1.    Introduction.

a.    Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP), which is one of the public universities of Bangladesh, was established on 05 June 2008. The aim of the university was to facilitate professional degrees and to run undergraduate, graduate and post graduate degrees through its faculties, affiliated and embodied colleges, institutes, academy or organizations. BUP, with its own unique features, is set up in a green landscape of Mirpur Cantonment located in Dhaka Metropolitan City. The University provides a tranquil, pollution free and secured campus life and above all, a congenial academic atmosphere. 

b.    BUP deals with not only the education of the armed forces personnel but also the students of civilian community from home and abroad. It welcomes those students who intend to dedicate their total attention and devotion to serious academic pursuits to build up better tomorrow for the nation. BUP is committed to providing high quality education that delivers real benefits for the students. Thus, BUP is the only unique academic entity in the country, where blending between the civilian and the armed forces students of diverse skills, experience, exposure and attitude is possible. This Academic guideline is effective from 1st January 2019.

2.    Student Services.

a.    Guidance and Counseling.        The guidance and counseling services are available to students on academic and other matters of interest as follows:

(1)    To give the student information on matters important to success in academic activities.
(2)    To get information about student this will be of help in solving his/her problems.
(3)    To establish a feeling of mutual understanding between students and teachers.
(4)    To help the student work out a plan for solving his/her difficulties.
(5)    To help the student know himself better –his/her interests, abilities, aptitudes, and opportunities.
(6)    To encourage and develop special abilities and right attitudes.
(7)    To inspire successful endeavor toward attainment.
(8)    To assist the student in planning for educational and vocational choices.
(9)    A faculty member is assigned as Student Adviser for each section of a batch, who, as a routine matter, meets the students at least once a week and attends them whenever the students feel necessary. 

b.    Internship/Placement.

(1)    There is a committee to provide required assistance to the students for placement in different organizations as part of the internship programme. The committee is comprised of the Dean of the Faculty, Chairman of the Department, respective Student Adviser and Placement Officer. Dean of the Faculty acts as a convener of this committee. 

(2)    The duration of the internship/placement will not be more than 13 weeks. Maximum 10-11 weeks for industrial visits, 1-2 weeks for report writing and other academic activities. However, the departments may have different internship policy depending upon the requirement of the respective department subject to the approval of the Dean of the Faculty.

c.     Extra-Curricular and Club Activities

d.    Study Tour/Excursion & Industrial/Organizational Visits.    Different departments of BUP organize visits to different organizations/places according to the requirements of their individual programmes. Moreover, a batch trip is a part of the academic curriculum and is supposed to be arranged for the students of the final year. There shall be at least one industrial visit/study tour per year (2 semester) whenever applicable and this should be organized by the department concerned.

e.    Guest Lectures/Seminars.        Seminars/workshops on important academic/business issues and lectures/presentations by eminent academicians/professionals/experts are organized throughout the academic year for the students. Every year, BUP is organizing at least one International Seminar. The purposes of the seminars/workshops are:

(1)    Academic Success and Career Awareness. To provide an opportunity to the students to learn about the scholarly characteristics of an academic setting. To participate in activities that improves the students’ awareness of careers and their individual career goals.

(2)    Communication. To create a classroom environment that encourages a communication-across-the-curriculum approach to learning.

(3)    Research and Undergraduate Scholarship.    To engage students in activities that promotes skills and positive attitudes toward scholarship and seeking knowledge.

(4)    Critical Thinking. To create activities that encourages students towards the use of reasoned thinking and the analysis of information including rhetorical strategies.

(5)    Community Building and Diversity. To encourage collaborative learning and support students’ efforts to connect with the many varied components and diversity of University setting.

f.    Admission Procedure.    Every year, the Academic council set detailed and related issues regarding admission test. Faculty/Department usually follows its own procedure as per requirements.

g.    Eligibility for Admission

Subject to approval of the academic council faculty/department normally follow its own procedure as per requirements.

h.    Selection Process.

