Academic Policies & Regulations

Advising
All students must have an academic advisor. Advisors assist in planning a program of study that fits the needs of the student and satisfies program requirements. Advisor approval with signature is required for registration every semester.

Auditing Classes
A student may audit almost any course  offered by ITU. Auditing a class means that the student registers for a class  as an “Auditor”. The student is not required to complete course assignments, though  he or she may do so with the permission of the instructor. The student does not receive a letter grade for the course. Instead a grade of “AUD” is entered in the student’s record.

Classes taken for “Audit” do not apply toward any academic degree, and do not count as part of a student’s full- or part-time course-load. The tuition for an audited course is the same as that for a credit course.

Registering to audit a class

Duration:  A student may register to audit a course  up to one week after the last day of late registration

Auditing limitations

• Registration is limited to classes with space available
• Professor’s permission
• Tuition and fees are the same as for credit

Class Attendance Policy
Class Attendance is mandatory for all courses. All classes conducted at ITU main campus have a mandatory in-class final examination or presentation.

Class Size Limit
Classes are limited to 75 students per weekday course, and 150 students per weekend course.

Conditional Admission
An applicant who has insufficient preparation in his or her intended graduate degree program, or who lacks certain supporting documentation required for unconditional admission, may be admitted conditionally to the graduate degree program upon recommendation of the Program Chair to the Director of Admissions.

Procedure

To recommend an applicant who does not meet minimum Graduate School standards, the department chair or the academic dean must:

1.  Provide a written rationale for the conditional acceptance of the student.

2.  Stipulate the conditions, including the time frame which the student must meet in order to be fully accepted.

3.  Note the conditions on the planned program that is sent to the Admissions office.

After review of the material,  the Academic Dean / Director of Admissions will write a letter of conditional acceptance to the student.  The letter will state the conditions which must be fulfilled by the student and the time frame within which the conditions must be fulfilled.  The letter will also state it is the responsibility of the student to notify the department and the Vice President of Student Affairs, in writing, when the conditions have been fulfilled.

If the conditions are not met within the stated time frame, the student will be notified that his or her conditional admission has expired and he or she is no longer a matriculated graduate student. Any conditions placed on the student’s admission are included in the notification of admission. If conditions placed on admission are not met within the time specified and stated in the admission notice, the Dean will direct the Registrar to withdraw the student from the University. The student may petition for reinstatement.

Conditions placed on admission may include:

1. submission of test scores or other indicators of preparation for graduate study that are unavoidably lacking at the time of admission;
2. completion of additional coursework or other study to remove deficiencies, with such makeup work to be in addition to the regular degree requirements; and
3. completion of an additional 9 semester credit hours and the achievement of a minimum grade point average, in no case lower than that required for a student to remain in the University as a graduate degree-seeking or special graduate student, if the student’s grade point average is less than that specified for unconditional admissions.

Confidentiality of Student Records
ITU fully complies with the Faculty Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974. This means ITU may release directory information, including name, address, phone number, and major field of study to any person on request unless a student requests in writing that directory information be kept confidential. ITU will safely keep student records for an indefinite period. Law from inspection excludes certain records: those created or maintained by a physician, psychiatrist, or psychologist in connection with student treatment or counseling. Students may inspect their records in the Office of Admissions and Records and direct academic record complaints to the Registrar.

Continuation and Probation Rules
Students are considered to be in good standing if they:

• Meet all admissions requirements
• Are not on academic probation
• Are making satisfactory progress towards degree requirements – including a project or thesis if required

Credit Hour Policy
Except as provided in Federal Regulation 34 CFR 668.8(k) and (l), a credit hour is an amount of work represented in intended learning outcomes and verified by evidence of student achievement that is an institutionally established equivalency that reasonably approximates not less than:

(1) One hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours of out-of-class student work each week for approximately fifteen weeks for one semester or trimester hour of credit, or ten to twelve weeks for one quarter hour of credit, or the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time; or

(2) At least an equivalent amount of work as required in paragraph (1) of this definition for other academic activities as established by the institution, including laboratory work, internships, practice, studio work, and other academic work leading to the award of credit hours.

