• New Student Orientation
• Academic Advisor
• Course Load
• Attendance
• Examinations and Assessment
• Grades
• Grade Point Average (GPA) and Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA)

All incoming students are required to take the "GE 100 - Orientation" course in their first year. This course is designed to adapt students to the university's academic and social environment. Students learn the responsibilities of studying at a university, get information on the facilities and services available to them and are introduced to their new surroundings.

Academic Advisor

At Bilkent University each student is assigned to an academic advisor. The advisor offers counseling services to the student in academic matters, takes an interest in the student's selection of courses and academic progress, and eventually assists him/her towards satisfactory job placement.

Course Load

Courses listed in the catalog on a semester basis for each department represent a normal course load. At the proposal of the student's advisor and with the approval of the Chair of the Department, the course load for a semester may be increased or decreased by a maximum of two courses. Should a course load be reduced, the student must at the first opportunity take the course(s) he/she has omitted or dropped. (See section on "Repeating a Course.") For students attending their final semester, the maximum course load may be increased by one additional course at the proposal of the Department Chair and approval by the Dean or the School Director.

There is a "Nominal Credit Load" in each undergraduate program as established by the Department administering the program and approved by the University Senate. This "Nominal Credit Load" is the quotient obtained by dividing the total credits required for the degree by the duration of the program in semesters as described in the program’s curriculum. The quotient is rounded up to the nearest integer value. Students in Probation are required to retake the courses in which they are awarded grades below "C" and can take "new" courses only up to 60% of the Nominal Credit Load.

Students with Unsatisfactory academic standing are not allowed to take any "new" courses and are required to retake the courses with grades below "C".

Attendance

Students must attend all lecture, laboratory and practical sessions, take all examinations and participate in the activities which the teaching staff may consider appropriate.

Examinations and Assessment

Apart from work conducted throughout the semester, students must take a final examination at the end of each semester and at least one midterm examination for each course. If a staff member considers it appropriate, practical laboratory work or other such assignments may be assessed as midterm examinations.

Grades are finalized when they are announced via the WEB on the date specified in the Academic Calendar. Students are notified of their grades by the Registrar. Semester grades for practical studies and other non-lecture courses are determined by an evaluation of the student's overall work and performance throughout the semester.

Grades

The official University grading system uses letter grades with pluses and minuses. Passing grades range from A to D; F is failing. The quality-point equivalents of the grades are:

					B+		3.30		C+		2.30		D+		1.30
	A		4.00		B		3.00		C		2.00		D		1.00		F		0.00
	A-		3.70		B-		2.70		C-		1.70

Undergraduate students who receive a C or a higher grade are considered to have satisfactorily completed that course. A student receiving between a C- and a D in any course may only be considered successful if he/she has not been on probation during that semester. (See sections on "Students on Probation", "Unsatisfactory Students" and "Repeating a Course.") The letter grade D- is abolished as of September 1, 2006.

Other grades used are S (Satisfactory), U (Unsatisfactory), I (Incomplete), P (in Progress) and T (Transfer). These grades do not have quality-point equivalents.

S	:	accorded to students who are successful in non-credit courses.
U	:	accorded to students who are unsuccessful in non-credit courses.
I	:	accorded to students who, although otherwise successful, have failed to complete the required assignments for a course due to illness or for some other valid reason. Proof of illness or other reason for non-completion must be submitted to the Department Chair within three days of the date of the final exam. A student receiving an incomplete grade for any course must make up for the deficiencies within 15 days after the final exam in order to obtain a grade. Otherwise, the grade I automatically becomes F. At the discretion of the Department Chair, the term specified above may be extended until the beginning of the following semester.
P	:	given at the end of the first semester of a year long course.
T	:	reflects approved transferred courses from other universities.
W	:	given for a course withdrawn by a student subject to the approval of the department chairperson.

Grade Point Average (GPA) and Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA)

A student's academic performance is determined at the end of each semester by computing an average of the grades he/she has received during that semester.

As an example, if the following grades were received by a student in a given semester,

	Course		Grade		Quality Points		Credits		Product
	ELIT 103		B+		3.3		3		9.9
	ELIT 107		C-		1.7		3		5.1
	ELIT 137		B		3.0	x	4	=	12.0
	ELIT 139		B		3.0		3		9.0
	HART 115		C		2.0		3		6.0
	Total						16		42.0

to arrive at the semester grade point average (GPA), the products (credits x quality points) are added and then divided by the number of credits taken. In the above example 42 divided by 16 equals 2.63 (the semester GPA).

The cumulative grade point average (CGPA) -- an average of grades from two or more terms -- equals the sum of the products of all the grades at Bilkent divided by the total number of credits taken.