Senate and University Executive Board Decisions for the Spring (COVID-19) Semester of the Academic Year 2019-2020

 CODE OF PRACTICE:

LEAVE OF ABSENCE (NOT COUNTED TOWARD THE OVERALL NUMBER OF SEMESTERS)

- Upon their requests, all undergraduate students as well as MS/MA students*, remedial students in graduate programs, and Ph.D. students whose status is Course or Qualifying** will be granted leave of absence for the Spring term.

- This period will NOT be counted toward their maximum period of study.

- Students can apply for a leave of absence in the following periods:

June 4-11, 2020 (Thursday – Thursday)

July 6-17, 2020 (Monday – Friday)

- For the executive committees to take action, e-petition requests are sufficient. Students are not required to provide extra documents.

- MS/MA* students who are registered in thesis (690) and Ph.D. students in Thesis status** (790) and unable to carry on with their thesis work need the consent of their thesis advisor in order to be apply to the executive board for a leave of absence.

- This period will not be included into their maximum period of education.

- Students who are not registered this term but are eligible to register can also apply for a leave of absence.

DROPPING COURSES

- Students will be able to drop as many courses as they wish, including the first year courses, without any restrictions. This also includes dropping of the first year courses.

- The course dropping periods are as follows:

May 4-29, 2020 (Monday- Friday)

July 4-8, 2020 (Saturday – Wednesday) (Only courses with F grades)

- Approval of the academic advisors is required in this process.

- Since these courses will be erased from students’ transcripts, there will not be a need to repeat (R) these courses in the future. They can be taken as new courses later on.

- There will be no additional Withdrawal period.

GRADING SYSTEM IN THE COURSES

- For a given course, it will be possible to give Letter Grades or Pass/Fail grades concurrently.

- Only in undergraduate courses, students will be able to request a change in the grading system (without any need for advisor approval) only once for a given course (from Letter Grade to Pass/Fail or vice versa). If  they subsequently want to reverse their request, they have to apply to the executive board of the faculty/school/institute.

- Students who are registered in courses that have changed their grading system with the Senate decision only for the 2020 Spring Term, can request to receive a Letter Grade instead. The final grade will then be determined with the extra work (exam, homework, etc.) given by the instructor of the course. Applications should be made via the registration system BUIS on the dates given above.

- Students registered in a graduate course, in which grades are given as Letter Grades, can apply to receive a Pass/Fail grade. They will not be able to reverse their request once it is granted.

- Students should apply for grade system changes in the following periods:

From Pass/Fail to Letter Grade: May 4-11, 2020 (Monday – Monday)

From Letter Grade to Pass/Fail: July 4-8, 2020 (Saturday – Wednesday)

There will be a further announcement next week regarding the the thesis procedures of the graduate students.

Prof. N. Zeynep Atay Gök

Vice rector