Requests and Services
The Registrar’s Office is responsible for maintaining the student records for the university. Please read the following guidelines carefully before requesting a change in student records.
Acceptable legal documentation must be attached and submitted with the completed request form in order to process any request to change a student’s existing records at the university. A valid Qatari ID and passport are accepted as legal documentation by HBKU.
In order to update the personal information of a student that is part of their record:
- First, the student needs to submit a completed “Change of Information” form.
If the personal information of a student is incorrect or has changed from the information submitted during the admission application process, it can be updated and reflected on the student record.
Change of Biographical Details: This covers the student’s first, middle, and family name, date of birth, and nationality.
Change of Contact Details: This covers the student’s mobile number, emergency number, personal email, and address
- Most of the personal information such as contact number, address, and personal email can be updated by the students themselves through self-service. However, students can also submit a request to the Registrar’s Office to update such personal information.
Alumni personal information is maintained by Student Affairs. Please click here for more information.
To request a change in personal information, please click here.
In order to update a student’s program, major, or concentration:
- The student needs to complete a “Change of Major” form, and submit the request to the Registrar’s Office in accordance with the Academic Calendar.
- The eligibility of the student to change their program is then validated by the Registrar’s Office and the request is sent for further approval before the records are updated.
- The Registrar’s Office runs a degree audit and requests a transfer of credits if needed.
In order to approve a “program change’, the student must fulfill the criteria listed below:
- The student shall meet the admission requirements for the targeted program and must meet any additional requirements set by the targeted program.
- Good academic standing is preferred in order to initiate the request.
- Scholarship grant is not transferable from a previous program to a new program; the Dean of the college can approve exceptions.
- The student is eligible to request a change of program after completing at least one semester.
- The two programs must be at the same degree level.
- The student must fulfill all financial obligations to the University before the transfer.
- The new program coordinator shall evaluate the earned credits for possible transfer and inform the student of the possible transfer prior to final approval in accordance with the transfer credits policy.
Students who wish to engage in academic and/or research activity abroad while pursuing their degree are required to submit a “Study Abroad Request” form. Courses are subject to the transfer of credit policy only if the student secures academic leave prior to departure from the Dean of the respective college. Course description and Enrollment confirmation letter or an invitation letter from the external university must be attached to the request form.
The request has to be completed at least two weeks before the start of the upcoming semester. Students may withdraw from their studies abroad in accordance with the university’s withdrawal policy. The student needs to submit a “Course Withdrawal” form to the Registrar’s Office with the Dean’s approval. Upon completion of the course(s), the student should submit an approved “Transfer Credits Request” form and a sealed official transcript to the Registrar’s Office.
Student Holds
Students can check for registrar, transcript, or finance holds on the Student Profile in My Banner. Holds have different restrictions that prevent different functionalities inside My Banner. The type of hold placed on a student's record will determine if a student will be able to register for classes, obtain an official transcript, view grades, run degree audits or be granted final clearance for graduation.
Students should contact the respective department to release the Holds. In My Banner, under the section ‘View holds’, all the active holds will be available. Based on the reason provided, the respective department needs to be contacted.
| Department Name | Communication Email | Phone Number |
|---|---|---|
| Admission | Admissions@hbku.edu.qa | 44540272 |
| Registrar's Office | registration@hbku.edu.qa | 44546634 44540393 |
| Finance | College of Health and Life Sciences / College of Law / College of Public Policy/ College of Science and Engineering hbkustudentfinance@hbku.edu.qa |
Academic Policies and Grades
Academic Standing is the academic progress of a student, which reflects the overall academic performance; all HBKU Students need to maintain a satisfactory academic achievement every semester in order to continue in ‘Good’ Academic Standing. The students’ academic performance is one of three academic standings: Good standing, Probation and Academic Dismissal; these statuses will appear in the official transcripts.
Good Academic Standing
A student at the university shall be placed on Good Academic Standing if they have the following CGPA:
- For graduate students, CGPA must be ≥ 3.00,
- For undergraduate students, CGPA must be ≥2.00
Probation
A student at the university shall be placed on academic probation if his/her fall or spring semester or cumulative GPA at the end of any fall or spring semester is less than a 2.0 for Undergraduate students and a CGPA below 3.0 for Graduate students. A student on academic probation shall be removed from that standing at the end of the first subsequent fall or spring semester in which he/she achieves semester and cumulative GPAs equal to or greater than 2.0 for Undergraduate students and CGPA equal to or greater than 3.0 for Graduate students. Any grade change due to a reporting error will result in a recalculation of the GPA and determination of probation standing.
