Grading Policies

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 comprise 30 - 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 E's for instance, depending on the actual quality of work submitted by the students.

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% E's.) A class whose GPA falls outside the range 2.7 - 3.3 should be considered atypical. Ashesi’s Quality Assurance Committee flags courses that assign more than 33% A’s or more than 20% D+’s, D’s or E’s for follow-up with the Provost and Head of Department.

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

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. If an absence is due to illness, the student should bring documentation from a health professional to the faculty, if approved, the absence should not affect the student’s grade.
• Faculty members are not required to administer substitute assignments or examinations for students who have missed class without prior notification and approval, or in the absence of approved documentation from a health professional
• If a student misses the equivalent of more than three weeks of classes over the course of a semester, an instructor may fail the student in the course, or, in the event that the absence was due to a proven illness or other emergency, the student may seek permission from the Dean of Students or Provost for an Incomplete grade. 

Probation and Dismissal

• Students will be placed on academic probation if, at the end of any semester, their cumulative GPA or semester GPA is less than 2.0 (average C) but not less than a 1.5, or if their semester GPA is less than 1.5 but their cumulative GPA is 2.5 or above.
• Continuing students will be subject to academic dismissal from Ashesi if (1) they fail to make normal degree progress, (2) their grade-point average falls below 1.5 for the previous regular semester and their cumulative GPA is less than 2.5, (3) after one semester on probation they have not achieved a cumulative or regular semester GPA of 2.0 (C average).
• Seniors with 4 or fewer credits remaining in their degree programme will be dismissed only if their previous regular semester Grade Point Average falls below 1.0 and their cumulative GPA is less than 2.5, or if their Cumulative Grade Point Average falls below 2.0.
• Although the first semester grades for freshmen will be counted towards their GPA, first semester grades will not be used to dismiss a student. A student in the freshman class will only be subject to academic dismissal from Ashesi University if after the second semester, the semester GPA is below 1.5. The cumulative GPA will not be factored into academic dismissal for freshmen. After the freshmen year, all continuing students will be subject to the dismissal policy for continuing students.

Course Load

The student course load at Ashesi is typically 4 to 4.5 units. If a student has a cumulative grade point average (GPA) or previous semester GPA of 3.3 or above, then the student may register for up to one additional unit. Under no circumstances will a student be allowed to register for more than 5.5 units. Under certain circumstances, a student may ask to take fewer than 4 units, or may be advised to take fewer than 4 units. For a course load of 2 units or under, the student will pay pro-rated tuition; for 2.5 units or above, the student will pay full tuition.

Repeating a Course

A student may repeat a class only if:

• the grade on record is D+, D or E, or,
• the student can take the class again with no added financial implications (that is, without adding extra semesters or extra tuition to a planned semester), or,
• a signature is obtained from the student’s sponsor (parent, sponsor, or Ashesi financial aid director or designate if the student is on financial aid), indicating that they will support the extra tuition required to take the class again, which may include additional semesters due to course load and pre-requisite requirements. 

Students may take a class for the third time only after meeting with an academic advisor and obtaining written approval from the Provost. Students are not allowed to take a class for a fourth time. Students must register for repeated classes, and maximum class load requirements per semester must be fulfilled.

All instances of the class will appear on the student’s transcript, although the class will not be counted multiple times toward graduation requirements.  Beginning in Semester 1 of the 2017-2018 academic year, all earned grades will be used in computing grade-point averages.

Late Drop

Students can late drop up to one class per semester, under the following conditions:

• The late drop occurs at or prior to the Friday of the 9th regular week of classes (or Friday of the 4th week of classes for summer).
• The student has not late dropped the same class in the past.
• The late drop is accompanied by a completed Individual Curriculum Planning Form giving a realistic plan for graduation in their major, taking into consideration pre-requisite structures of classes, and signed by either the student’s advisor or a member of the Office of the Academic Registry.
• If the late drop has financial implications (that is, one or more extra semesters or extra tuition in a planned semester), the student’s sponsor (parent, sponsor, or Ashesi financial aid director or designate if the student is on financial aid) must also sign the form. Note that the financial implications may include additional semesters due to course load and pre-requisite requirements.
• The late drop is accompanied by a signature from the instructor or Head of Department of the course being late dropped.

No tuition reimbursement will be given for drops after the first two weeks of the semester.

Incomplete Grade

An Incomplete (“Inc”) grade may be assigned only if the student has been given permission for an Incomplete by the Dean of Student and Community Affairs or the Provost because of an emergency or illness.  An Incomplete is appropriate only if the student’s work in a course has been of passing quality and a minority of the work of the course is left outstanding, as determined by the instructor. 

The instructor must agree with the student on a date for the completion of the work, which must be approved by the Provost; an effort should be made to complete remaining work by the first week of the following semester. An Incomplete grade must be replaced by a final grade within two weeks of the completion of the work.  If the work is not completed by the agreed upon date, either the grade will revert to an “E”  or whatever grade the student earned assuming a 0 on the incomplete work, or the completion deadline will be extended by the Provost. 

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
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 and The University of Mines and Technology (through which Ashesi is accredited and Ashesi students receive diplomas). 

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