ABBOTTABAD UNIVERSITY OF

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

A CADEMIC R ULES , R EGULATIONS

AND P ROCEDURES

R EVISED 2022
 CONTENTS
Rules, regulations and procedures 3
1 Short title, commencement and application . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4 Academic honor code to ensure student and faculty academic
integrity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5 Degree standardized format scheme of studies . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5.1 Structure of Four-Year Bachelor Degree . . . . . . . . . . 7
5.2 Structure of Five-Year Bachelor Degree . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5.3 Duration of each degree programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5.4 Procedure to Grant Extension in Duration . . . . . . . . . 9
6 Curricula and medium of instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
7 Admission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7.1 Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7.2 Application fee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7.3 Supporting documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7.4 Eligibility Criteria for Various Degree Programme . . . . 10
7.4.1 Eligibility Criteria for Admission to Bachelor/BS
(4 years), Pharm - D, Master (MA/MSc), B.Ed.
Programmes and Merit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7.4.1.1 Eligibility for Bachelor (4/5 years) Pro-
grammes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7.4.1.2 Evaluation of the candidates and Prepar-
ing Merit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
7.5 Ineligibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.6 Age Limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.7 Dual Enrollment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.8 Admission of Foreign Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8 Academic Advisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
9 Academic Year and Academic Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
9.1 Fall / Spring Semester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
9.2 Summer (or Winter) Semester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
10 Credit Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
11 Student Course Load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
11.1 Fall & Spring Semester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
11.2 Course load for summer semester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
12 Course Registration During the Semester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
12.1 Course Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
12.2 Semester Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
12.3 Late Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
12.4 Failure in Registration in a Semester . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
 Academic Rules, Regulations and Procedures |Revised Fall-2022

13 Withdrawal / Drop / Change of Course(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

13.1 Change and Drop of Course(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
13.2 Withdrawal of Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
13.3 Freezing of a Semester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
14 Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
15 Repeating Courses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
16 Attendance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
17 Examinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
18 Panel of Examiners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
19 Grading Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
20 Computation of GPA and CGPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
21 Transfer of Credit Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
22 Requirement for Award of Degrees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
23 Departmental Examination Standards and Student’s Grievances
Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
24 Academic Appellate Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
25 Audit Courses – (non-credited with only Pass / Fail Basis) . . . . 34
26 Course File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
27 Maintenance of Examination Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
28 Teacher / Course Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
29 Merit Certificates / Awards / Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
30 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
31 Financial and Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
32 Student Support Center (SSC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
33 Campus Management System (CMS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
34 Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

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 Academic Rules, Regulations and Procedures |Revised Fall-2022

RULES, REGULATIONS AND PROECDURES PERTAINING TO ADMISSION,

REGISTRATION AND EXAMINATIONS REGARDING SEMESTER PROGRAMMES
OF ABBOTTABAD UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (AUST)
(REVIEWED 2022)

1 Short title, commencement and application

1.1 These regulations shall be known as Academic Rules, Regulations and Pro-
cedures framed under section 29 & 31 of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities
Act 2012 (amended 2016), read with Section 7.

1.2 These Rules, Regulations and Procedures shall come into force with imme-
diate effect.

2 Definitions
i. ‘University’ means Abbottabad University of Science & Technology (AUST),
Abbottabad.
ii. “HEC” means Higher Education Commission, Islamabad Pakistan.
iii. “Academic Council” means the Academic Council of AUST.
iv. “Academic Department” means a teaching, research and technology devel-
opment department maintained and administered by the AUST.
v. “Affiliated Colleges” means an educational institution affiliated to the Uni-
versity but not maintained or administered by it.
vi. “Authority” means any of the authorities of the University specified in Khy-
ber Pakhtunkhwa Universities Act 2012 (Amended 2016);
vii. “ASRB” means Advanced Studies and Research Board of the University.
viii. “Board of Faculty” means the Board of Faculties of the University.
ix. “Board of Studies” means the Board of Studies of the University.
x. "BS" means Bachelor of Studies
xi. “Chairman of the Department/Director of the Institute” means the head of an
Academic Department/Institute and includes the Chairperson.
xii. “Chancellor” means Chancellor of the University.
xiii. “Committee” means Committee constituted for a specific purpose.
xiv. “Dean” means the Dean of the Faculty, who is also Chairman and Chairper-
son of the Board of Faculty.
xv. “Government” means the Government of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
xvi. "HoD" means Head of Department and HOI means Head of Institute
xvii. “Prescribed” means prescribed by Statutes, Regulation or Rules made under
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities Act 2012 (Amended 2016);

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xviii. “Registered Graduate” means a graduate of the University who has his name
entered in the register maintained for this purpose.
xix. “Statutes”, “Regulations” and “Rules” respectively mean the Statutes, the
Regulations and the Rules made or deemed to have been made under the
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities Act 2012 (Amended till now).
xx. “Syndicate” means the Syndicate of the University.
xxi. “Teacher” includes Professors, Associate Professors, Assistant Professors
and Lecturers engaged whole time by the University or by the college for
teaching diploma, degree or postgraduate classes and engaged in research
and development and such other persons who may be declared as Teacher by
Regulations.
xxii. “Vice-Chancellor” means the Vice Chancellor of the University.
xxiii. “PhD” means the Doctor of Philosophy.
xxiv. “MPhil” means the Master of Philosophy and "MS" means Master of Studies
xxv. “Supervisor” means a faculty member holding necessary academic degree
and experience, appointed by the Advanced Studies and Research Board to
supervise the MPhil or PhD student.
xxvi. “Co-Supervisor” means a person holding necessary academic degree and
experience, appointed by the Board of Advanced Studies and Research to
supervise the MPhil or PhD Student.
xxvii. “Comprehensive Examination Committee” means a Committee constituted
for the purpose of conducting comprehensive examination.
xxviii. “GSC” means Graduate Studies Committee within each Academic Depart-
ment.
xxix. “UGAT” University’s Graduate Admission Test of each department.
xxx. Contact Hour Contact hour means student are engaged for academic/research
related activities including instructional work/tutorials, lab work (practical’s),
research work, projects, seminars, workshops, internships, etc., during the
course of studies at the university (face to face or online).
xxxi. “Academic Programme” means a program of studies, which leads to the
award of a University Degree to the students, after successful completion
of all its requirements.
xxxii. “Controller means the Controller of Examinations of AUST.
xxxiii. “CMS” means Campus Management System
xxxiv. “LMS” means Learning Management System
xxxv. “SSC” means Student Support Centre
xxxvi. “Course” Means a course of study leading to the successful completion of
the degree.

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xxxvii. “Credit Course (Cr. Hr)” means the academic load assign to a course, i.e., 1
Cr. Hr, 2 Cr. Hrs , 3 Cr. Hrs , etc.). 1 Cr. Hr is equivalent to 50 minutes of
lecture or recitation per week for the whole normal semester.
xxxviii. “Grade A mark (letter grade or number) indicating the quality of students"
academic performance is called Grade.
xxxvii. “Grade Point (GP)” Number of points representing the letter grades scored
by a student in a subject.
xxxix. “Grade Point Average (GPA)” means the accumulative grade point earned in
a semester or in the whole course of studies mentioned later in this document.
xl. “CGPA” means Cumulative Grade Point Average – calculation of CGPA is
given in the document.
xli. “Non Credit course” means a course of study, successful completion of
which shall not be a requirement for the degree.
xlii. “Registration” means registration of the student with the office of the Regis-
trar of the University.
xliii. “SGPA” means Semester Grade Point Average.
xliv. “Semester” means academic term as per the academic calendar of the uni-
versity.
xlv. “Terminal Examination” means terminal examination of a semester

3 Introduction
3.1 AUST shall offer any study programme in the subjects provided in the sched-
ule and introduced from time to time.

3.2 Admission to the University is open to all eligible candidates without dis-
tinction of caste, creed, gender, or place of origin or domicile. Application
for admission to various courses of study shall be invited from all over Pak-
istan. However, foreign students seeking admission to the University shall
be required to submit their applications through the Ministry of Education,
Government of Pakistan or Higher Education Commission (HEC) or any
other body designated by the Government. The admission rules, eligibility
criteria and other formalities shall be determined as per the Government and
HEC policy of that time.