No standing: for new students who received by the end of the first semester in all attempted courses a grade of “W,” “P,” “IP,” “I,” or “N.”
Academic warning: Graduate students will be notified when their CGPA is below the threshold (3.2).
This status will not appear in the transcripts.
Permanent Dismissal: An academic standing indicating a permanent dismissal of a student for a serious disciplinary offense, and usually based on a decision taken by an academic disciplinary committee. Permanently dismissed students are barred from returning to the university, this status will appear in the transcript.
Academic Dismissal
A student will be dismissed for the following reasons:
- A student on academic probation shall be dismissed at the end of the first subsequent fall or spring semester in which he/she achieves a cumulative GPA of less than 2.0 for Undergraduate students and a CGPA less than 3.0 for Graduate students. Any grade change due to a reporting error will result in a recalculation of the GPA and determination of probation standing.
- Conditionally admitted students who fail to achieve a semester grade point average as stipulated in the admission offer in the first semester at HBKU.
- Students who exceed the maximum time limit to complete their degrees according to the policy.
Administrative Dismissal
A student status indicating dismissal from the university applied by the Registrar for violation of continuous registration or attendance policy, this status will not appear in the transcript.
- If the student needs to update the grades after the faculty has submitted the grades and the grades are rolled by the Registrar's Office, a "Change of Grade" form needs to be submitted to update the student record.
- “N” grade must be updated at the beginning of the following semester.
- Incomplete grades must be updated in the following semester according to the deadline mentioned in the academic calendar.
- The instructor initiates the request by submitting the form, which needs to be approved by the Program Coordinator and the Dean. If the update request of a grade is from a lower grade to an upper grade, the request will be sent to the Provost for approval. The faculty will be notified about the decision.
- For full grading details, refer to the Graduate Grading Policy and Undergraduate Grading Policy on the Academic Policies page.
Students should communicate with their instructor if they would like to appeal a given grade. If the instructor agrees with the student’s assertion, the instructor needs to submit a grade change request, and the form is approved by the provost. The Registrar's Office updates the student record and notifies the student of the grade change.
If the instructor did not agree with the student, the student may appeal to the College Dean and the Dean forms a committee to review the appeal case and make a recommendation. The Dean shall provide the appeals committee with procedures to guide their review. If the appeals committee fails to resolve the appeal within the specified time, the Dean may act to resolve the appeal. The Dean’s Office shall notify the student of the decision.
Students must file for an appeal petition within 30 days from the end of the semester in which the grade was recorded. If the student is not satisfied with the Dean’s decision, they may appeal to the Provost who shall have the final decision on the matter. The Provost may form an ad hoc committee to review and recommend a decision. for more details, please click here.
Within 10 business days from the official notification of an academic dismissal, a student may file a signed appeal stipulating the reason for the appeal to the office of the Dean. The College Dean shall review the case and communicate the decision to the student. Students may appeal the Dean’s decision to the Provost. The Provost shall issue a decision within ten working days, excluding study breaks, of the appeal deadline. The Provost may appoint a committee to review all appeal cases received by his Office. Once confirmed by the Provost, an academic dismissal is final.
The letter grades and their equivalent grade points for a graduate course:
| Letter Grade | Description | Grade Points Per Credit Hour |
|---|---|---|
| A | Excellent: A grade that is assigned to a student who exhibits a superior understanding and competence of the subject being taught. | 4.00 |
| A- | 3.67 | |
| B+ | Very Good: A grade that is assigned to a student who exhibits a good understanding and capacity to handle the problems encountered in the subject matter being taught. | 3.33 |
| B | 3.00 | |
| B- | Pass: A grade that is assigned to a student who exhibits partial familiarity and some capacity to deal with problems encountered in the subject matter being taught. | 2.67 |
| C+ | 2.33 | |
| F | Fail | 0.00 |
The letter grades and their equivalent grade points for an undergraduate course:
| Letter Grade | Description | Grade Points Per Credit Hour |
|---|---|---|
| A | Excellent: A grade that is assigned to a student who exhibits a superior understanding and competence of the subject being taught. | 4.00 |
| A- | 3.67 | |
| B+ | Very Good: A grade that is assigned to a student who exhibits a good understanding and capacity to handle the problems encountered in the subject matter being taught. | 3.33 |
| B | 3.00 | |
| B- | 2.67 | |
| C+ | Good: A grade that is assigned to a student who exhibits an understanding of the main areas and an adequate level of competency in the subject matter being taught. | 2.33 |
| C | 2.00 | |
| C- | Pass/marginal pass: A grade that is assigned to a student who exhibits partial familiarity and some capacity to deal with problems encountered in the subject matter being taught. | 1.67 |
| D+ | 1.33 | |
| D | 1.00 | |
| D- | 0.67 | |
| F | Fail | 0.00 |
All courses attempted are recorded on the transcript and used in the GPA calculation.
