FAQ
Readmission
Who should apply for readmission?
A: The graduate students who have to apply for readmission in order to continue their graduate study programs at KFUPM are the ones who;
- Formally withdrew from the University
- Did not register or confirm registration in a semester.
- Dropped all courses in a semester.
- Were dismissed due to weak academic performance.
What is a readmission form?
A: The description of the readmission for can be found here.
Change of Major
How to start the process of change of major?
A: In order to begin your major change process, you must discuss with the Graduate Coordinator and Chairman of your current Department as well as that of the Department you wish to change your studies major to.
What is the change of major form?
A: The description of the readmission for can be found here.
How to apply for Change of Major?
A: One can initiate the Change of Major process by filling up the Change of Major form available on our website using the following link http://www2.kfupm.edu.sa/gs/files/current/FORM-Change_Major.pdf
What are the available majors that the Graduate Studies at KFUPM offer?
A: Please visit http://www.kfupm.edu.sa/gs/main/Programs.asp for information
There are so many majors, so how do I decide on one?
A: Detailed information on majors can be found in the Graduate Bulletinhttp://www2.kfupm.edu.sa/gs/files/current/Grad_Bulletin_09-11.pdf
This guide provides you with the important information about the majors and degree programs offered at KFUPM. You can find the description, prerequisites, and admission requirements for every major in the Graduate Bulletin. In case of any further information is required, please contact to the concerned department. The email addresses of all of the Department Chairmen and Graduate Coordinators can be found at http://www.kfupm.edu.sa/gs/main/chairmen.asp.
Degree Plan
What is a Degree Plan and why do I need to submit a degree plan?
A: Degree Plan is a list of courses that the student selects to be counted towards his degree in agreement with the approved coursework plan of the corresponding program of study. The De-gree Plan enables a student to choose the courses only from the pool of courses available to his particular degree program and is useful to avoid any hassles at the time of student’s graduation.
The degree plan should include the minimum requirements for degree completion and not all the courses taken are required to be in the degree plan.
Where can I obtain the degree plan from?
A: It can be obtained as an Adobe Acrobat form from http://www1.kfupm.edu.sa/gs/files/current/Degree%20Plan.pdf
What is the deadline for submission a degree plan?
A: All students must submit their degree plans preferably during the first semester or latest by the fourth week of second semester from the enrollment in the graduate degree program.
Where can I go for help in completing my degree plan?
A: Start with the Graduate Coordinator in your department. The Degree Plan should be filled as per the typical degree plan outlined in the Graduate Bulletin http://www1.kfupm.edu.sa/gs/files/current/Grad_Bulletin_09-11.pdf
Where should I submit the degree plan?
A: The degree plan should be submitted to the Graduate Coordinator of your department. The degree plan after formal approvals from the Graduate Coordinator and Department Chairman will be sent by the Department to the Deanship of Graduate Studies for the review and formal approval.
How long does it normally take for DGS to process degree plans?
A: Degree Plans normally take 1-2 weeks to be processed.
Am I required checking whether the degree plan is approved or not?
A: It is the responsibility of the student to inquire whether his degree plan is approved. If there is any discrepancy in the degree plan the student will be notified via email (student email account) along with the required action which the student should adhere with to get the degree plan ap-proved.
What is to done if changes are needed in my already approved degree plan?
A: Once your degree plan has been approved, major changes must be requested by submitting a revised degree plan, whereas slight changes (of one or two courses) can be requested by submitting an academic petition.
Admission Status (Provisional and Regular)
What is the admission status?
A: To be a regular graduate student at KFUPM, the students are required to fulfill the admission requirements (please re¬fer to Page-44 of Graduate Bulletin which can be found at
http://www2.kfupm.edu.sa/gs/files/current/Grad_Bulletin_09-11.pdf
Generally, students who fulfill all of the admission requirements are admitted with Regular status.
Who are admitted as Provisional Students?
Some students lacking in some of the admission requirements or are required passing some defi-ciency courses, are also admitted as Provisional students. Such students are required to fulfill the provisions before properly starting their graduate studies.
What should I do get my Provisional Status changed to Regular?
A: First of all, a provisional graduate student is required to fulfill all the provisions stated in the Admission Letter. After fulfilling all of the admission provisions, a student must apply for change-of-status through an academic petition to be duly approved by the Department Graduate Coordinator, Chairman and the Dean of Graduate Studies. The academic petition form can be found at http://www2.kfupm.edu.sa/gs/files/current/academic_petition.pdf
How can I check whether or not my admission status is changed?
A: After a week of submission of the request for the change-of-status, the student should follow up with the Academic Auditing Reception of Deanship of Graduate Studies which can be reached at mailto:d-cgs@kfupm.edu.sa and at telephone numbers 860-1692 and 860-1004.