3.3 Academic year of the university shall comprise of two regular and an op-
tional summer/winter semester, each regular semester of a minimum dura-
tion of 16-18 weeks of teaching & examination and summer/winter optional
semester 6-8 weeks of teaching & examination. However, the number of
contact hours for both theory and lab courses shall be completed as per the
standard mentioned later in this document.

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4 Academic honor code to ensure student and fac-

ulty academic integrity
4.1 The University expects from all faculty and students to stay away from aca-
demic dishonesty in all scholarly endeavors. For any violation of the code,
appropriate disciplinary steps prescribed in the honor code will be taken.
The academic dishonesty means cheating, fabrication, facilitating academic
dishonesty, and plagiarism. In addition, failure to observe the rules of aca-
demic integrity formulated and notified by faculty member for a particular
course will result in prescribed actions against the students.

4.2 Similarly, every faculty member will strictly follow a code of conduct i.e.,
regularity, punctuality, total delivery of assigned courses, timely conduct of
assignments and quizzes and evenly distributed terminal and mid-term ex-
aminations. The faculty member will also make himself/herself available for
consultation and counseling of students during the weekly timetable. The
faculty member is also expected to make sure that he/she is carrying the
student with him during the delivery of the lecture and the teacher student
communication level is satisfactory. Academic integrity of a faculty member
demands that failing to satisfy majority of students in his lecture delivery and
communication as well as below 60% student’s evaluations, he/she should
seriously consider corrective measures before the management makes some
embarrassing decisions.

4.3 HEC’s policy for plagiarism is strictly followed at the AUST. Due diligence
by all departments is mandatory to deter academic dishonesty and promote
ethical principles governing academic behavior. The Anti-Plagiarism Stand-
ing Committee at the university is responsible to deal with plagiarism cases,
if any.

5 Degree standardized format scheme of studies

The university offers various degree programes of undergraduate and graduate lev-
els. Under the undergraduate level, the university offers 4- and 5-years degree
programmes such as BS in Computer Science, BS in Architecture, Pharm-D, etc.
On the other hand, MS/MPhil, and PhD programmes are offered under the graduate
level programmes. The following sections describe structure, duration, and other
different features of these programmes.

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5.1 Structure of Four-Year Bachelor Degree

a. Total Number of Credit Hours 124 – 140*

b. Semester Duration 16 – 18* Weeks
c. Number of Regular Semesters 08
d. Number of Summer Sessions 1 – 2 in one calendar year
e. Course Load per Semester 15 – 20 Credit Hours
f. Internship / Project Students of bachelor program are encouraged
to write a project report (similar to thesis with
less intensity) or will do his /her internship in
an organization which relates to his her disci-
pline of studies. This is to be done when the
student is at senior level, i.e. 4th year*.
*Accreditation Council based programmes will follow the guidelines of the respec-
tive council.

5.2 Structure of Five-Year Bachelor Degree

a. Total No. of Credit Hours 160 – 200*

b. Semester Duration 16 – 18* Weeks
c. Number of Regular Semesters* 10
d. Number of Summer Sessions 1 – 2 in one calendar year
e. Course Load per Semester 15 – 20 Credit Hours
f. Internship / Project Students of bachelor program are encouraged
to write a project report (similar to thesis with
less intensity) or will do his /her internship
in an organization which relates to his / her
discipline of studies. This is to be done when
the student is at senior level, i.e., 5th year.*
*Accreditation Council based programmes will follow the guidelines of the respec-
tive council.

5.3 Duration of each degree programme

As mentioned above the university offers a number of degree programmes, which
include Bachelor (16 years’ education), Conventional Master (16 years of educa-
tion) after 2 years BA/BSC programme and MS/MPhil Master (18 years of ed-
ucation) and PhD. The university follows HEC guidelines to allow normal and
maximum duration for each degree programme. However, to get extension behind
normal period, permission from various authorities and bodies shall be required
such as GSC, BoS, ASRB, and/or Academic Council as mentioned in the below
table.

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 Academic Rules, Regulations and Procedures |Revised Fall-2022

Programme Normal pe- Maximum Remarks

riod(years & allowed pe-
Semesters) riod with the
Extension as
per the HEC
Guidelines
BS 4 years - 8 6 years – 12 Extension beyond 12 semesters
Semesters semesters may be granted by the Academic
Council on the recommenda-
tions of the Board of Studies
subject to solid reasons duly
supported by documentary proof
and that there is no gap/miss-
ing of semesters. Such exten-
sion shall not be more than 02
semesters.
MA/MSc 2 years – 4 3 Years- 6 Extension beyond 6 semesters
semesters semesters may be granted by the Academic
Council on the recommenda-
tions of the Board of Studies
subject to solid reasons duly
supported by documentary proof
and that there is no gap/miss-
ing of semesters. Such exten-
sion shall not be more than 01
semester.
LLB/Archite 5 years – 10 7.5 years 15 Extension beyond 15 semesters
cture Pharm- semesters semesters may be granted by the Academic
D Council on the recommenda-
tions of the Board of Studies
subject to solid reasons duly
supported by documentary proof
and that there is no gap/miss-
ing of semesters. Such exten-
sion shall not be more than 02
Semesters*

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 Academic Rules, Regulations and Procedures |Revised Fall-2022

1.5 years 1.5 year – 3 2 years – 04 Extension beyond 04 semesters

programmes semesters semesters may be granted by the Academic
Council on the recommenda-
tions of the Board of Stud-
ies/GRC subject to solid rea-
sons duly supported by docu-
mentary proof and that there
is no gap/missing of semesters.
Such extension shall not be more
than 02 semesters

*Accreditation Council based programmes will follow the guidelines of the respec-
tive council

5.4 Procedure to Grant Extension in Duration

As the normal and maximum period mentioned in the above table, therefore, all
students are strongly advised to complete their studies within the normal allowed
period to avoid complication. In case of valid reason/excuse, the period of study
may be extended as per the guidelines mentioned in the above table using the fol-
lowing procedure.
i. Student who are seeking extension must apply with supporting documents
to the chairman/HoD of the Department.
ii. The chairperson/HOD concerned must be very careful in checking/recom-
mending case(s) of students for extension in duration that it should not affect
the quality & standard of the programme and must not create financial burden
on the University. In case a student is permitted by the Competent Authority
for extended semester(s), the Chairman/HOD shall ensure that requisite fee
is deposited by the student prior allowing him to classes.
iii. The students who have been given extension in the duration of study for addi-
tional semester(s) are required to pay full fee for that academic year/semester.
iv. In extreme compassionate case, extra semester beyond the “extended period”
could be allowed by the Academic Council. However, HEC’s guidelines
must be considered while giving any extension to student.

6 Curricula and medium of instruction

6.1 The curricula of any discipline taught at the university shall be approved
by the Academic Council on the recommendation of the respective Board
of Studies and Board of Faculty. Such courses and syllabi shall become
effective from the date of concurrence by the syndicate or such other date as
the Syndicate may determine.

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6.2 All teaching units and students of the university must follow the approved
curriculum applicable to them.

6.3 English shall be the medium of instruction, except in language courses and
Islamic Studies.

7 Admission

7.1 Application
Each candidate shall make an application for admission on a prescribed form or
through online system in response to an advertisement.

7.2 Application fee

Application and admission processing fee shall be paid before the closing date.

7.3 Supporting documents

The candidates are required to submit application along with documents as per the
university policy announced in the admission advertisement. The university will
state procedure to apply and documents which are required on the official website
or any other available media for the candidates.

7.4 Eligibility Criteria for Various Degree Programme

7.4.1 Eligibility Criteria for Admission to Bachelor/BS (4 years), Pharm
- D, Master (MA/MSc), B.Ed. Programmes and Merit

The following sections describe admission’s eligibility criteria for bachelor pro-
grammes.