(1)    Written Admission Test.    Admission test will be conducted by Faculty/Department on the basis of the syllabus of HSC examinations of all Boards of Secondary and Higher Secondary School Certificates. Admission test will be in MCQ and/or Subjective written test and weightage 65 percentage is counted.

(2)    Communication Test (Interview/ Viva-voce).    The candidates are selected for communication test based on their written test result. Panels of faculty members will take the communication test/interview (Weightage is 10 marks).

(3)    Marks from Past Public Examinations.    The results of past public examinations carry 25 marks weightage, where 15% is from HSC and equivalent and 10% from SSC and equivalent. The marks are calculated in a simple linear distribution method from candidates' GPA.

(4)    Final Selection.    Final selection will be made on the basis of merit. The merit list is prepared according to combined marks obtained by candidates in the written admission test (65 marks), score in communication test (10 marks) and in past public examinations (25 marks) out of 100 marks.

i.    Admission in the Program.    After final selection, the candidates are asked to go through a medical checkup at BUP Medical Centre to ascertain their medical fitness. The selected candidates must collect Admission Form from Admission Section of the Registrar Office and complete admission and registration formalities within the given time frame with the respective BUP Admission Section and Faculty by paying required fees. The following rules will apply in this regard:    
(1)    Candidate failing to complete admission formalities within the prescribed date and time, his/her selection will be considered as cancelled. 

(2)    Student who fails to attend the class within two weeks of the commencement of 1stsemester class, his/her admission will be considered as cancelled.

(3)    In case, if the prescribed vacancies are not filled up by the candidates in the first merit list, other merit list(s) will be published from the waiting candidates for admission, who will have to follow the same procedure for admission.

j.          Tuition and other Fees.

(1)       The semester wise tuition fees are as follows:

(2)       Additional fees as applicable for any department as follows:

(3)       At present, tuition fees vary from department to department, the amount of fees may depend on credit hour/lab/other facilities. There is a details policy on Semester and other fees.

k.         Review of Fee Structure.  All fees mentioned in the above table will be reviewed as and when necessary by the University authority and the students will be liable to pay the fees as per changed/reviewed fees.

l.          Deadline for Submission of Fees/Dues.            The 1st year students will have to clear all the fees during the admission process after publication of result. For subsequent semesters, the payment of all fees/dues must be maintained semester wise and the following rules will apply in this regard:

(1)       The semester fees to be paid within 15 days after commencement of each semester without any penalty.

(2)       The students may pay their fees after 1st 15 days within one-month time by paying a penalty of Tk. 500.00 for each 15 day.

(3)       If a student fails to pay the semester fees within one and a half month, his/her name will be dropped, and the student will have to apply for re-registration, if he/she desires to continue his/her study. If approved, he/she may take re-admission paying required re-admission fee.

m.        Course Load to Student.    The students must enroll for 5 (6/7/8 in case of Lab Courses) courses-in each semester. As a general rule, students are not given more than 5 courses in a semester. However, maximum seven courses (Maximum eight courses for 1^st semester only) are allowed, when a student is repeating course/courses because of obtaining 'F' grade or if they want to improve his/her previous grades. He or she is allowed to retake a course for twice and improve a course only for once throughout his or her entire registration period. A student is allowed to sit for retake/improvement only 2 courses (3 Courses for 1^st semester only) in each semester.

He/she must complete all the courses of under graduation within 6 years of his or her registration period.

n.         Conduct of Courses.   Generally, an individual course teacher is assigned to design and teach a particular course in a semester. The following guidelines are followed for conducting different courses:

(1)       At the beginning of the semester, the course teacher prepares a course outline/Course Kit according to the approved course curriculum, performance evaluation and grading system (as laid down in the policy), list of suggested text books/references, and a tentative schedule of classes, examinations and events. He/she distributes a copy of the same course outline to each registered student for the course and must submit a copy to the Department’s Office.

