Admission Requirements

The college of engineering admits an average of 600 students every year. An applicant for admission must have a Saudi Secondary School Certificate (science section) or its equivalent and Aptitude Exam (provided by National Center for Assessment in Higher Education,) with the following:-

87% in Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics and

85% in English language.

The priority of acceptance for admission is given to those applicants with the highest equivalent percentage (70% of the secondary school grade + 30% of aptitude exam grade)

Applications are submitted to the Deanship of Admission and Registration in the specified periods for each semester.

Education System

The college follows the semester system. Two semesters are offered in each academic year (each semester is called a level). The duration of each semester is fifteen weeks excluding examination, in addition to an optional 8-weeks summer semester. The B.Sc. program is a five years program which consists of ten semesters.

The Bachelor of Science degree in engineering requirements includes 160 units (credit-hours), to be passed successfully in any department of the college. Each department has a typical degree program distributed over ten levels in which the first and the second levels (first year) are common for all students with 10 courses of a total of 34 units.

Summer training is a further degree requirement in all departments of the college of engineering. The student must have finished at least 96 units to be eligible. Summer training extends over a period of 60 days excluding weekends and official holidays, and must be undertaken in companies or establishments accepted by the college. Summer training is supervised by a coordinator in each department and a college training coordinator. The student’s performance is evaluated by the training company and by the department and College coordinators.

Registration Procedure

The student is automatically registered at the beginning of each semester for a number of units according to his academic standing. Students with GPA of 2.0 are eligible to register up to 14 units, while those of 4.5 GPA or above are eligible for up to 20 units as maximum.

Withdrawal

The student has the right to withdraw from an academic semester within the withdrawal period announced in the academic calendar for that semester. No withdrawal is allowed during the last five weeks before the final examination.

Attendance

Believing that regular course attendance is necessary for academic success, King Saud University requires that students should attend at least 75% of the lectures and practical lessons. Students failing to meet this requirement in any of the courses will be prohibited from attending the final examination of those courses and will have F grades for those courses. Furthermore, the student who is absent in the final examination of a course(s) will not be given a makeup examination, except for a valid reason accepted by the college council.

Examination and Grading System

1) Success in a course is usually based on the combination of a grade awarded for course work, plus a grade for the final examination.

2) The grade for the course work is within 50-60% of the total mark, and the remainder being for the grading of the final examination.

3) Each course will have a total of 100 points.

4) The pass mark in each course is 60%.

The grading system at King Saud University is as follows:

 A student's grade point average (GPA) is determined by dividing the cumulative point value of all courses attempted by the number of units in the student's semester schedule. An example is the following hypothetical student's report having six subjects in a particular semester.

Subject	Credit-Hours	Letter Grade	Value Factor	Product
1	2	B+	4.5	9
2	3	D	2	6
3	3	C	3	9
4	4	D+	2.5	10
5	1	B	4	4
6	5	C	3	15
Total	18			53

The student's semester grade point average is (53/18) = 2.94

The cumulative grade point value is translated as follows:  

4.50 upwards	Excellent
3.75 - 4.50	Very Good
2.75 - 3.75	Good
2.00 - 2.75	Pass
Less than 2.00	Fail

 Discontinuity Status

1) The student is considered to be a discontinuing one if he withdraws from a semester or fail to register, whether with or without a valid reason. It is permissible for a student to be on a discontinuing status for a maximum of two consecutive semesters, or a maximum of three non-consecutive semesters during his enrollment at King Saud University. The student enrollment will be terminated if he exceeds these limits.

2) Any student who loses his status as a student at King Saud University due to the condition mentioned in item (1) above is entitled to appeal to be readmitted to King Saud University based on the following conditions:

a) The student should satisfy all the admission conditions announced at re-admission.

b) The student should keep the same University identification number and record he had prior to discontinuing his study.

c) The student's appeal should be approved by his College council. The council has the right to require the student to retake any course that he has passed.

d) If the student discontinuity exceeds four semesters, he can apply for admission as a fresh one, without looking into his previous record, provided his discontinuity was not due to misconduct.

Scholastic Probation

All students at King Saud University are required to maintain a grade point average of at least 2.0 out of 5.0. Those who fail to maintain this average are placed on scholastic condition and are given two semesters in which they must attain a GPA of 2.0. If this condition is not met within the two semesters of probation, student may then be dismissed from his studies at the College of Engineering. One last opportunity of a third semester to raise the average can be given to those who can attain the 2.0 GPA if studied 12 credit hours and scored B average (48 points).

Credit Transfer

It is permissible for Student to transfer credit studied in a reputable engineering college when similar courses are offered by the college. Transferred credits are approved from the related department with equivalent courses offered by the department. Transferred credits are not included in the GPA and a pass grade is assigned to those courses.