7.4.1.1 Eligibility for Bachelor (4/5 years) Programmes

Eligibility for admission to Bachelor’s programme shall be FA/FSC, or an equiv-
alent certificate/diploma from any recognized institution, with at least ‘a second
division’ or ‘its equivalent grade based on minimum 50% marks for other than an-
nual system’. However, in case of Accreditation Council based degree programme
such as Computing, Engineering, Pharm-D or any other programme where the cri-
teria of the relevant council will be followed if different from the AUST criteria.
Currently, the university is offering the following programmes and the council cri-
teria for them:

a. Pharm-D (5 years programme) - Candidate with minimum 60

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 Academic Rules, Regulations and Procedures |Revised Fall-2022

b. The criteria for the BS computing related programmes (BS Computer Sci-
ences, BS Cyber Security, BS Software Engineering, BS Information Tech-
nology, BS Artificial Intelligence, BS Data Sciences) is minimum 50% marks
in the FSc or equivalent with pre-engineering group. Deficiencies courses
will be offered for students with FSc pre- medical group are seeking admis-
sion to the any bachelor programme related to computing. All such students
must pass deficiency courses of Mathematics of 6 CrHr within one year of
their regular studies. The deficiency courses should cover most of the rele-
vant topics to bachelor’s degree in computing education from intermediate
level mathematics or decided by BOS of the concerned department.

c. Similar any other programme launched in future where the accreditation

council exists – the eligibility criteria of the council will be followed.

7.4.1.2 Evaluation of the candidates and Preparing Merit FOR BACH-

ELOR/BS (4 YEAR) AND PHARM-D PROGRAMMES

A. A-20% weight allocated to the marks in SSC/Equivalent

B. B-80% weight allocated to the percent marks in the HSSC
Merit = A + B
OR
C. Any other criteria set forth by the authorities of the university

FOR MA/MSC, PROGRAMMES

A. 40% weight allocated to the percent marks in HSSC/Equivalent

B. 60% weight allocated to the percent marks in BA/BSC Equivalent
Merit = A + B
OR
C. Any other criteria set forth by the authorities of the university

i. Admission shall be supervised and conducted by the Directorate of Admis-

sion.

ii. All admissions shall be provisional and confirmed after all documents and
claims of candidates are verified by the office of the Directorate of Admis-
sion.

iii. Admission shall be carried out strictly based on merit.

iv. Wherever quota system exists the criterion of merit shall be applied within
each group.

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v. The list of nominees for the quota seats will be received through concerned
departments/agencies etc. The nominees will have to submit application
forms prior to their test/interview by the admission committee. The Uni-
versity will not accept any advance copy for admission from any candidate.

vi. The quota seats shall be according to the policy set forth by HEC.

vii. If any candidate fails to appear before the Admission Committee for inter-
view or for admission test at the fixed time, he/she shall not be considered
for admission.

viii. If two candidates have equal merit. The one senior in age shall be given
preference over the other for the purpose of admission.

ix. All the candidates must bring the original certificates for verification in the
interview.

x. Wherever needed, the equivalence of academic qualification shall be deter-

mined by the Equivalence Committee of the AUST.

xi. Foreign students shall be considered for admission after prior approval of the
relevant Ministry of the Government of Pakistan, Islamabad and/or HEC.

xii. Incorrect information or suppression of facts, in application form, shall entail

refusal of admission, and of expulsion from the University even if admission
has already been granted.

xiii. Late admission may be granted in very special cases by the Vice Chancellor
upto 15 working days after the last date with the late fee as per the prescribed
rate fixed by the finance department of the university with the approval of the
Vice Chancellor.

xiv. Candidates selected for admission will be required to finalize the admission
requirements within the notified period, failing which their right of admis-
sion will be forfeited and the seats will be allotted to the deserving candidates
on waiting list.

xv. Admissions shall be finalized after verification of the academic documents

from the respective Boards/Universities. The admission of such candidate
shall be cancelled immediately if any of his/her documents are found fake/bo-
gus. Such a candidate will have no right of appeal and shall not go to any
court of law against the University.

xvi. Admission to one department/campus/institution shall not give a student a

right to migrate to another department/campus/institution. Similarly, a stu-
dent shall have no right of migration/transfer from the University to a con-
stituent or affiliated institute and vice versa.

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7.5 Ineligibility
The following shall not be eligible for admission to undergraduate (BS, MA/MSc)
and graduate programmes:

i. Those who have ceased to be students of this University on disciplinary

grounds.

ii. Those who already possess a Bachelor or MA/MSc degree or an equivalent

degree from this or any other University. The admission to professional de-
gree i.e., MEd and BEd is an exception. This exemption is extended for other
professional degrees also or the candidate may be allowed by the competent
authority as per HEC guidelines

iii. Those who are already on the rolls of this University or the candidate may
be allowed as per HEC guidelines

iv. Those who have been expelled from any other University/institute/college.

v. Those who could not qualify a degree programme on basis of acquiring min-
imum credit hours i.e., 124 (for level 6), 60 (for MA/MSc), 30 (for level 7)
in this or another university.

vi. Those who could not qualify a degree programme on basis of achieving the
minimum CGPA required for passing the degree programme i.e., CGPA 2
(for level 6), and CGPA 2.5 (for level 7 & 8) in this or another university.

7.6 Age Limit

i. The maximum age limit for admission of the undergraduate, i.e., MA/MSc
and BS programmes shall be 30 and 25 years respectively.

ii. The upper age limit for a candidate will be counted with effect from the last
date fixed for receipt of ‘admission form’.

iii. The Vice chancellor has the discretion for waiving off upper age limit, only
on solid reasons and proof, provided by the concerned candidate.

iv. For age relaxation to “In Service Candidates” the government rules will be
followed. In service candidates seeking admission should obtain NOC from
the respective departments.

7.7 Dual Enrollment

Students enrolled, as a full-time regular student in any of the degree programmes
offered by AUST, cannot be allowed admission simultaneously in any other degree
programme in AUST. In case a student is found and verified for dual enrollment
he/she will be liable for cancellation of his/her enrollment from AUST.

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7.8 Admission of Foreign Students

i In addition to admission of foreign students mentioned before, foreign stu-
dents under student exchange programme (as the case may be) will be en-
rolled for any semester or for any single course and the University admission
offer letter of the foreign student will be forwarded to HEC for issuance of
NOC.

8 Academic Advisor
The Academic department will assign an advisor to each class after the confirma-
tion of the admission and before the start of classes. In normal situation, the advisor
will not be changed until the graduation of the student. However, in case the ad-
visor has left the university or unable to perform the advising role, he/she may be
replaced with another advisor. The advisor and the student together will develop
a flexible comprehensive plan of study that will be implemented in each semester.
The advising file will be updated each semester and will include copies of tran-
scripts and GPA earned. The Advisor play a key role to guide student especially
new student to plan their entire study cycle at the university.

9 Academic Year and Academic Calendar

As mentioned in the introductory section that the academic year at the University
will comprise of two regular and one optional semester. The Directorate / Registrar
Academics prepares Academic calendar for each academic year with the approval
of the Academic Council. The academic calendar is binding for the departments at
the university. Vice Chancellor is the only authority to make minor changes under
a severe and emergency circumstances. The details about semesters are as follows:

9.1 Fall / Spring Semester

i. There will be two regular semesters (Fall and Spring) Academic year.

ii. Each semester will be spread over 16-18 weeks (inclusive of examinations).

iii. The University is at liberty to enroll students (if they fulfill their criteria) for
any semester or for any single course and issue transcript with letter grades
at the end of the semester.

iv. Each semester shall be of eighteen weeks’ duration, out of this period, six-
teen weeks shall be reserved for teaching and two weeks for conduct of ex-
aminations.

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 Academic Rules, Regulations and Procedures |Revised Fall-2022

9.2 Summer (or Winter) Semester

i. There will be an optional Summer (or Winter) Semester to provide opportu-
nity to students who have failed or have withdrawn from a course and those
who wish to improve their GPA/CGPA to qualify to the next semester.

ii. During the summer / winter break, University may offer intensive 1-2 Sum-
mer Sessions each of 8-9 weeks of concentrated study for completing reme-
dial course work.

iii. The contact hours during the Summer / Winter Session will be doubled or
more to ensure that the course is completely taught in a summer / winter ses-
sion with shorter duration as compared to a regular (Fall or Spring) semester.

iv. Students can enroll maximum of “3 courses” (upto 10 CrHrs maximum)

during summer/winter sessions for remedial work.

v. Moreover, a student who has either failed or has been stopped to take the
examination due to shortage of class attendance or wishes to improve his/her
grade is allowed to register in summer.