(2)       At least 2 (two) classes per week, consisting of 90 minutes respectively, is allotted for each batch. Out of 90 minutes, 30 minutes may be catered for individual presentation/consultation as per the course outline.

(3)       The students must appear 1 (one) Mid Term examinations in a semester as per given schedule. As a rule, ‘Retake’ of Mid Term Examination is not allowed, except for sickness, hospitalization or other unavoidable circumstances, provided the student has valid supporting documents and he/she has been permitted by the course teacher and Chairman of the department before the examination commences.

(4)       The course teachers are expected to ensure that n+1 quizzes/weekly tests are conducted in a semester for each course and ‘n’ is counted as n= Credit Hour. The course teachers are expected to ensure 3-4 quizzes/class tests conducted in a semester for each course and the best three (3) will be counted.

(5)       Students must submit individual Term Paper/Project Paper/Assignment (individual and group)assigned to them which should be followed by a presentation. The presentations must be short. For that other periods or 15-30 minutes in each day’s class may be utilized.

(6)       One analytical group assignment and individual presentation is mandatory in a course. As per the requirements of the course(s), field trips may be organized.

(7)       Any fraction in the marks obtained is to be rounded up to the advantage of student i.e. any fraction is to be rounded up to the next number.

o.         Class Attendance.   Attendance in all classes is mandatory. A certain percentage of the total marks for each course is allotted for class attendance. If a student is to appear at the final examination, she/he must fulfill the criteria of being Collegiate (having 75% or more attendance). In case a student becomes Non-collegiate (having attendance from 65% to below 75%)his/her guardian must apply to the Chairman of the respective department followed by the payment of BDT 5000 as fine for each course to be allowed to sit for the final exam. Students who become Dis-collegiate (having attendance below 65% attendance) will not be allowed to sit for the final examination. However, the Deans have the authority to consider 5% attendance on any valid/exceptional reasons with the recommendation of the respective Chairman of the department. A student must obtain permission from the Chairman of the department for any kind of absence due to valid reason and must inform the course teacher and Programme Coordinator. The marks distribution for attendance is given below:

3.         Performance Evaluation System.

a.     Distribution of Marks for Evaluation to be followed as per the faculty/Department

b.     Distribution of Marks for Evaluation (Theory Courses).       Letter grades are used to evaluate the performance of a student in a course. The following grading system is currently followed for performance evaluation of the students:

c.          Distribution of Marks for Evaluation (Laboratory Courses).            The marks for the Laboratory courses distributed according to the type of the laboratory course based on respective department’s requirement. The distribution of marks for three types of Laboratory is given below:

(1)       Marks Distribution for Laboratory.

(2)       Marks Distribution of Project Based Laboratory.

(3)       Marks Distribution of Programming Based Laboratory.

d.         Grading System.

e.         Calculation of GPA (Grade Point Average) and CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average)

(1)       Grade Point Average (GPA) is the weighted average of all the grade points obtained in all the courses passed/completed by a student. CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average) will be computed after each semester to determine the academic standing of the student in the programme.

(2)       The four-step procedure that will be followed to calculate the CGPA of a student is given below:

(a)       Grade points earned in each course will be computed based on credit hours in that course and the individual grade earned in that course by multiplying both.

(b)       All subject grade points (determined at step 1) will be added to determine the total grade points earned.

(c)       Credits of all registered courses (excluding the course for which the student applies for ‘Supplementary Examination’) will be added together to determine the total number of credits.

(d)       GPA will be determined by dividing the results of step 2 by the result of step 3.