Pre-Graduate Program
What is the Pre-Graduate Program?
A: It is a special program in which students not eligible for Regular Admission can officially be admitted to Graduate Program. It is mainly designed to serve the students with:
1. A GPA ranging from 2.0 to less than 2.5.
2. A major background deficiency.
3. A requirement of taking English courses.
What should I do to become a graduate student?
A: First of all, the student should fulfill all the pre-graduate requirements. Afterwards, the student must apply for change-of-degree-objective from pre-graduate to graduate student through an academic petition to be duly approved by the Department Graduate Coordinator, Chairman and the Dean of Graduate Studies. The academic petition form can be found at
http://www2.kfupm.edu.sa/gs/files/current/academic_petition.pdf
Withdrawal
What is the Withdrawal?
A: The University uses the term “withdrawn” to formally indicate that a student has dropped or is going to drop all courses for a given term. Withdrawing from the university differs from dropping one or several courses within a given term, because as long as a student retains at least one course, he is still considered to be registered for that term.
Whose responsibility is it to withdraw from a course?
A: It is the responsibility of the student to officially withdraw from a course to avoid getting a DN grade in that course.
From where can the Withdrawal form be obtained?
A: The withdrawal form can be obtained from the department .The form has three copies one for the Registrar Office (white), one for the student (green) and one for the Deanship of Graduate Studies (yellow).
Once the Withdrawal form is completed and signed by the instructor and the student, what happens to the form?
A: The form is to be approved by the course instructor, Department Chairman and the College Dean only to be hand carried by the student himself to the Deanship of Graduate studies to be approved by the Dean of Graduate Studies. Then the form is again hand-carried by the student to the Registrar Office for the final action. The Registrar Office shall maintain the white copy for its record and hand over the green copy and yellow copy to the student after attestation.
What about the remaining copies?
A: The student then should submit the yellow copy to the Deanship of Graduate Studies to be kept in the student file and the green copy to be maintained by the student for his own record.
Should the remaining copies be personally delivered by the Student?
A: YES. The student should personally deliver the remaining forms to the front desk at the Deanship of Graduate Studies.
Warnings, Probations and Dismissals
What is the concept of Warnings, Probations and Dismissals?
A: The academic performance of every graduate student is evaluated by the Graduate Council after every semester and letters of warnings, probations and dismissals are issued to such students. Probation is the lowest level of warning whereas, Warning and Severe Warning are of more severe level respectively. The student will be dismissed from the graduate program in case of either bad or consistent unsatisfactory performance.
What should I do if I get any of Warning, Probation or Dismissal letters?
A: Severe Warning means last chance of improvement, for if a student gets a Sever Warning letter, he must improve his academic performance. Warning and Probation letter should also not be taken for granted. Every student who receives any of those should work hard to improve his academic performance. Such students, who received Warning, Probation or Dismissal letters are also recommended to discuss and seek guidance from their Departments’ Graduate Coordinators and the Dean of Graduate Studies.
If a student gets a Dismissal letter he has the following options;
a. Apply for readmission with a very strong and real justification for his poor performance. This request, after the approval of the Department and College Councils, will be evaluated by the Graduate Council for final decision.
b. Accept the facts and try something else.
Thesis/Dissertation Proposal
What are the pre-requisites of getting thesis proposal approved?
The list contains the pre-requisites of getting the thesis proposal approved;
1. Provisional status should be cleared and changed to Regular.
2. Degree Plan is approved.
3. At least half of the coursework should be completed with a minimum CGPA of 3.00.
4. For PhD students only: the comprehensive examination should be passed.
5. For PhD students only: the committee must comprise of at least five (05) faculty members.
6. Thesis/Dissertation approval forms
http://www.kfupm.edu.sa/gs/main/Forms.asp, properly filled (type-written) and signed, should be submitted along with the proposal draft and Department and College Councils’ approvals.
7. Committee is formed in accordance with the Regulations of Thesis/Dissertation Committee Formation found at
hhttp://www.kfupm.edu.sa/gs/unified.asp?pr_id=20&sh_id=22
and http://www.kfupm.edu.sa/gs/main/ePrints_Guide.asp
8. Resume of any Assistant Professors, non-Faculty members and/or any external members (out of KFUPM) are to be submitted with the refereed journal publications highlighted.
Generally, how long does it take to get a thesis/dissertation proposal approved once the entire requirements are fulfilled?
A: If there are no non-Faculty members and/or any external members (out of KFUPM) in the thesis/dissertation committee, it takes about a week to get thesis/dissertation proposal approved once the entire requirements are fulfilled. Otherwise the approval procedure takes about a month provided that the entire requirements are fulfilled.
How do I know about the status of my thesis/dissertation proposal?