10 Credit Hours
10.1 The Credit Hours (Cr. Hrs) are denoted by two digits within brackets with
a hyphen in between. The first digit represents the theory part while the
second (right side) digit represents the practical. Thus 3(3-0) means three
credit hours of theory work with no laboratory/studios/practical field work,
while 4(3-1) means a total of four credit hours, of which three are of theory
while one credit hour is for laboratory/Studio work/practical field work. The
weekly contact hours of a 3(3-0) course will be three, the contact hours of
a 4(3-1) course will be six while the contact hours of a 3(1-2) course will
be seven. The contact hours during the Summer Session will be doubled
to ensure that the course is completely taught in a semester with half the
duration compared with a regular (Fall or Spring) semester. Further details
are given below:

i. A credit hour means teaching a theory course for 50 minutes each week
throughout the semester.
ii. Theory: A theory course is of 03 to 04 credit hours as per requirement
of discipline.
iii. One credit hour in laboratory or experimental work would require lab
contact of at least three hours per week throughout the semester.

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Course Duration of Class

Theory Course of 03 Credit Hours 3 classes of 01 hour per week
Or
2 classes of 1.5 hour per week
Or
1 class of 03 hours class per Week (MS/MPhil/PhD)
Practical (Lab)Work/Field
03 hours per week
Work of 01 Credit Hour

11 Student Course Load

11.1 Fall & Spring Semester

i. For Undergraduate Students (BS/MA/MSc):

a. Normally a full-time regular student is required to take/carry a load of

15-20 credit hours in a semester or 5-6 maximum courses.
b. In case any student wishes to enroll for one more course beyond the
normal specified workload limit in that semester, he/she may be al-
lowed by Department only when:
c. The Chairman/HoD/ may allow student under special circumstances to
carry maximum course load provided that the student is graduating in
that semester.
d. The minimum course load should not be less than 12 in any semester.

ii. For MS/MPhil; A regular student is required to take 9 – 12 credit hours per
regular semester.

11.2 Course load for summer semester

a. Undergraduate students can take up to 10 CrHr during summer semester.

b. Graduate students can take up to 6 CrHr hours during summer semester

12 Course Registration During the Semester

12.1 Course Registration

The University will develop a comprehensive computer based CMS to manage all
functions of the university. Registration of students will take place through CMS
where in most cases students will be able to register courses by themselves with
the consultation of the Academic Advisor or academic coordinator or Department

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 Academic Rules, Regulations and Procedures |Revised Fall-2022

concerned. The office of the Provost with consultation of Chairman/HoD is respon-

sible for the registration of student in the relevant courses. However, the university
is also planning to create a separate unit to supervise registration of students in
courses during each semester. The unit will also be responsible for other related
activities such as timetable, withdrawal from a course, etc. The following are some
of the important points in this regard.

i. At the beginning of each semester, a student shall register in the courses

being offered by the department as per the prescribed registration procedure.

ii. A student shall be required to register for course of total 15 to 20 credits

in a semester as per the approved course workload. Students should follow
standard procedure if requires increase or decrease in course load.

iii. A student may register in an extra semester with less than 12 credit hours, if
required for the completion of the degree.

iv. A student may register additional non-credit course(s) out of the prescribed
courses, on successful completion of which the course(s) will be included in
the transcript.

v. In case of manual registration-based system, the Chairman/ HoD of each de-

partment shall forward within 15 days from date of the commencement of
the semester all the course registration cards to the controller of examina-
tions. When the registration system will be computerized; the information
will be visible to the examination section in real-time.

vi. A student, who does not register in any course in a semester, will not pay
tuition fee/hostel charges for the semester. Such a student shall not be enti-
tled to avail University’s facilities during that semester and will be required
to vacate the hostel room allocated to him.

vii. The University shall offer every required course at least once in an academic
year.

12.2 Semester Registration

The registration process along with the payment of dues must be completed as per
the academic calendar.

12.3 Late Registration

In case, a student could not submit the Course Registration on or before deadline
according to approved academic calendar due to unavoidable circumstances and
acceptable reasons, he must formally apply to the respective Chairman/HoD for
granting approval of the late registration. Late registration may be granted on the
following terms and conditions.

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i. The registration shall not be late by more than three weeks, inclusive of
holidays if any.

12.4 Failure in Registration in a Semester

Registration in courses by student is a must requirement to be an active student. If
a student is failed to register for a semester his/her admission will stand to cancel.
After the cancellation of admission, the student can apply for restoration to the
Chairman/HoD to get approval from the relevant bodies.

13 Withdrawal / Drop / Change of Course(s)

13.1 Change and Drop of Course(s)

i. Change of Course: A student, with the consent of the concerned Chair-
man/HoD may be allowed to;

a. change a course at his own will, within one (01) week of the com-
mencement of a semester, and
b. A student may change or convert a credit course into a non-credit
course or vice versa within two (02) weeks from the date of commence-
ment of a semester on the recommendations of the teachers (of both
courses) and the approval of Chairman/HoD of the department con-
cerned.

ii. Drop of Course(s): After registering a course the student can drop it in ac-
cordance to following compliance.

a. A student may drop a course or courses (at his own will) within 15 days
from the date of commencement of a semester on recommendations
of the Chairperson/HoD. However, Chairman/HoD shall consider the
following principles before recommending a course:
1. If the course is not a core course.
2. If the course is not a pre-requisite to a course that will be offered
next semester and if the student withdraws the course which will
affect his study plan
b. Dropping of course in first semester is not allowed.
c. Drop and add will not be allowed after the second week of the semester.
Thereafter rules related to “withdrawal of course” will get implemented.
d. The recommendation of Chairman/HoD of allowing dropping a course
shall be approved by the Dean of the Concerned Faculty.

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13.2 Withdrawal of Course

i. A student can withdraw from a course(s) during the period starting from the
3rd week of the semester till end of the 12th week subject to the recommen-
dation of the advisor/course-teacher and approval by Chairman/HoD. It is
the responsibility of the student and Department to properly communicate
this matter to the examination section for record purpose.

ii. In such a case the transcript shall record that the student enrolled in the
course and withdrew i.e Withdrawn course will appear on transcript with
letter W, which shall have no impact on the calculation of the GPA or CGPA
of the student.

iii. The withdrawal approval so granted by the Chairman/HoD, must reach to

the Controller of Examinations of the University before the end of the 15th
week, otherwise the withdrawal will not be considered, and ‘F’ grade will
be counted instead ‘W’. iv. A student withdrawing after the 12th week (or
apply for withdrawal after 12th week) shall be automatically awarded ‘F’
grade which shall count in the GPA and stay on the transcript.

13.3 Freezing of a Semester

i. If a student freezes a semester(s), he/she will resume his/her studies from the
same stage where he/she left (froze).

ii. No freezing after two weeks of the commencement of classes will be al-
lowed.

iii. Freezing of first two semesters for BS and first semester for MA/MSc/M-
S/MPhil/PhD are not allowed. However, under special hardship circum-
stances (for example mentioned below), freezing of first & second semesters
(BS) and first semester (for MA/MSc/MS/MPhil/PhD) and during the semester
any time can be considered by the approval of Vice-Chancellor on the rec-
ommendation of Chairman / HoD with authentic documented proofs.

a. Iddat
b. Maternity/Delivery
c. Death in the immediate family
d. Accident etc

iv. During freezing semester, the student will be required to pay 25% of tuition
fee for each freezed semester to continue his/her registration with the Uni-
versity. In case the student uses the institutional facilities (such as library,
labs, help from faculty etc.,) of the college/institute/center, he/she will be
required to pay 50% of tuition fee during the freezed semester.

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 Academic Rules, Regulations and Procedures |Revised Fall-2022

v. A maximum of two semesters can be frozen by the undergrad student and

one semester by the graduate student during the entire studies.

vi. After the duration of freezing, the candidate who got a semester freezed get
registration in the up-coming semester.

vii. In case any situation that is not covered in the above rule, the case may
be referred to Vice Chancellor with the recommendations of the concerned
Dean/Chairman for decision.

viii. The process of the freezing of semester shall be routed through Provost office
for the regular university students and through academic section of registrar
office for the students of affiliated colleges.