(3)       For example, if a student passes/ completes five courses in a semester having credits C1, C2, C3, C4, C5 and his/her grade points in these courses are G1, G2, G3, G4, G5 respectively, then:

GPA = Total Grade Point earned in particular Semester/Number of Courses taken in the particular Semester

GPA = ∑ Ci Gi/∑ Ci 

(4)       A numerical example, Suppose, a student has completed five courses in a term obtained the following grades:

(5)       GPA for the term will be computed as follows:

(GPA) Calculation = (3x4.00+3x3.00+3x3.75+2x3.25+1x3.50)/(3+3+3+2+1) = 3.52

(6)       When a course is repeated for improvement, the last result or grade point shall be counted for calculation of GPA and CGPA. If the grade point, obtained in improvement, is lower than the grade point obtained earlier, the earlier one (previous grade point) shall stand.

(7)       Performance in all courses including the ‘F’ grade shall be reflected in the transcript.

(8)       Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) Calculation is as follows:

 CGPA = (Total credits in a semester X semester GPA + total credits in a semester X semester GPA+…)/(Summation of total credits from all semesters)

= (15x3.75+15x3.5+16x3.6)/(15+15+16)

= 3.61

f.          Promotion Policy.

a.         To be promoted from one semester to another, students must obtain a minimum CGPA (with maximum number of F Grade to be considered in each semester) as mentioned in the table below:

b.         If a student gets ‘F’ grade in more than three (03) courses in 1st Semester and more than two (02) courses in any one of the other semesters (2nd to 8th) and/or fails to obtain required CGPA in a semester as mentioned above, he/she will automatically be relegated to the next batch and such relegation for more than twice at any time throughout the entire registration period will warrant permanent withdrawal of the student from the programme. However, the relegated student, besides retaking the courses obtaining ‘F’ grade, will also have the option to improve or retake for rest of the courses.

4.        Withdrawal Policies.

a.         Temporary Withdrawal.   Temporary Withdrawal means a student has voluntarily withdrawn himself/herself from a particular semester. In such case, following rules will be maintained:

(1)       A student can withdraw himself/herself from a semester without penalty by applying to the authority within four weeks from the commencement of the semester.

(2)       A case of withdrawal is subject to the approval of the Academic Council of BUP.

(3)       Withdrawal is not allowed after the Midterm Examination during a semester.

(4)       A student will have to re-register his/her required courses by the next semester with the next immediate batch.

(5)       The student can avail such opportunity only for once within his or her valid registration period.

b.         Permanent Withdrawal.   The term ‘Permanent Withdrawal’ stands for a permanent, voluntary discontinuation of the student from the programme. The implication of permanent withdrawal includes cancellation of admission and expiry of registration.

c.          Withdrawal on Poor Performance.         Students may be permanently withdrawn from the programme because of their poor performance. A student is always advised to maintain a minimum CGPA of 2.50 in a 4.00 point rating scale of the programme. However, a student may be promoted to the next semester as per the promotion policy of BUP. Any student, failing to obtain the required CGPA, will be relegated to the next batch. However, more than two (02) times relegation or three times failure in a course at any time throughout the entire valid registration period will warrant permanent withdrawal of the student from the programme.

5.        Examinations and Assessment System.             BUP follows a single examiner system and continuous assessment is done to evaluate a student in a semester. The following rules will apply for all tests and examinations:

            a.         Records of in-course (Midterm, Class tests, Attendance, Assignments etc.) will be evaluated by the teacher of the relevant course in a prescribed form (or online portal) showing the marks obtained by the students. The course teacher will display one copy of the mark sheet in the notice board for information of the students, send one copy to the Chairman of the department, send one copy to the Chairperson of the Examination Committee and one copy to the Controller of Examinations at least one week before the commencement of final examination. This timeframe needs to be strictly maintained.

            b.         The questions for the semester final examination will be set by the course teacher and submitted to the Moderation Committee of the respective faculty. If more than one teacher can take a single course in different sections of a batch than a combined set of question/s will have to be prepared through the Moderation Committee.

Note: Students with physical disabilities will get extra 10 minutes per hour in the examination.

