Studying at AIU

Studying at AIU


Arab international university (AIU), since it is a private Syrian university, adopts The credit-hour system during its academic years. It also combines the courses into one integral study plan, a certain amount of hours will be assigned for each course in the curriculum.
Here we will cover a few brief definitions for some of the terms used in this system:

The Academic Year and Academic Semester:

The academic year at AIU is made up of:

The SemestersSemester TypeThe Duration 
The first semester (Fall semester)MandatoryBetween 8 and 9,5 weeks
The second semester (Spring semester)MandatoryBetween 8 and 9,5 weeks
The third semester (Summer semester)Optinal (Crash Course)8 weeks

The Credit Hour:

A credit hour is either one theoretical hour or two practical hours a week, and is scheduled for one whole academic semester. The credit hours of one course can be only theoretical, or only practical or both theoretical and practical.

For example: Assuming a course in the study plan requires (3) credit hours a week, two of these hours are theoretical while one is practical. This course will hence be delivered in the form of two theoretical hours and two practical hours a week during study hours. Therefore, we can calculate that the student attending this course will have had to have attended (28) theoretical study hours and the same amount of practical hours.

The Study Plan:

The credit hours of each study plan will be calculated to cohere with the academic study years. The following table shows the current credit hours scheduled for each faculty in AIU:

 

Study Plan Credit Hours

   Average Study Duration

 Faculty
1915Dentistry
1785Pharmacy 
1695Informatics & Communications Engineering
1695Architectural Engineering
1695Civil Engineering
1334Business management
1344Arts
1354Law

 

 

The study plan of each syllabus taught in a course will include the following information:

  • The course’s credit hours.
  • The type of course (theoretical/practical/both).
  • The previous subject that the student must have passed in order to register in the subject that follows. (if available)
  • A description of the course.
  • How the course will be divided according to the weeks of each semester.

Academic load:

Student’s academic load is the amount of credit hours the student is permitted to schedule at AIU during the university’s academic semesters, this can be shown clearly in the table below:

 

SemesterMinimum Credit HoursAverage Credit HoursAverage Credit Hours (students/graduates)
Fall Semester121821
Spring Semester121821
Summer Semester3912

 

(*) Well performing students are those who have acquired a degree of no less than 3 in their GPA in the previous semester.

The table above shows that a well performing student has the ability to graduate before the average studying period if they so wish.

Student’s Percentage and Grades:

The credit hours at AIU are calculated according to student’s letter grade and their grade percentage in each course, this can be shown clearly in the table below:

 

Percentage GradeLetter GradeNumeric grade
98-100A+4.00
95-97A3.75
90-94A-3.50
85-89B+3.25
80-84B3.00
75-79B-2.75
70-74C+2.5
65-69C2.25
60-64C-2.00
55-59D+1.75
50-54D1.50
Less than 50F0.00

 

The numeric grade is marked out of 4 for each subject in the course according to the table above. And so students’ GPA will be calculated according to the following:

The Semester-based Grade Point Average (SGPA)

Student’s (SGPA) is calculated at the end of each semester as follows: the sum of the student's grades obtained in each course multiplied by its scheduled credit hours and divided by the overall credit hours carried out by the student during the semester.

The Accumulated Grade Point Average (AGPA)

Student’s (AGPA) is calculated the same way student's SGPA is calculated. With the exception that all the courses studied by the student (from the beginning of their study years). In case of repeated courses, the university will use the student's highest score.

Course Withdrawal

During the academic semester at AIU, students are allowed to withdraw from a course two weeks before its final examination and will therefore be graded (W)-officially withdrawn. This grade will not be taken into account when calculating the student’s AGPA or SGPA.