14 Migration
14.1 Migration is not allowed within district for colleges, however inter Univer-
sity, migration is allowed both within and out of district.

14.2 Migration from university to College and vice versa is not allowed

14.3 Migration is not allowed in 7 th and 8 th semester

14.4 Migration cannot be cancelled, once issued

14.5 The in vogue/approved procedure of AUST for migration will be followed

15 Repeating Courses
15.1 Core Courses with ‘F’ grade must be repeated.

15.2 An undergraduate student can repeat course with less than ‘C’ grades (i.e.,
C- or below).

15.3 A graduate student (MS/MPhil) course with less than ‘B’ grade (i.e., B- or
below) can repeat the course if s/he desires to improve the grade.

15.4 In case of improvement of courses, an undergraduate student can repeat max-

imum of two (2) courses and Graduate student can repeat one (1) course in
entire degree.

15.5 In case the course, which student wants to repeat is removed from the scheme
of studies; student may be allowed to take an alternative equivalent course
instead.

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15.6 When an alternate course is taken for improvement, in such a case, both
courses (old & alternate) and the grades obtained will be recorded on the
transcript, however, only the better grade shall be calculated in the CGPA. In
order to facilitate general public who will deal with the transcript issued by
the AUST, it shall be indicated on the transcript that an alternate course has
been taken instead of the old course.

16 Attendance
16.1 A student will be allowed to appear in examination only if he/she has at-
tended, not less than 75% of the lectures/seminars delivered to his/her class
in each course and 75% of the practical/laboratory demonstrations prescribed
for the respective courses.

16.2 The teacher may report a student’s absences and deficiency in attendance
to the Chairman/HoD, who must notify it for information of all concerned.
Such student will be put on “attendance-warning-list”, who will be required
to overcome his absence by mid-term examination.

16.3 The Chairman/HoD must ensure the monthly state of attendance of each
student in course file/attendance register of each teacher and sign it.

16.4 A student having less than 75% attendance but more than 65% in a particular
course and having made up the deficiency in consultation with the concerned
teacher, may be allowed by the concerned Dean/HoD to sit in the examina-
tion with at least Rs. 2000/- fine per course.

16.5 Counting of attendance shall start from the date of commencement of classes
subject to the completion of the registration. In case the registration or en-
rollment of student was late because of the university and/or Department the
attendance will start from the date of the registration/enrollment.

16.6 A date-wise record of the attendance of students shall be maintained by each

teacher.

16.7 The period of absence in case of participation in co-curricular/sports activi-

ties outside of AUST, with the permission of the Competent Authority may
not be counted, as absence.

16.8 Students short of attendance are detained and examination admit-cards are
not issued to such students.

16.9 Students having class attendance less than 65% in a particular course will
be dropped in that course allocating with "F" grade, and will be required to
repeat the course when it is offered again.

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16.10 In addition to ‘F’ grade awarded based on academic failure, a student having
less than 75% attendance will also be awarded ‘F’ grade in that subject. The
‘F’ grade(s) so obtained will only be cleared by repetition of the course(s)
whenever offered, so that the students are made to attend the missed courses.

16.11 Absence from class for two consecutive weeks or more (two weeks means
six classes for a three credit hours course and four classes for a two credit
hours course) without any genuine reason shall entail cancellation of reg-
istration in the course by the class teacher which would only be restored
on appeal to the concerned teacher made within 05 days of the cancellation
order with payment of Rs.1000/-

* The class teacher will inform the Chairman of the Department regarding cancel-
lation and restoration of admission in the course.
*As amended from time to time.

17 Examinations
17.1 In the beginning of a semester, the Teacher of each course should hand out
a syllabus providing information to students that defines attendance policy,
grade distribution policy, assessment criteria, paper specification, examina-
tion dates, schedule of material to be taught, take home assignment policy,
required and recommended reading materials and any other information im-
portant for the successful completion of the course and its requirements.

17.2 A student shall be eligible to appear in the terminal examinations provided

that:

i. he/she has been on the roll of the University during that semester.
ii. has registered himself/herself for the courses of study, and
iii. has the attendance in course as per the university policy.
iv. has paid all the University dues including tuition/hostel fees, etc., by
the commencement of the semester as per the university policy.
v. if any punishment awarded by Competent Authority, which bars him/her
from examination.

17.3 A student may be evaluated in each course based on the following rubrics:
(Note: allocation of marks to each of these evaluation parameters by the
Instructor as per the university guidelines):

i. sessional/monthly tests,
ii. class assignments,
iii. quizzes,

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 Academic Rules, Regulations and Procedures |Revised Fall-2022

iv. mid-term,
v. terminal examinations,
vi. presentation,
vii. participate in group discussion,
viii. submit projects/lab reports by the due dates,
ix. any other as described by BOS and approved by the Academic Council.

17.4 These will have different weightages and contribute towards the overall as-
sessment in percent marks. The following weightage shall be given to the
Examinations / home assignments / terms paper etc., for each course in each
semester:

Category Marks Duration of the exam/assessment

Class test/discussion/ Quizzes 10 30-min to one hour
/Assignment/ Term papers 10 Homework
Mid-term 30 1 to 1.5 hours
Terminal paper/exam 50 2 – 3 hours

17.5 In case a student joins a course after it has started, he/she will be responsible
for any missed quizzes, assignments, and lectures.

17.6 The marks in missed quizzes etc., will be zero while make-up tests, assign-
ments, projects and labs can be arranged in consultation with the teacher/-
Head of Department.

17.7 There will be no makeup test or exam when a student misses it. However,
in case of an emergency, during midterm exam, the marks will be combined
with the final term, i.e., the weightage marks of the Terminal exam will be in-
creased. However, the authenticity of the emergency claimed by the student
will be fixed/analyzed by Chairman / HoD.

17.8 Mid-Term and Terminal examination will be held as per the academic cal-
endar of the semester. Department shall solely be responsible for all ar-
rangements including secerecy, conduct and transperency of the examina-
tion. However, examination section will be responsible for result compila-
tion and notification.

17.9 The Mid-Semester Examination shall cover the course taught upto Mid-
Semester. The nature and number of questions for Mid-Semester Exami-
nation shall be decided and finilize by the concerned subject teacher.

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17.10 Terminal Examination paper of a Semester shall cover whole course of the
respective subject. The nature and number of questions for Terminal Ex-
amination shall be decided and finilize by the concerned subject teacher in
consultation with the Chairman/HoD/HoI.

17.11 There shall be no choice in questions in the Mid-Semester and Terminal

Examination papers.

17.12 There shall be no Grace Marks of any sort.

17.13 In order to pass the examination, a student must obtain at least 50% marks
in each course. It will also be mandatory to pass the laboratory work/prac-
tical/teaching practice/studio work/field work separately with 50% marks as
per the university policy.

17.14 After marking the class tests, quizzes, mid-term, and Terminal examination
papers the same shall be shown to the students and discussed with the class
(except for projects assignments & term paper). Any question relating to
marking shall be discussed with the individual student. The answer sheet of
the Terminal examination shall be taken back from the students immediately
after discussion and kept for record.

17.15 There shall be no re-evaluation of answer books except as per the university
approved policy.

17.16 The evaluation of all the components of a course shall be internal, except for
the thesis/project etc., for which an external examiner shall be appointed as
per the university approved policy.

17.17 Each department shall have a departmental committee to address and resolve
all problems related to evaluation in accordance with all rules & regulations
of University. The composition of committee along with functions is given
later in this document.

17.18 The teacher of each course shall submit detail of lectures delivered and prac-
tical conducted with students’ attendance to the Chairman / Director of In-
stitute / HoD / HoI in duplicate, one week before the Terminal examination.

17.19 On the recommendations of the Chairman/HoD of the teaching department,

a handicapped/disabled/blind student shall be provided writer/amanuensis
(lower grade/level) at the expense of the student concerned. He/she would
be allowed 45 minutes for solving the question paper over and above the
time stipulated for a question paper.