6.        Examination.      As a general rule, supplementary examinations of any kind are discouraged. However, if a student fails to appear in the scheduled Semester Final examination for unavoidable and valid reasons; he/she may be allowed to appear at such examination on the basis of the following guidelines under the grounds described below:

a.         In case of a student’s extreme compassionate ground or any other reason that is approved by the Chairman of the Department, he/she must appear the supplementary examination within 45 days from the date on which the particular examination was held.

b.         The student should apply to the concerned Dean (through the respective department) within seven days from the last examination with the required supporting documents describing the reasons for his/her inability to appear for the scheduled semester final examination. The Dean, if convinced, will forward the same to the office of the Controller of Examinations duly recommending approval and thereby allowing for making arrangement to conduct the examination on the respective course/subject.

c.          The student will have to pay the required fees as per the University policy for appearing at the supplementary examination and completing other examination formalities for the course(s) so appeared.

d.         No more than 'B+' (GPA 3.25) grade will be awarded to the student for supplementary examinations. However, special cases may be considered with prior approval of the VC.

e.         The existing rules of semester final examination will apply to the conduct of supplementary examinations e.g. question setting, moderation, evaluation, and result publication etc.

7.        Improvement Policy.        

A student, earning lower than ‘B’ Grade (i.e. lower than Grade Point 3.00) in any course(s), may choose to improve the grade by appearing at the improvement examination. In case of improvement examination, following rules will be maintained:

a.         A student will get chance to improve the grade of a course only for once in a valid registration period.

b.         The student must sit for only the Semester-final examination with the immediate next batch.

c.          If the grade point obtained by the student in the improvement examination is lower than the earlier obtained grade point, the earlier one (previous grade point) will stand.

d.         Improvement examination for a course will not be allowed after the graduation and certification.

e.         No improvement examination will be allowed for any practical course, viva voce, internship and thesis/project/dissertation and/or the like.

8.       Relegation Procedure.

a.         Relegation stands for demotion or batch-drop of the student who fails in more than two (more than three in 1^st Semester only) courses and/ or fails to obtain required CGPA in the semester final examination. In such case, the student is demoted to the next batch.

b.         The Relegation System maintains following procedures:

(1)       Failing in more than two (more than three in 1^st Semester only) courses in the semester final examination, a student will be relegated to the immediate next batch and will have to appear in the retake examination for the required courses.

(2)       More than two (02) times of relegation during the entire valid registration period will warrant permanent withdrawal of the student from the programme/University. 

9.        Retaking a Course.

a.         In case of retaking or improvement of course(s) of Under Graduate Programme, students must complete the process within 6 years of his or her registration period. A student will be allowed to retake/improve only two (02) courses in a semester. He/she will be allowed to retake a course for twice and improve a course only for once throughout his or her entire registration period. Retaking and improving a course (or grade) will be guided by the following rules:

b.         A student earning an ‘F’ grade or being Dis-collegiate/absent/Expelled from the examination will be required to retake the course offered in the immediate next batch or if the situation is considered reasonable/convenient. In this case, a student is allowed to continue with immediate next available batch. Since achieving a passing grade in all courses individually is mandatory as the degree requirement.

c.          The student will have to be allowed by the Dean of the Faculty and Chairman of the respective Department to sit for the examination. In case of retaking course(s), following rules will be maintained:

(1)       The student must sit for all In-course and the final examination. 

(2)       For appearing in the examination for retaking a course, his/her class attendance is an important factor which should be checked and ensured by the respective chairman of the department.

10.       Special Examination.         After the publication of last (8^th) Semester examination result, if it is found that a student (for exceptional reasons) has failed to earn required total Credit Points due to ‘F’ grade in one or more (at best two) courses in between 1^stSemester and the last (8^th) Semester, the Special Examination will be executed under the following guidelines:

a.         In such exceptional case, a Special Examination(applicable only for final examination) will be arranged and completed within Two (02) Months of the publication of the last Semester examination result for such students.

b.         A student will be allowed to take part in the Special Examination only once.

c.          For taking part in the Special Examination, student(s) will be required to pay the total amount of fees as deemed to be expended in arranging the examination through processes e.g. setting questions, question moderation, invigilation, and evaluation of answer script, tabulation, posting the marks and publishing the result and so on.

d.         Special Examination candidates must apply to the Dean of the respective Faculty through the Chairman of the Department within 12 working days from the date of publication of the provisional result of the last (8^th) Semester examination.

e.         In case of Special Examination, the concerned Examination Committee will take the responsibility to arrange the respective retaking examinations, tabulating and posting the marks and publishing the result.