A: If approved, the copies of the thesis/dissertation forms are sent to the Department by the Deanship of Graduate Studies. Hence, if a student doesn’t get any feedback email from the DGS, which is been sent if there is any deficiency/requirement regarding the submitted documents, the student must inquire about his thesis/dissertation proposal from the DGS Academic Auditing Office.
Academic Petitions
What is an academic petition?
A: It is a pre-defined pattern (form) to request for any academic action by the student.
What do I use academic petitions for?
A: There are many reasons of using an Academic Petition, such as;
a. Change of provisional status to regular.
b. Change of degree objective from Pre-Graduate to Graduate or Pre-MBA to MBA.
c. Waiver of deficiency courses.
d. Transfer of credits.
e. Change of Student Classification such as Full-time Graduate Student to Part-time Gradu-ate Student, etc.
f. Minor changes in Degree Plan.
g. Others.
Where to find an academic petition form?
A: It is available at http://www2.kfupm.edu.sa/gs/files/current/academic_petition.pdf
Comprehensive Examination for PhD Students
What is a PhD Comprehensive Exam?
A: The purpose of the comprehensive examination is to ensure that a student advancing to candidacy for Ph.D. degree has sufficient knowledge in his subject area that enables him to undertake Ph.D. research in his field of specialization. Detailed information on PhD Comprehensive Exam can be found at Page-66 of the Graduate Bulletin (can be found at
http://www2.kfupm.edu.sa/gs/files/current/Grad_Bulletin_09-11.pdf
Also student should meet with their Departments’ Graduate Coordinators for guidance and departmental policies re-garding PhD Comprehensive Exam.
How do I register for the PhD Comprehensive Exam?
A: The student should schedule for his PhD Comprehensive Exam in consultation with the de-partment’s Graduate Committee. Also, the student must be registered for the Seminar course (XXX-699) in the same semester of passing the PhD Comprehensive Exam.
What is the deadline of passing PhD Comprehensive Exam?
A: The student has to pass a comprehensive examination not later than the end of the second year from the student’s enrolment in the Ph.D. Program.
Public Oral Defense of Thesis/Dissertation
What is Public Oral Defense of Thesis/Dissertation?
A: A public oral defense of the M.Sc. thesis or Ph.D. dissertation is required for all candidates for a Master of Science (M. Sc.) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Degrees. This defense is not normally required for the Master degrees that do not require a thesis.
What is the last day/date to defend the Thesis/Dissertation?
A: The last day/date of the classes (can be checked from the University Registrar’s website http://regweb.kfupm.edu.sa/cal/cal.htm is the last day on which the thesis/dissertation defense can be held.
What are the requirements of Public Oral Defense of Thesis/Dissertation?
A: The following lists the requirements of the public oral defense of thesis/dissertation.
1. Thesis/Dissertation proposal is approved.
2. The admission status of the student is Regular.
3. The student is registered for thesis/dissertation in the intended semester of defense.
4. The duly signed form for thesis/dissertation defense (can be found at
http://www2.kfupm.edu.sa/gs/files/current/REQUEST_FOR_ORAL_DEFENSE.pdf
is submitted and approved by the Dean of Graduate Studies.
5. The student has already completed or is completing in the current semester, the coursework requirements.
6. The student fulfills the minimum CGPA requirements (CGPA ≥ 3.00) of the University.
Graduation
What are the requirements to graduate and pursue for degree certificate?
A: The general requirements for all students are;
1. Provisional status should be cleared and changed to Regular.
2. Degree Plan is approved and the transcript is in compliance with it.
3. The department has requested the Deanship of Graduate Studies to process the graduation.
4. CGPA is at least 3.00
Additional requirements for the candidates of thesis-based degree programs are;
1. Thesis/Dissertation is successfully defended and the report is submitted to the Deanship of Graduate Studies.
2. Thesis/Dissertation is submitted and a copy has been uploaded through ePrints system (for more information, please visit http://www.kfupm.edu.sa/gs/main/ePrints_Guide.asp.
Also, if you are a Research Assistant or Lecture-B, you are required to fulfill the following in addition to the above;
1. Clearance form for KFUPM staff is submitted. At the completion/termination of employ-ment contract as Research Assistant or Lecturer-B, this form is available from the Staff Affairs in the Deanship of Faculty & Personnel Affairs.
If you are a Part-time Student, you are required to fulfill the following in addition to the above;
1. Tuition fee is paid fully.
2. Clearance form for part-time students is submitted.
Generally, how long does it take to get degree certificate once the entire requirements are fulfilled?
A: The procedure of graduation and degree certificate starts when the student’s department re-quests the Deanship of Graduate Studies for this issuance of degree certificate. Once all the requirements are fulfilled, it takes minimum two working days and maximum a working week to verify and validate the completion of all degree requirements before the University Registrar is advised to complete the graduation and degree certificate issuance process.