17.20 All cases pertaining to UFM shall be dealt in accordance with the University
Examination rules.

17.21 Examination Aids

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i. The items (pens, pencils, eraser, ruler, ball points) students can take in
the examination room. Writing materials shall not be permitted to have
any annotations relevant to the content of the course.
ii. Bringing of mobile telephone to the examination room is NOT per-
mitted. The mobile telephones will fall in the category of prohibited
examination aid. If captured such material by the invigilating staff, its
damage/loss shall not be the responsibility of the University and the
same will be kept for record, being a UFM support material.
iii. In case of open book examination, in addition to writing materials,
students may take textbooks, notes, files, or a calculator into the ex-
amination room if permitted by the instructor because of the nature of
the examination. Laptops, palm computers, mobile telephone sets and
other electronic devices shall not be permitted.
iv. Any item(s) contradictory to a particular examination’s instructions
shall not be allowed in examination hall.

17.23 Practical/Lab work: If a course includes a Practical/Lab work, the practical

examination shall be held once, at the end of the course. But also, each day
an experiment of laboratory work will be evaluated. Laboratory course will
carry separate marks. It will be essential to pass separately in Laboratory
work i.e., a student shall have to pass theory as well as practical examination
independently.

17.24 Field Work: The Departments/Institutions where field work is involved, the
method of evaluation shall be determined by the department according to the
laid down procedures.

17.25 Teaching Practice: The teaching practice shall be evaluated in accordance

with rules and procedures for the purpose.

18 Panel of Examiners
18.1 A panel of external examiners for evaluation of project report/dissertation
and conduct of viva-voce examination shall be recommended by the respec-
tive Board of Studies and approved by the Vice Chancellor.

18.2 For undergraduate students, the External Evaluator/Examiner shall be ap-

pointed by the Dean on the recommendations of the Chairman / HoD of
the Department concerned from the approved panel. While for graduate
students, the External Evaluator/Examiner shall be appointed by the Vice
Chancellor on the recommendations of the Chairman of the Department con-
cerned from the approved panel.

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18.3 The external examiner shall evaluate the project report/dissertation and con-
duct viva- voce examination of the student on the date and time given by the
Chairman / HoD of the department concerned.

19 Grading Policy
19.1 Letter grading should only be used for representing the individual courses
and not report the semester GPA/CGPA.

19.2 The University has adopted the policy of Absolute Grading System as given
later in this section. Various letter grades are used to determine the perfor-
mance of students which are as follows:

The grades indicate the following level of performance.

A+: Exceptional

A : Excellent

A- : High Distinction B+: Very good

B: Good

B-: Fairly good

C+: Satisfactory

C: Adequate for undergraduate and minimum acceptable for graduate

C-: Fairly passing for undergraduate and failure for graduate.

D: Minimum acceptable for undergraduate and failure for graduate

F: Failure, implying that the student must repeat the entire course to receive any
credit

P: Pass, this is used in case of research thesis/dissertation, credit hours counted

S: Satisfactory completion

U: Unsatisfactory completion W: Withdrawn from the course E: Exempted from

the course

WF: Force Withdrawal from the course due to the shortage of attendance or dis-
ciplinary action

IP: In progress, if Thesis, Project, Studio work spread over more than one semester
than one semester

I: Incomplete, the student has to complete the requirement within the specified
time.

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19.3 There should be no other grade point values except the above points.

19.4 The percentage of marks or values of grades other than grade points shall
not be reported on the transcripts whether they are relative grades or absolute
grades.

19.5 The minimum pass marks for each course at under-graduate level shall be
(fifty percent) 50% (i.e., 1 GP). A student obtaining less than 50% marks in
any course shall deem to have failed in that course.

19.6 INCOMPLETE GRADES ON MEDICAL GROUNDS: If a student fails

to appear in the terminal examination of a course on medical or any other
exceptional reasons (beyond his controlling ability) duly recorded in appli-
cation of the student and endorsed by the Chairman/HoD, he/she shall be
treated as absent and fail. However, such student shall be allotted grade “I”
of incompletion in the transcript instead of failed grade “F”. The “I” grade
will be replaced only if the student repeats and qualifies the course in the
next semester.

19.7 A student beside above-mentioned reason(s) (18.6), who does not appear
in the Terminal examination of a semester shall be marked ABSENT and
FAILED. Such student will be awarded “F” grade.

19.8 AUST Grading and GP policy:

Percentage Grade Point

Grade Remarks
Marks Value
GRADE - A
90 & above 4.00 A+ Excllent
85-89 4.00 A Very Good
80-84 4.00 A− Very Good
GRADE - B
79 3.9 B+ Good
78 3.8 B+ Good
+
77 3.7 B Good
76 3.6 B+ Good
75 3.5 B Good
74 3.4 B Good
73 3.3 B Good
72 3.2 B− Good
−
71 3.1 B Good
−
70 3.0 B Good
GRADE - C
69 2.9 C+ Satisfactory
68 2.8 C+ Satisfactory

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67 2.7 C+ Satisfactory
66 2.6 C+ Satisfactory
65 2.5 C Satisfactory
64 2.4 C Satisfactory
63 2.3 C Satisfactory
62 2.2 C− Satisfactory
61 2.1 C− Satisfactory
60 2.0 C− Satisfactory
GRADE - D
59 1.9 D Pass
58 1.8 D Pass
57 1.7 D Pass
56 1.6 D Pass
55 1.5 D Pass
54 1.4 D Pass
53 1.3 D Pass
52 1.2 D Pass
51 1.1 D Pass
50 1.0 D Pass
GRADE - F
0-49 0 F Fail
0-59 (MPhil) 0 F Fail
0-64 (PhD) 0 F Fail
Withdrawn course W Withdrawn
Incomplete course I Incomplete

19.9 AUST has adopted the standard scale of 4 (i.e., 0 to 4) in order to evalu-
ate/indicate the performance of students in the course(s)/semester(s). Al-
though other scales like 5 or 6 etc., are also in vogue in other institutes.
The 4-scale measure is in equivalence as per directives of HEC to all HEIs
in Pakistan vide letter NO.1-22 (NQAC)/QAD/2017/HEC/03-360 dated 24
Mar 2017.

Grade point relevant to scale of

Letter Grade
4 4.5 5 8 10
A 4 4.5 5 8 10
B 3 3.75 3.75 6 7.5
C 2 2.25 2.5 4 5
D 1 1.125 1.25 2 2.5

19.10 Conversion of Annual System marks to GPA/CGPA for intent of deliberating

merit of admission shall be as below:

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 Academic Rules, Regulations and Procedures |Revised Fall-2022

Semester CGPA on 4* scale as per AUST grading Annual System

Grade point on Mark Range Percentage
4 scale (Value) (in %age) obtained in
4.00 90 & above 78 & above
4.00 85-89 74%-77%
4.00 80-84 70%-73%
3.5-3.9 75-79 65%-69%
3.3-3.4 73-74 63%-64%
3.00-3.2 70-72 61%-62%
2.6-2.9 66-65 57%-60%
2.3-2.5 63-65 55%-56%
2.0-2.2 60-62 45%-54%
1.0-1.9 50-59 40%-44%
0.00 0-49% Less than 40%

*For other/higher scale grading (i.e., 4.5, 5, 8 etc.,) shall be calculated to

annual marks based on same analogy as done for 4 scale.

a. The range of marks defined above for a particular grade may be split
further to reflect incremental grade points.
b. This conversion table is only for the purpose of students who have ob-
tained degrees under the annual system

20 Computation of GPA and CGPA

Semester Grade Point Average (GPA) and Cumulative Grade Point Averages (CGPA)
shall be calculated using following standard formulas
Sum of all Courses in Semester (Course CrHr x Grade Point Earned)
GPA =
Total Semester CrHr
Sum of all Courses in all Semester(s) (Course CrHr x Grade Point Earned)
CGPA =
Total Credit Hours Taken in all Semester(s)
20.1 CGPA Required For Degree Completion of:
For graduation, the minimum qualifying CGPAs are 2.00 for 4 years Bache-
lor program and 2.50 for MS/MPhil program

20.2 Probation and Special Exam:

a. If the GPA of the undergraduate students decreases from 2.0 (for grad-
uate students 2.5) in first semester, he/she will be on 1st probation for
the second semester

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 Academic Rules, Regulations and Procedures |Revised Fall-2022

b. If the undergraduate student does not come out by increasing his/her

CGPA to 2.00 (or a graduate student 2.5) in second semester, then
again, he/she will go on “last probation”.
c. If the student does not come out from the probation in third semester,
then
i. He/she shall be dropped out from the department. (Read in the
conjunction with 20.3–20.7)
ii. and cannot be re-admitted by the same department.

