because they find the intense study required to pass the courses daunting. This can be
too much for some students to handle eventhough they may have outstanding
capabilities in other fields. Formative Assessment (FA) was designed to help such
students to leave the Institute in the minimum time possible, then go out and flourish in
the outside world.
The benefits of FA are:
1. the student does not have to repeatedly appear for exams in the courses he/she was
awarded F grade;
2. once he/she successfully completes FA, he/she will be awarded R grade which has
the same five grade-points as that of the minimum passing grade E;
3. the student can get out of the Institute with his/her class of students without any lag;
4. the student need not unduly feel dejected by any F grade and concentrate on
courses which he/she likes.
The student has to register in the MIS for the FA during the FA registration period. The
FA is conducted during the vacations only. If a student is too lazy to complete even the
FA, he/she will be awarded an I - Incomplete grade, which means he/she has to register
again in the next vacation to complete the FA.

9. What is reassessment exam or re-examination?

This is an examination conducted after the regular assessments have been completed
but before the final grades approved by the PAC are uploaded in the MIS. It is an exam
that covers the entire syllabus and usually for three hours.
Some students may have missed or done poorly in some assessment(s) during the
regular session due to various reasons. This is to give them a second chance to
improve their poor performance so that they can pass the course or get a better grade.
This examination is conducted after a few weeks from the last regular assessment. The
teacher may declare provisional results to inform who all have to write the reassessment
examination.
To be fair to all the students who have done well during the regular assessments and to
prevent students taking undue advantage, there are conditions set on the maximum
benefit a student may get from the reassessment examination.

10. I have a problem in deciding on the courses to register. Whom should I contact?
The first person you should contact is the Class Adviser(s) assigned to your class. They
usually remain the same until you pass out of the department. They can sort out most of
your registration related questions. Never contact the Head of the department before

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 contacting your Class Adviser(s).

11. I have a problem related to MIS. Whom should I contact?

There is someone looking after the MIS in the Academic Office. You should contact that
person for MIS related problems. You should contact the Academic Office for the issue
of transcripts also because it comes under MIS.

12. How is a course taught and my performance in it assessed?

Each course is taught and assessed according to the approved course-plan during the
regular semesters. As mentioned earlier, these course-plans are available in the
intra-net site http://courseplan.nitt.edu
You can refer to all the course-plans for the courses that are being offered during a
particular session. You can also refer to the past course-plans of a particular course
that was offered in the earlier sessions.
For summer sessions, the last approved course-plan for a regular session is followed for
a course.

13. How many times can I register for the FA?

There is no limit to the number of times you can register for the FA, subject to the
conditions for FA. You can register for the FA anytime within the maximum duration
allowed for the B.Tech. program. That is, six years from the date of admission to the
B.Tech. Program.

14. Why is there a maximum duration for the B.Tech. Program?

However much you may like NIT-Trichy, you can not be a student here all your life! The
Institute has to close your MIS account after the maximum duration of the B.Tech.
program. Also, the government has stipulated to keep the student of a program on the
rolls only for maximum duration of N+2 years, where 'N' is the regular duration of the
program. For the present N is four years for the B.Tech. Program.

15. What happens if I do not pass all the courses before the maximum duration
allowed for the program?
All the courses in which you have an 'F' grade or 'I' grade when you reach the maximum
duration of the program will be converted into a 'FF' grades. Then, the CGPA is
calculated. If your CGPA is five or above, you will be considered to have successfully
completed the B.Tech. program and the degree will be awarded.
If the CGPA is below five, then your MIS account will be closed and you will cease to be
a student of NIT-Trichy. Also, you will not be awarded any degree. Hence, it is
important that you convert your 'F' grades and 'I' grades to 'R' grades as early as
possible within the maximum duration of the program.

16. Why is academic honesty insisted upon in many course-plans?

In NIT-Trichy, individual excellence and ethical behaviour is very much expected in all
actions of the students. This has resulted in alumni of this institution rising to the
highest levels in their respective professional fields. Hence, any academic or other types
of dishonesty or unethical practices are firmly put down when detected.

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 If academic dishonesty in any of its many forms is detected in any assessment, that
assessment is immediately cancelled and zero marks are awarded for that assessment
by the faculty member himself/herself.

If more serious cases of dishonesty or crime are detected, the student may be penalized
by the Institute in a variety of ways, including expulsion from the Institute.

17. What are prerequisites for a course?

Many higher-level courses require thorough understanding of some basic concepts
which are taught in some lower-level course. These lower-level courses are called
prerequisites for the higher-level course.
Students are expected to pass these prerequisites before they can register for the
higher-level course. Otherwise, they may not be able to register for the higher-level
course in the MIS. Hence, it is imperative that the students pass the lower-level course
at the earliest, atleast through FA.

18. What are Class Committees (CC) and Performance Analysis Committees (PAC)?
During the session, Class Committees are formed with representatives from the students
of a class and the faculty members teaching the courses for that particular class. The
Class Committee is chaired, usually, by a (senior) faculty member who does not teach
any course for that particular class.
The Class Committee sits together at the beginning of the session to clarify any doubts
of the students regarding the course-plans. In normal course of the session, it also
discusses any difficulties faced by the students and the faculty members of that
particular class to find mutually acceptable solutions.

The Performance Analysis Committee (PAC) of a class consists only of the faculty
members of a Class Committee. This committee analyses the performance of the class
at the end of the session and fixes the grade ranges for the individual courses. When
the grade ranges are fixed, the grades are awarded to the individual students in the
respective courses. These grades are approved by the PAC Chair-person and the Head
of the department. Once the grades are approved, these grades are uploaded in the
MIS to be archived by the Institute. This process may take place after the reassessment
examination.

19. Who publishes the grades of the courses I have studied at the end of the session?
Once the grades are approved and uploaded in the MIS, they are available as official
grades awarded by the Institute. These grades are available with the faculty member
who taught the course. The students may approach him/her to see their grades. Some
faculty members may send these grades to the individual students of his/her class by
e-mail too. The grades are also available with the Head of the department.
The students will get the official grade card from the Academic Office after three or four
months.

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