Besides:
(3) One credit hour is assigned to a part time CPT in which the student needs to get between 10 to 20 hours training a week for at least 15 weeks; three credit hours are assigned to a full time CPT in which the student takes 21 to 40 hours training per week for at least 15 weeks.” In addition, given the nature of our school, many of our engineering classes meet in a laboratory of the subject matter these classes meet in accordance with the time requirements of the above policy. In addition to the class meeting time, which is largely lecture/didactic and discussion classes, students are required to complete additional lab work/assignments. outside of their class hours. Most students take advantage of this by working hours in the specific labs, such as Artificial Intelligence, and / or AI Robotic Lab, which members of the recent WASC Visiting Team visited.

Grade Change Policy
After a grade has been assigned by the instructor, any change of the grade has to follow the Grade Change Policy below:

A) The application for a grade change must be received by the instructor not later than the end of the trimester following the one in which the course was taken.
B) The assignment of the contested grade is due to a clerical error of the instructor, for example: wrong summation of points, or clerical oversight of any student work that is used in the grade computation.

Grade change requests that contest the instructor’s judgment of the academic quality of the student’s work or achievement are disallowed.

Grade change requests that are based on makeup work of any type performed after the trimester in which the course was taken are disallowed.

Grade change requests that are based solely on the student’s desire to have a better grade are disallowed.

If the above conditions A) and B) are met and the instructor decides to change the grade, the request must be submitted to the department chair for final approval. After this approval the registrar will effect the grade change in the students records.

Addendum:
If a student decides to take the same course again and achieves a better grade, the better grade will be entered in addition to the former grade in the student’s record, but will not count as additional credit units toward the student’s degree.

Grading System
The following grades are used:

A	4.0 grade points per credit hour
A-	3.7 grade points per credit hour
B+	3.3 grade points per credit hour
B	3.0 grade points per credit hour
B-	2.7 grade points per credit hour
C+	2.3 grade points per credit hour
C	2.0 grade points per credit hour
C-	1.7 grade points per credit hour
D+	1.3 grade points per credit hour
D	1.0 grade points per credit hour
D-	0.7 grade points per credit hour
F	0(failure: not accepted as degree credit hour)
I	Incomplete. Used only for reasons beyond student's control. An "I" that is not removed on the student's record as an "I", with no credit earned, and is not computed in the GPA.
P/NP	(Pass/Not pass)-Used as an alternative grading option for students. Not available for required core courses. Passing mark earns grade points towards graduation, but is not calculated in the GPA. No grade points are earned for the NP mark, and the grade is not computed in the GPA.
AUD	Auditing. No grade points are earned and the grade is not computed in the GPA.
NR	Used by the office of Admissions and Records to indicate no grade was reported.
WF	Failed the course at the time of withdrawal. No grade points are earned and the grade is not computed in the GPA.
WP	Passed the course at the time of withdrawal. No grade points are earned and the grade is not computed in the GPA.

Only courses in which a student has earned at least a grade of C- and P are counted towards the master’s degree. All registered credit hours are counted as attempted credit hours, and all grades except I, P, NP, WP, WF, AUD and NR are used in GPA computation. A student must earn a cumulative 3.0 GPA to be eligible for the master’s degree.

All courses require letter grades, except those specifically designated otherwise. For deficiency courses, a letter grade should be given, although not counted in the student’s overall GPA. A grade of C- or better constitutes a passing grade for a deficiency course. All deficiency courses can be completed at any accredited institution.

