Qatar University has announced the new policies related to admission, summer courses and readmission for undergraduate students.

QU vice president for Student Affairs Dr Khalid al-Khanji outlined the new policies in the presence of Board of Regents Secretary General Dr Ibrahim Abdulla al-Ansari.

The new policies for admission and summer courses were recently reviewed and approved by QU Board of Regents, Dr al-Khanji said, noting that the minimum high school percentage of admission requirements for all colleges is 70%, except for the colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy which will require 85% and 80%, respectively.

“Students will be directly admitted to the general programme of the designated college to which they have applied. At a later stage, majors will be determined based on college admission capacity and student competition in accordance with the set criteria of each programme. Students admitted into the Foundation Programme are required to complete all Foundation requirements before they can be considered for admission into their intended major,” he said.

Dr al-Khanji noted that the board established a new academic calendar comprising three academic semesters in the summer term and one academic semester in Fall for internships. The first two summer semesters will start on June 26 and end on July 28 (1st semester) and August 11 (2nd semester), while the third semester starts on July 31 and ends on August 25.

“The new academic calendar provides students the opportunity to get 12 credit hours and four courses, instead of nine credit hours and three courses as per the previous calendar,” he said.

Dr al-Khanji also outlined the new re-admission policy which was established and approved by QU executive management committee. It defines rules and regulations for allowing academically dismissed or withdrawn students resume their studies at the university.

He noted that students who are dismissed or have withdrawn from the institution may apply for readmission. “Applicants may seek readmission after completing a minimum suspension period of one regular semester, excluding summer,” he said, noting that students will only be readmitted once.

He also noted that readmitted students may return to the college in which they were declared at the time of academic withdrawal, or may be transferred to a different college as part of their readmission. “Applicants seeking readmission after withdrawal may keep their cumulative GPA earned prior to academic withdrawal, including the courses taken within the last 10 years. Hence, they can remove four courses or one semester from their academic records,” Dr al-Khanji said, adding, “This policy is limited to withdrawn students only.”

He further noted that readmitted students who were academically dismissed or withdrawn may apply to transfer the courses taken within the last 5 years, and in which they achieved a score of C and above in each course, given that these courses do not exceed 50% of their study plan.