Admission

Bologna Process

The 22 rules that govern Bachelor's study under the Bologna Process at Soran University: ECTS credits, postponement, prerequisites, cheating, grading, passing marks, duration and first-year transition, within the Ministry's Bologna Process guideline.

Responsible office
Presidency of Soran University; Office of the Vice-President for Scientific Affairs
Approval date
To be confirmed
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The Bologna Process at Soran University

Soran University teaches its Bachelor's programmes under the Bologna Process, the European framework in which study is organised in semesters, measured in ECTS credits and assessed by continuous coursework and final examinations. The guidelines below are issued by the Presidency of Soran University and apply to all faculties and departments. They implement the guideline of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of the Kurdistan Regional Government on the Bologna Process (circular of 7 November 2022), which is available in full at the end of this page.

Guidelines of the Bologna Process at Soran University

  1. In the Bologna Process at Soran University, one ECTS credit equals 25 hours of student work. To obtain the Bachelor's degree, a student must acquire 240 ECTS credits.
  2. Soran University does not have a Foundation year for the Bologna system.
  3. Regarding student postponement (deferral) in the Bologna system, a student is allowed to postpone either both semesters of an academic year or only a single semester. If a single semester is postponed, the student will only retake that specific semester in the following year. If the postponed semester was the first semester, it will be taken into account that the student cannot study courses in the second semester that have prerequisites.
  4. Any student who fails a module in a semester that serves as a prerequisite must retake and pass that course in the subsequent semester to be able to start taking the dependent courses.
  5. Under the Bologna Process guidelines, a student is allowed a maximum of four (4) semesters of postponement or failure, and the study period must not exceed six (6) years. Otherwise, the student's registration will be terminated, and upon returning to study, their study mode will be changed to the parallel (tuition) system.
  6. A student with valid justification is allowed to postpone up to four (4) semesters. Postponing the first two semesters falls under the authority of the Faculty Council, while the second two semesters fall under the authority of the University President, following a recommendation by the Faculty Council.
  7. A student wishing to request a postponement must submit their application to the department at least one month prior to the end-of-semester final examinations.
  8. If it is proven that a student has committed cheating in examinations (daily, monthly or end-of-semester), they will be considered failed in the entire semester. If repeated, their name will be removed from the records (registration terminated).
  9. If the cheating occurred in the first semester, it will be taken into account that the student cannot take courses in the second semester that have prerequisites.
  10. During the first-round examinations, students receive their results only as numerical marks. After the second-round examinations, results are provided as both numerical marks and academic levels. Determining student levels is based on the pass-rate percentages specified in the Bologna Process.
  11. Grading in the Bologna system is structured as follows: 60 marks for semester coursework and 40 marks for the final examination of the semester.
  12. The Department Council, through the department's scientific committee, has the authority to modify annually up to 10% of the programme syllabus content, subject to approval from the Faculty Council.
  13. Study in the Bologna system for each semester consists of fifteen (15) weeks, excluding examination days.
  14. The passing mark for any subject is fifty (50). A mark of 49 does not become fifty; however, 49.5 and above is rounded up to fifty.
  15. If a student fails one or more courses in the second round, they must retake and pass those courses in a subsequent semester or another given opportunity.
  16. A failed student will not be required to take subjects that have been dropped because of curriculum changes, but will be required to take any new subjects introduced.
  17. Any student reaching the fifth semester must have acquired at least 90 ECTS credits; otherwise, they cannot study the fifth semester or higher.
  18. Any first-year student in the academic year 2018–2019 who failed in two (2) or more annual courses (annual system), or three (3) or more term courses, is considered failed and the Bologna Process rules apply to them.
  19. The department's scientific committee will evaluate the subjects studied in the first year as follows:
    1. For Basic and Support courses, if it is found that the student has studied 70% or more of the subject content, the student will be exempted from that subject.
    2. For Core courses, if it is found that the student has studied 70% or more of the subject content, the department's scientific committee has the authority either to exempt the student or to require them to repeat it.
    3. For all courses, if it is found that the student has studied less than 70% of the content, the student must repeat the course.
  20. Students who fail in two (2) or more annual courses, or three (3) or more term courses, who return to the first year and find that one or more (or all) of their first-year courses no longer exist, will not be considered passed and will remain in the first year.
  21. The calculation of student absences remains at the same percentage as the previous system, except that where the previous system was annual, under the Bologna Process the rate of absence is calculated separately for each semester.
  22. Deanships of faculties and heads of scientific departments should raise more awareness among students and inform them that if a student fails, the Bologna system will be applied to them the following year, and the student will be personally responsible for any resulting changes.

Ministry guideline

The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research issued the Guideline for the Implementation of the Bologna Process in the Universities of the Kurdistan Region (circular of 7 November 2022), prepared by the scientific committee of the first Bologna Process conference. It defines the terms used (ECTS, learning outcomes, module, prerequisites, retake, workload and others), the qualification framework and cycles (short cycle 120 ECTS, Bachelor's 240 ECTS, Higher Diploma 60 ECTS, Master's 120 ECTS, doctorate), the academic year, the credit system and transfer of credits, programme structure, registration, attendance, assessment, final examinations, the grading scale (Excellent 90–100, Very Good 80–89, Good 70–79, Medium 60–69, Pass 50–59, Fail below 50), degree award and duration of study. Soran University's guidelines above are applied within that framework.

Ministry guideline on the Bologna Process (PDF, Kurdish)