However

20.3 At the end of the first semester an undergraduate student must obtain CGPA
of 2.00 (& graduate student 2.5) in order to become eligible for registration
in the second semester. (Probation means First Semester GPA is equal to or
more than 1.0 but less than 2 (is equal to or more than 2 but less than 2.5 for
graduate students)).

20.4 In case a student is able to obtain CGPA of 1.0 or more but less than 2.00
undergraduate level (and 2 or more but less than 2.5 for graduate level) he/she
will be kept on probation in the second semester. (CGPA at the end of second
semester is equal to or more than 1.0 but less than 2.00 (equal to or more than
2.00 but less than 2.5 for graduate students)

20.5 The student who fails to secure a GPA 1.0 (undergraduate) or 2.00 (graduate)
at the minimum in the first semester, shall stand automatically dropped from
the rolls. Such a student could be considered for re-admission in the same
institute/department on open merit only. This opportunity of re-admission is
allowed only once.

20.6 The student who fails to secure a CGPA 1.0 (undergraduate) or 2.00 (gradu-
ate) at the minimum in the second semester, shall stand automatically dropped
from the rolls. Such a student could be considered for re-admission in
the same institute/department on open merit only. This opportunity of re-
admission is allowed only once.

20.7 At the end of the third semester the CGPA of a student should not be less
than 2.00 (undergraduate) & 2.5 (graduate). In case an undergraduate student
fails to acheive a CGPA of 2.0 at the end of 3rd semester, than he/she will be
provided a chance to appear in Special Exam only once within 15 days of
decleration of result. In special exam a student is allowed to appear in upto
three (3) failed courses. If evenafter appearing special exam a undegraduate
student unable to secure a 2.0 CGPA or more, he/she shall be removed from
the rolls of the Department.

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 Academic Rules, Regulations and Procedures |Revised Fall-2022

20.8 a. At the end of the fourth semester (& onward), the CGPA of a student
shall not be less than 2.00 (undergraduate) & 2.5 (graduate).
b. If the CGPA of a student falls below the required criteria as mentioned
in 20.8 (a) above, such a student will be required to repeat the same
semester for improving his/her CGPA within the maximum allocated
semesters prescribed for the programme (i.e.6/12 for Master & Bache-
lor (Hons)). Such procedure will be followed for subsequent semesters
beyond 4th semester.”

20.9 Promotion

a. At the end of first semester, he/she (undergraduate) must get a GPA of

at least 2.00 (for graduate students 2.5) in order to be promoted to the
second semester. If GPA of the student equal to or more than 1.0 but
less than 2.00, he/she will be promoted on probation.
b. At the end of second semester, he/she (undergraduate) must get a CGPA
of at least 2.00 (for graduate students 2.5) in order to be promoted to
the third semester. If CGPA of the student equal to or more than 1.0
but less than 2.00, he/she will be promoted on probation.

20.10 Passing of Individual Semester

a. The minimum pass marks for each course of undergraduate programs,

shall be 50% (GP=1). Candidates obtaining less than 50% marks in
any course shall be deemed to have failed in that course. Less than
50% marks secured by a student in any course shall not be counted
towards the aggregate marks.
b. (i) A student shall be required to pass at least 12 credits of course
in each of the 1st and 2nd Semester failing which the student shall be
deemed to have failed in the respective semester.
(ii) A student shall be required to pass at least 9 credits of course work
in each of the 3rd till 8th semester failing which the student shall be
deemed to have failed in the respective semester.
*For professional subjects, the rules prescribed by relevant accredita-
tion council shall apply.
*While on probation, a student is to be considered as a regular student

21 Transfer of Credit Hours

21.1 Credit Hour of a course shall be transferred subject.

a. the grade is less than C for undergraduate

b. and less than B for graduate.

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 Academic Rules, Regulations and Procedures |Revised Fall-2022

c. and student shall be a legal student of a HEC recognized university or

degree awarding institute.

21.2 There shall be a CrHr Transfer Committee consist of the following to evalu-
ate all applications regarding the transfer cases to any academic programme
at the university. It is advisable to receive applications for transfer cases at
the beginning of each semester only (preferably at the time of admission).

a. Director Academic & Research Convener

b. Chairman/HoD of the Concerned Dept.
c. Controller of Examination or his nominee
d. Provost or his nominee
e. Deputy Registrar Academic (Member/Secretary)

21.3 In case of transfer to graduate programme, the recommendations of the above

committee shall be sent to the ASRB for final approval and endorsement. All
remaining requirements (such as comprehensive, proposal defense, thesis
and all examinations) of the graduate studies shall be completed at the AUST.

21.4 Credits are transferred on course-to-course basis. The committee will ana-
lyze course contents of each course to be transferred. The equivalence of
each course shall be determined by the committee. The committee may
co-opt experts if required to determine the equivalency of any course un-
der consideration. The recommendations of committee shall be submitted to
Vice Chancellor through the Dean concerned for approval. However, in case
of graduate programme, the matter will also be presented to the ASRB for
endorsement (as mentioned above).

21.5 Credit hours shall only be transferred between HEC recognized HEIs and
internationally recognized Universities.

21.6 All candidates who want to transfer from any other institution must submit
all relevant documents as per the university policy.

21.7 In case a student of the AUST wants to transfer his/her CrHr to any other uni-
versity must get an NOC from the Registrar with the approval of the Dean of
the Faculty. Student shall apply for NOC to the Department concerned. The
Dean of the Faculty on the recommendation of the Chairmen/HoD approve
the NOC which will be issued by the Registrar.

22 Requirement for Award of Degrees

Every student at AUST is required to follow the academic plan set by the con-
cerned bodies for the degree programme in which he/she has been registered. All

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 Academic Rules, Regulations and Procedures |Revised Fall-2022

the requirements set for that degree must be completed as per the rules and reg-
ulations mentioned in this and other approved documents of the university. It is
the responsibility of the concerned Chairmen/HoD to certify the completion of all
the applicable degree requirements (for example number of CrHr, duration, CGPA,
project, thesis, internship, field work, teaching practice, lab work, studio work
etc.,) of respective students and provide a list of the students who complete degree
requirements to the CoE office. The CoE office will also issue Provisional Certifi-
cate to the student at the completion of the degree programme. Each undergraduate
student has to complete a two week of social/community work as assigned by the
Chairman/HoD to be entitled of degree.
Exiting from BS with AD: a student admitted to the BS program may exit with an
associate degree (AD) provided that the university requirements for the award of
the AD has been met.

23 Departmental Examination Standards and Stu-

dent’s Grievances Committee
23.1 Each department shall have five members of departmental Examination Stan-
dards/Students Grievances committee headed by Chairman / HoD of the de-
partment. The Chairman/HoD of the department shall keep record and call
meetings when there is a requirement (during and at the end of semester).
The committee shall comprise of the following members:

i. Chairman / HoD (Convener)

ii. Three (03) senior faculty (members)
iii. Departmental Exam-coordinator/Academic coordinator (member/sec-
retary)

23.2 Functions of the Committee:

– To maintain uniformity of standards in the courses taught in the depart-

ment / Institute by individual teachers.
– To propose suggestions or rules about the distribution of different kinds
of questions (items) in different courses and also to scrutinize the rele-
vant papers.
– To make arrangements for the conduct and supervision of examination.
– To hear appeals related to marking/evaluation of papers in different
courses.
– To suggest course offerings, provision of seminars, assignments, etc.,
– Timely preparation and announcements of results of midterm and ter-
minal examinations.

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 Academic Rules, Regulations and Procedures |Revised Fall-2022

– To submit an advance copy of the tabulated result showing detailed

marks subject wise, aggregate and grades duly authenticated by the
Committee to the Chairman/HOD for his approval before the result is
announced.
– The Committee may check randomly a few answer sheets/papers of the
terminal examination of a semester (of different courses) for uniformity
of scoring & covering of the course content.
– A student must approach the head of the Department/Institute for a
grievance on grade, within 5 days of the receipt of the grade/announce-
ment of result.
– The Head of the Department/Institute shall forward the grade grievance
to a committee and it will be binding on the committee for hearing both
sides (student and the teacher) and will give a final decision within
5 days working days or before the start of registration for the new
semester whichever comes early.

