Grading Policies

Attending and participating in class, practical sessions and discussion sessions are essential to the process of learning at Ashesi. Students bene t from lectures and discussions with their teachers and classmates. By missing classes, students are failing to take advantage of and contribute to the full potential of Ashesi’s educational experience. As such, faculty members will take attendance and participation into account in assigning students’ grades. While each faculty will determine how class attendance affects students’ grades, general guidelines at Ashesi are as follows.

• An absence may affect the student’s grade. If an absence is due to illness, the student should bring documentation from a health professional to the faculty, and if approved, the absence should not affect the student’s grade.
• Faculty members are not required to administer substitute assignments or examinations for students who have missed class without prior notifcation and approval, or in the absence of approved documentation from a health professional.
• If a student misses the equivalent of more than three weeks of classes over the course of a semester, an instructor may fail the student in the course, or, in the event that the absence was due to a proven illness or other emergency, the student may seek permission from the Dean of Students or Provost for an Incomplete grade.
• Students are required to turn off cell phones and any other devices that could beep or emit other distracting sounds during class sessions. Note that the University imposes a ne of GHC50 on students whose mobile phones or other devices ring/emit sounds during class; the offender’s phone will be seized and released upon payment of the ne. This rule will be enforced strictly.
• Eating in the classrooms is prohibited whether or not lectures are in session. Students are however allowed to bring water to the classrooms.

Students will be placed on academic probation if, at the end of any regular semester, their cumulative grade- point average GPA is less than 2.0 (C average).

Students will be subject to dismissal from Ashesi University if (1) they fail to make normal degree progress, or (2) after one or more consecutive regular semesters on academic probation they have not achieved either a semester or cumulative GPA of 2.0.

Exiting probation (i.e., achieving a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher) is required for graduation.

A grade of at least a D+ is required in all classes that are prerequisites to other classes, and every class in the student’s major. A grade of at least a D is required in all other required core classes. A student who does not meet the minimum grade requirement for a core or major required class must repeat the entire class. Under no circumstance will a student be allowed to do partial work (e.g. a paper, exam, or project) to fulfil the requirements for a class he/she must repeat.

A student may take extra classes that are not core or major required classes. All grades earned in all classes taken at Ashesi, required or not, and even if E’s, will contribute to the student’s grade point average (GPA).

A student may repeat a class only if the grade on record is D+, D or E.

Students may take a class for the third time only after meeting with an academic advisor and obtaining written approval from the Provost. Students are not allowed to take a course for a fourth time. Students must register for repeated classes, and maximum class load requirements per semester must be fulfilled (see section 5.13).

All instances of the course will appear on the student’s transcript, however

the course will not be counted multiple times toward graduation requirements. The most recent grade of a repeated course replaces the earlier grade(s) for that course in calculating the GPA.

An Incomplete (“I”) grade may be assigned only if the student has been given permission for an Incomplete by the Dean of Students or the Provost because of an emergency or illness. An Incomplete is appropriate only if the student’s work in a course has been of passing quality and a minority of the work of the course is left outstanding, as determined by the instructor. The instructor must agree with the student on a date for the completion of the work, which must be approved by the Provost; an effort should be made to complete remaining work by the first week of the following semester. An Incomplete grade must be replaced by a final grade within two weeks of the completion of the work. If the work is not completed by the agreed upon date, either the grade will revert to an “E” or whatever grade the student earned assuming a 0 on the incomplete work, or the completion deadline will be extended by the Provost.

In the case of an incomplete grade being assigned for financial reasons, the fees must be paid and the course completed prior to the second day of class of the following regular semester (or the summer term if the student seeks to take summer courses). Otherwise all academic records for that semester will be nullified, and the student will have to repeat courses taken that semester.

(Note: some language adopted from Mount Holyoke College).