Ashesi University College

Grading Policies

Ashesi University's grading system is modelled on most selective institutions of higher education in the United States. Student work is evaluated throughout the semester through examinations, quizzes, research and writing assignments, projects and participation in class discussions. Final exams and/or projects typically comprise less than 50 percent of the final grade for a course.

Grading Guidelines for Faculty
The following guidelines* are not intended to dictate exact grade distributions in courses but are rather intended to prevent grade inflation and to provide useful benchmarks for the benefit of course instructors and external reviewers. Not all courses will assign A's or F's for instance, depending on the actual quality of work submitted by the students.

Areas of Study

The Ashesi Education

Liberal Arts Core

African Studies

Business Administration

Computer Science

Management Information Systems

Academic Registrar

Grading Policies

Online Information System (Students)

Online Information System (Faculty)

Course Websites

Four Year Curriculum

Course Codes & Prerequisites

Grade Point System

A
80 - 100
4.0

Excellent

A-
75 - 79
3.7

Excellent

B+
70 - 74
3.3

Very Good

B
65 - 69
3.0

Very Good

B-
60 - 64
2.7

Good

C+
55 - 59
2.3

Good

C
50 - 54
2.0

Satisfactory

C-
45 - 49
1.7

Satisfactory

D+
40 - 44
1.3

Pass

D
35 - 39
1.0

Conditional Pass*

F
0 - 34
0.0

Failure

I

-

Incomplete

A 'D' grade does not count towards credits in a major area of study, nor does it count towards prerequisites for other courses.

A typical Grade Point Average (GPA) for a course is approximately 3.0. (This GPA would result, for example, from 23% A's, 50% B's, 20% C's, 5% D's, and 2% F's.) A class whose GPA falls outside the range 2.7 - 3.3 should be considered atypical, and instructors for such courses should submit an explanation for the deviation from the norm in order to facilitate external examiner review of the course.

Instructors have discretion to adjust final grades upwards or downwards by 0.3 - 0.7 points, on the basis of class participation, class attendance, and timely submission of assignments. For example, a student who earns a B- on the basis of final score alone may be awarded a final grade of B or B+ if he or she regularly attended classes and demonstrated a good understanding of the material during classroom discussions. Conversely, a student who earns a B- on the basis of final score alone may be awarded a final grade of C+ or C if he/she consistently skipped classes, consistently submitted assignments after prescribed deadlines, and/or did not demonstrate a deep understanding of the material during class discussions.

Instructors for courses that involve significant writing and critical analysis should consider the following guidelines in assigning grades.

Grade	Quality of Writing
A	A challenging hypothesis/proposition, clearly stated and argued Logical organization Textual evidence/quotations that are well contextualized within the discussion, and chosen in order to effectively prove the point at hand Precise word choice/elegant and unpretentious vocabulary No errors of grammar, punctuation, or spelling (and no typos)
B	A relevant hypothesis/proposition, clearly stated and argued fairly well Fairly strong organization, one or two jumps in logic, scattered evidence or redundancy Textual evidence/quotations that are well contextualized within the discussion, and chosen in order to effectively prove the point at hand Precise word choice/unpretentious vocabulary Minimal errors of grammar, punctuation, and spelling (no typos)
C	A hypothesis/proposition, stated and argued Attempts at organization, with several jumps in logic, scattered evidence and/or redundancy Textual evidence/quotations that are chosen in order to effectively prove the point at hand Imprecise word choice Errors of grammar, punctuation, and spelling
D	An unsuccessful hypothesis/proposition, or no hypothesis/proposition Attempts at organization, with jumps in logic, scattered evidence and/or redundancy Textual evidence/quotations Imprecise word choice Errors of grammar, punctuation, and spelling
F	Blatant lack of effort to fulfill the requirements of the assignment Penalty for (very) late paper that wasn't cleared with instructor or for other serious issue such as plagiarism. Note: cases of suspected plagiarism should be brought to the attention of the Dean of Students as soon as they are discovered.

* Modeled very closely on the University of California Berkeley. See:

http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Policies/ugrad.grading.shtml

http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~jwhite/CL1A/grading_guidelines.html

Class Attendance
Attending and participating in class, laboratory sessions and discussion sessions are essential to the process of learning at Ashesi University. Students benefit 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, teachers will take attendance and participation into account in assigning students’ grades. While each teacher will determine how class attendance affects students’ grades, general guidelines at Ashesi University are as follows.

Any absence may affect the student’s grade.
Teachers are not required to administer substitute assignments or examinations for students who have missed class without prior notification.
If a student misses more than two weeks of classes during a quarter or three weeks over the course of a semester, a teacher may fail the student in the course, request that the course be repeated or, in the event that the absence was due to a proven illness or other emergency, may give the student an Incomplete grade and allow the course to be completed upon the student’s return to the school.

Probation and Dismissal
Students will be placed on academic probation if at the end of any semester their grade-point average is less than 2.0 (C average) computed on the total of all courses undertaken at the University. Students will be subject to dismissal from Ashesi University if (1) they fail to make normal degree progress, (2) their grade-point averages fall below 1.5 for any one semester, or (3) after one semester on probation they have not achieved an overall 2.0 average.

Repeating a Course
A course may be repeated one time for the purpose of removing the effect of a poor grade, if the grade on record is D+, D or F. Only the most recently earned grade points will be used in computing grade-point averages; the course will not be counted a second time toward graduation requirements. Repeated courses will be identified as such on the student’s permanent record. The student should notify the Registrar’s Office of the intent to repeat a course.

Incomplete Grade
An Incomplete (I) grade may be assigned only if the work in a course has been of passing quality but is incomplete due to circumstances beyond the student’s control, such as illness. Requests must be approved in writing by an instructor, prior to the deadline for the submission of term grades. An Incomplete grade must be replaced by a final grade by the first day of the following semester. Any Incomplete grade not replaced within the above deadlines will be converted to a Failure (F).

Repetition of a course in which an Incomplete was received will cause that Incomplete to lapse immediately into a Failure (F). The grade-point average will reflect grade points earned on the second attempt of the course; the course units are counted only once toward graduation requirements.

Academic Honours

Dean's List
Students with a GPA of 3.5 or above at the end of a semester are placed on the Dean’s List. This status is noted on each student's academic record.

Graduation Honours
Students who earn a cumulative GPA of 3.5 for all undergraduate work earn Cum Laude (honors). Those with a cumulative GPA of 3.7 for all undergraduate work earn Magna Cum Laude (high honors). Students with a cumulative GPA of 3.85 for all undergraduate work earn Summa Cum Laude (highest honors).

For the sake of clarification, the following table indicates how Ashesi's classification of degrees maps on to the classification system at the University of Cape Coast.

Ashesi University	GPA	University of Cape Coast	GPA
Summa Cum Laude	3.85 – 4.00	First Class	3.55 – 4.00

Magna Cum Laude	3.70 – 3.84
Cum Laude	3.50 – 3.69
		Second Class Upper	2.95 – 3.54
Bachelor’s Degree	2.00 – 3.49
		Second Class Lower	2.45 – 2.94
		Third Class	1.95 – 2.44
Expulsion from University	Below 2.00
		Pass	0.94 – 1.94
		Fail	Below 0.94