11.       ‘F’ Grade.       ‘F’ Grade stands for an ultimate failure in a course. A student, having ‘F’ grade in maximum two courses (maximum three in 1^st Semester only), can be promoted to the next semester as per the condition of retaking the courses. If a student gets ‘F’ grade in more than two courses (more than three in 1^st Semester only) in a semester, he/she will automatically be relegated to the next batch.  For any reason (except the reasons of Supplementary examination) such as being dis-collegiate/ absent, if a student fails to appear in the examination, or if his/ her examination is cancelled due to expulsion or other reasons, the grade of his/ her respective course/ courses will be considered ‘F’ or grade point 0.0; whichever is applicable.

12.       Awarding Bachelor (Hons) Degree and Requirements.         Students must fulfill all requirements of the degree within six years of valid registration period for the undergraduate programme. The requirements are as follows:

a.         Students must not have any ‘F’ grade.

b.         Students must have the minimum CGPA of 2.50.

c.          Minimum grade in the Internship/Thesis/Project/Dissertation/Monograph is ‘C’.

13.       Dismissals on Disciplinary Grounds.      A student may be dismissed or expelled from the program for adopting unfair means (Copying in examinations/trying to influence grades); unruly behavior, or any other breach of discipline. The implication of dismissal may include cancellation of admission and termination of registration.

14.       Discipline and Code of Conduct.              Adherence to strict discipline is considered to be a core concept of building future leaders. The students must abide by the rules, regulations and code of conduct of the University. Students are forbidden either to be a member of or to organize students’ organization, club, society etc. other than those set up by the University authority. They must maintain a peaceful and congenial atmosphere in the academic building particularly adjacent to the classroom, library, faculty rooms etc.

The students will not be allowed to enter the classroom, if he/she is in contrary to the following rules:

a.         Arriving late in the class

b.         Not wearing appropriate dress/attire as per the dress code

N.B.: For the details, the Students' Discipline Rules and this document is available in BUP website.

15.       Other Breaches of Discipline.       Academic council may dismiss any student on disciplinary ground if any form of indiscipline or unruly behavior is observed in him/her which may disrupt the academic environment or program or is considered detrimental to BUP’s image. Discipline Committee will process the matter. Zero tolerance to drug, violence, and sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA).

16.       Students' Grievance.          If a student anticipates any biasness or unfair treatment about the evaluation or grading, s/he can make such apprehension known to the appropriate authority. A certain amount of fee is required for lodging such an application of grievance.

a.         The application of grievance should be submitted by the student to the Chairman of the Department within a week after the publication of the result.

b.         A three-member Grievance Committee from the teachers of the Department will be formed by the Dean of the Faculty on the basis of the recommendation of Chairman of the Department for this purpose.

c.          The decision of the Grievance Committee would be the final and it should be abided by all concern.

17.       Executive Decision for any arising situation.                     If this Academic Guideline does not explicitly or satisfactorily address any arising situation relating to the implementation of the Academic Guideline, the matter will be referred to the Vice-Chancellor for a decision. Execution of such a decision will duly be reported to the Academic Council for information only.

18.       Amendments.     Any of the provisions of this guideline may be changed and/or new provisions added as per rules of the University.

19.       Conclusion.   BUP academic guideline is for the students and it is to be followed for the best use of student’s academic interests. It is the guide for the faculty members too for assessing overall evaluation system of a student as well as to acquaint themselves BUP’s rules and regulations.