24 Academic Appellate Committee

24.1 There shall be an Academic Appellate Committee constituted by the Vice
Chancellor to consider student’s appeal (against the decision of the depart-
mental grievance committee) about any academic issues related to grading
and teaching. The Committee shall be comprised of three senior faculty
members from different faculties, Dean of the concerned faculty, controller
of Examinations and Deputy Registrar Academic Secretary. The Head of the
committee shall be Pro-Vice Chancellor (in absence of Pro- Vice Chancellor
the Committee shall be headed by senior most Dean).

24.2 The decision of the appellate committee shall be final. However, an ag-
grieved student may have the right of appeal against the decision of the com-
mittee within 15 days to the Vice Chancellor for review, who shall be the
Appellate Authority. The Appellant Authority may send the case back to the
Appellate committee for reconsideration.

25 Audit Courses – (non-credited with only Pass /

Fail Basis)
25.1 Courses on Pass / Fail Basis for Undergraduate Level:

i. Student may take Audit courses (non-credited) from its own or other
relevant programmes in the university on audit basis.
ii. A maximum 9 CrHr, i.e., 3 courses (each of 3 CrHr) can be taken (out
of electives) during the entire four years’ undergraduate studies.

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 Academic Rules, Regulations and Procedures |Revised Fall-2022

iii. No letter grade will be assigned to these courses but allocate only Pass
or Fail in the transcript. iv. If a student fails, he / she has to repeat the
course. (The repeat course policy will apply).

25.2 Currently, rules and regulations do not allow Graduate students (MS/MPhil
and PhD) to take Audit Courses (i.e., courses on Pass / Fail Basis). However,
a PhD student’s supervisor may suggest to his/her student one audit course
with the approval of the Dean concerned.

26 Course File
26.1 Maintenance of Course File is compulsory for the teacher. The course file
shall be maintained by teachers manually/LMS/CMS/eLearning module. How-
ever, in case of the accreditation council or any other body(ies) requirement,
the course material shall be made available in a physical course folder by
teacher concerned.

26.2 The “Course File” will have a complete record of everything that happened
during the semester. The course file will contain:

i. Course title and code

ii. Description of approved course
iii. Weekly Teaching schedule
iv. Dates of Assignment(s)/Quiz
v. Dates of Mid and Terminal Examination
vi. Grading policy will identify each activity. Such as Homework, Quizzes,
Mid-Semester Examination, Terminal Examination, Term Papers.
vii. Copy of Each Homework Assignment
viii. Copy of Each Quiz Given
ix. Copy of Mid Semester Examination
x. Grading Sheets of the Course detailing Statistical data on the grades
obtained by students.
xi. Copies of best, average, and worst final term answer sheet.
xii. Difficulties/problems faced during classroom / course delivery.
xiii. Solution sheet / Answer key of all the exams (quizes, Assignments,
Mid-term and Terminal Exam)

27 Maintenance of Examination Records

27.1 Controller of Examination shall maintain the records of the examination and
issue the transcripts. The result will be notified by the CoE using CMS

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 Academic Rules, Regulations and Procedures |Revised Fall-2022

and/or approved procedure. The Controller of Examination office shall act

as Central Record Office.

27.2 The Examination scripts of mid-term and Terminal examination shall be sent
to Controller of Examinations who shall kept the record in his safe custody
for one years.

27.3 Final result (award list) and gazette shall be kept under the custody of the
Controller of Examination.

27.4 Records related to grades and marks shall be available at the computer Sys-
tem with full protection using technology by the University. The CMS team
will be responsible to maintain the secrecy and security of the information
stored in the computer system.

28 Teacher / Course Evaluation

28.1 It is mandatory for QEC as wel respective department to conduct evaluation
of each course taught at the university using the approved procedure without
showing the identity of the student at the end of semester.

28.1 This evaluation should be objective and should be shared with the concerned
course instructor through Chairman/HoD for his/her improvement / knowl-
edge.

29 Merit Certificates / Awards / Distribution

29.1 Medals/Prizes/Rolls of Honor/Positions shall be awarded subject to pass-
ing/qualifying in the first attempt (First Attempt means that all requirements,
i.e. mid-term, assignments, quizzes, term paper, practical and terminal ex-
amination of a subject are completed in time and are shown on the first award
list submitted by the course instructor to the examination section. Incomplete
result or result submitted on another award list shall be considered a second
attempt).

29.2 The Controller of Examinations shall issue Certificates of Merit / Distinction

to a student who stands first, second or third in the discipline.

29.3 The Chancellor’s gold medal shall be awarded to the student who stands first
in Master or Bachelor programme, provided that the student has obtained
CGPA ‘4’ with A+ grade (i.e. 90% or above marks) or more in the aggre-
gate. The recipient of the Chancellor’s gold medal shall also be awarded a
Certificate of Merit.

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 Academic Rules, Regulations and Procedures |Revised Fall-2022

29.4 The award of Gold Medal /Roll of Honor / Certificates of Merit shall be
awarded to the positions (First, Second, Third) holder of each discipline pro-
vided that the CGPA of the student is not less than 3.

29.5 Honors / Medals/ Certificates of Merit shall be awarded to the candidate who
passes all courses of a degree programme at the first attempt (first attempt as
defined in 29.1). Student who repeats a subject/course will not be eligible for
top student Honors/Medals / Certificates of Merit even if he/she improves it
and comes in that bracket after repeating it.

29.6 The matter of Medals/Prizes/Rolls of Honor/Positions shall be checked and

verified by a Committee constituted for the purpose by the Competent Au-
thority, of which the Controller of Examinations, Registrar and Deans will
be members.

29.7 In case of tie:

i. In the Semester System, Letter Grades will be awarded on the basis of

GP / GPA /CGPA and Positions shall be given on the basis of CGPA.
ii. If more than one student secures the same CGPA the position will then
be determined on the basis of percentage of marks obtained. Even if
still a tie remains, the marks of preceding degree will be considered for
taking final decision.

29.8 The disciplines where number of students is less than 05, no position will be
awarded in semester system.

29.9 The Gold Medal to an On-campus/ Sub-campus/ Affiliated Colleges Stu-

dent(s) may be awarded separately.

30 Results
30.1 Results will be announced as per the Academic Calendar of the University.
All departments will be required to follow academic calendar in true spirit.
Each instructor will be required to submit result of his or her course within
the 72 hours of the Terminal examination. In case the number of students
in the course is more than 50 then 24-hour extension can be granted by the
Dean concerned.

30.2 The result of the semester shall be compiled and declared by the Controller
of Examinations as per the academic calendar.

30.3 The process of submission and announcement of results shall be made through
the CMS, if available.

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 Academic Rules, Regulations and Procedures |Revised Fall-2022

31 Financial and Aid

31.1 Tuition fee and other fees for various services are prescribed by the Finance
and Planning Committee (F&PC) of the university which are available with
Dept. of Finance and displayed on the website. Students and candidates are
required to contact finance department in this regard.

31.2 For financial aid and scholarships, students are required to contact the Provost
/ Student Support Center (SSC) for details for each academic year.

32 Student Support Center (SSC)

Students may contact the Student Support Center (SSC) where they can get infor-
mation and guidance regarding academic, administrative matters and career coun-
selling.

33 Campus Management System (CMS)

33.1 The university campus management system should provide a comprehensive
support to all tasks and activities at the university.

33.2 All marks, results, and other information will be available on the CMS stu-
dent portal for students.

33.3 All faculty members and other relevant staff shall be provided User Id to
access CMS. It is compulsory for all faculty and staff members to use CMS
for all the academic operations where it is applicable. Record of marks,
attendances, examinations and course materials shall be maintained through
the CMS system.

34 Note
These revised undergraduate rules and regulations, 2022 are applicable with effect
from Fall-2022, where as all the existing rules, regulations, notifications, policies
issued during Fall-2022 and before stand cancelled.

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