Grade Point Average (Semester GPA): GPA is computed by taking the total grade points divided by the attempted hours. AU, TC, P, NP, W grades and I are not included in GPA calculation. The semester Grade Point Average (GPA) is the weighted average of the grades obtained in the courses registered in the semester, where the weight of each course is based on the number of credit hours.
For example, if a student obtained the following grades in a given semester:
| Course Name | Credit Hours | Letter Grade | Grade point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course 1 | 3 | C+ | 2.33 |
| Course 2 | 2 | A | 4.0 |
| Course 3 | 4 | B- | 2.67 |
| Course 4 | 3 | B | 3.0 |
The semester Grade Point Average (GPA) will be computed as follows:
(2.33 * 3) + (4.0* 2) + (2.67 * 4) + (3* 3)
= 6.99 + 8 + 10.68 + 9 = 34.67/12
GPA: 2.89/4.0
The Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA)
A students’ GPA is based on courses completed at this university. CGPA is based on the weighted average of the grades obtained in all courses where the weight of the course is in its number of credit hours. If a course is repeated, both grades will appear in the transcript, but only the latest grade will be used to calculate the GPA.
Averages are truncated to two decimal points.
College of Islamic Studies Grading Scale (From Fall 2007 to Summer 2013).
| Percentage Score | Letter Grade | Points | GPA & CGPA # | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 95 - 100 | A+* | 4.00 | 3.70 – 4.00 | Excellent | |
| 90 - 94 | A* | 4.00 | |||
| 85 - 89 | A-* | 3.70 | 3.30 – 3.69 | Very Good | |
| 80 - 84 | B+* | 3.30 | |||
| 75 – 79 | B* | 3.00 | 3.00 – 3.29 | Good | |
| 70 – 74 | B-* | 2.70 | 2.70 – 2.99 | Pass | |
| Less than 70 | F* | 0.00 | Less than 2.70 | Fail | |
| Grading Codes | |||||
| I: Incomplete | FA: Fail (Absent) | ||||
| W: Withdrawal | R: Repeated course | ||||
| P: Pass, credits not counted | AU: Audit | ||||
| NP: Not Pass, credits not counted | TCR: Transfer; credit counted | ||||
| *: Grade not included in the GPA | IP: In Progress | ||||
A Cumulative Grade Point Average equal to or more than 3.00 is required for graduation.
Students who were admitted to the College of Islamic Studies programs until 2015 received grades with a * symbol to identify their grading scale.
College of Islamic Studies Grading Scale (From Fall 2014 to summer 2015)
| Percentage Score | Letter Grade | Points | GPA & CGPA Value in transcript | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 95 - 100 | A* | 4.00 | 3.80-4.00 | Excellent | |
| 90 - 94.9 | A-* | 3.60 | 3.60- 3.79 | Very Good | |
| 82.5 - 89.9 | B+* | 3.30 | 3.30 - 3.59 | Good | |
| 75 - 82.4 | B* | 3.00 | 3.00 - 3.29 | Pass | |
| 70 – 74.9 | B-* | 2.80 | 2.80 – 2.99 | Placed on Probation | |
| Less than 70 | F* | 0.00 | Less than 2.80 | Fail | |
| Grading Codes | |||||
| I: Incomplete | FA: Fail for absence | ||||
| W: Withdrawal | R: Repeated courses | ||||
| P: Pass | TCR: Transfer; credit counted | ||||
| NP: Not Pass | EX: Exempted (not counted) | ||||
| *: Credits not counted | AU: Auditing | ||||
| IP: In Progress | |||||
A Cumulative Grade Point Average equal to or more than 3.00 is required for graduation. Students who were admitted to the College of Islamic Studies programs until 2015 received grades with a * symbol to identify their grading scale.
Translation and Interpreting Institute Grading System
| A+** | 100 |
| A** | 93 |
| A-** | 90 |
| B+** | 87 |
| B** | 83 |
| B-** | 80 |
| C+** | 77 |
| C** | 73 |
| C-** | 70 |
| D+** | 67 |
| D** | 63 |
| D-** | 60 |
| F** | 0 |