1. The purpose of an ‘incomplete‘ (I) grade is to give a student the chance of receiving at a later time a letter grade for a course for which the student has not finished all necessary work during the course time, or was prevented by special and unforeseeable circumstances from making proper progress.
2. A student who fulfills the conditions of 1) is entitled to ask the instructor for a grade of ‘incomplete’ for the course. If the student so requests, the instructor can, but is not required to issue an I grade. Without such a request the instructor must not issue an I grade. (An I grade cannot be issued for Independent Study and for any class that has not been sufficiently attended by the student).
3. The student makes the request by filling out the Incomplete Grade Request (Petition) form and submitting it to the instructor before the date when the grades for the course are due. The form must contain the names of student and instructor, the number and name of the course for which the I grade is requested, and the description of the work, that must be completed to receive a letter grade. The form must be dated and signed by student and instructor and is filed with the registrar.
4. A student who receives an I grade for a course must complete and submit the missing work within the following trimester to the instructor of the course or the instructor’s TA.
5. If the missing work is submitted in time, the instructor ‘s TA will check the submitted work for completeness and, if complete, will forward it to the instructor. The instructor will review the submitted work and will make the decision which letter grade the student should receive. This letter grade must not be higher than B+. This letter grade is considered the final course grade and cannot be contested by the student.
6. If the student does not submit the missing work in time, the I grade changes to F.
7. Whatever the I grade changes to will replace the I in the student’s record.
8. As long as a course grade is in the student’s record as an I, it counts toward the student’s credit hours, but is ignored in the calculation of the student’s GPA.
9. A student must not have more than 2 I grades on his/her record at any time.

Students should be aware that the change of an I grade to an F can impact the student’s status with respect to their visa.

Policy for Independent Study
Independent Study (IS) is a form of educational activity involving an individual instructor and an individual student in which the student conducts research on a mutually agreed upon topic under loose guidance from the supervising instructor. Usually an instructor will make it known to the University in which fields s/he is willing to guide independent study in a particular trimester.

A student who intends to register for and conduct independent study (IS) has to follow the rules described below.

1) The student applies for independent study with the Registrar. The registrar approves or denies the application dependent on condition a) listed below. If approved, the Registrar issues to the student the ‘Outline of Independent Study’ form.

2) With this form the student seeks approval for IS from the Department Chair of the student’s major and suggests a supervising instructor. The Department Chair approves or denies the application dependent on condition b) listed below which is subject to the Department Chair’s judgment.

3) If approved the Department Chair assigns the suggested or a different instructor as supervising instructor at his/her discretion.

4) The instructor and the student fill out the ‘Outline of Independent Study’ form, which contains the student’s and instructor’s names, the trimester in which the IS is to be conducted, the credit units to be awarded, the topic of the IS, and the desired outcome. The maximum credit units for IS is 3. It can be reduced to 2 or 1 credit units by the supervising instructor at the preparation of the Outline form. The completed form is submitted to the Department Chair for approval.

5) Upon approval and signature of the Outline form by the Dept Chair the form is sent to the Registrar, who files it and makes the entry in the student’s record, and EMS, as registered for IS.

6) IS must be conducted and completed in the trimester specified in the Outline form. Upon completion of the IS the instructor assigns a letter grade in compliance with the general grading policy. Assignment of Incomplete grade (I) is not allowed for IS.

Approval of Independent Study at ITU is subject to the following conditions:
a) No course is available in the schedule for the given trimester that counts for the student’s degree as listed in the curriculum.
b) There is some hardship for the requesting student that makes the earning of additional credit units through IS a necessity (typically visa requirements, preceding loss of credits through disease etc.) If the situation of the requesting student is not deemed a hardship by the Department Chair, the application is denied.

The wish to gain more credit units than possible with the current course schedule, does not constitute a hardship.

Time Limits
All candidates for master’s degrees must complete all the matriculation requirements within six calendar years after initial registration at ITU.

Transcripts & Grade Reports
You must fill out a transcript request form and send it along with payment.
If you pay through debit or credit card, you will need to fill out the appropriate authorization form and submit it with your transcript request to the Accounting Department.

If you pay by check, you need to mail the form and check to ITU’s mailing address. Check must be payable to “ITU”.

Once your payment is processed, it takes 3 business days to process the official transcripts.

Student can view and print the unofficial transcripts by logging into: http://ems.itu.edu.

Contact Evelyn Tsao at tevelyn@itu.edu for official transcripts.

Transferring Credits
Students who wish to transfer in credits from prior universities, must submit the request before they complete 19 units at ITU. Up to 9 units might be approved by the program chair. Those credits must be from accredited, US, graduate schools. (Program Chairs may review the course description of other non-accredited, grad schools in US and accept some credits)