Information for Students

REGISTRATION FOR UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS

• A candidate for a University examination must have registered for the courses in the prescribed formation not later than the closing date prescribed for registration for such courses. Any candidate who fails to register for courses at the appropriate time as prescribed by Senate will not be allowed to take any examination in such courses. Any examination taken without course registration shall be null and void.
• Students who register for courses are committed to the number of units registered for and are expected to take examinations in such courses. If a student failed to taken an examination he would be scored OO ‘F’ for the number of units he had registered for and in which he had failed to take the prescribed examination.
• Any student who does not have any course or courses to offer in a particular semester should apply for Leave of Absence.
• A candidate who has less than 15 units in a particular semester to graduate should apply to his/her Faculty Board for permission to register for less than 15 units. Failure to do so constitutes a breach of regulation which may result in the non-processing of the candidate’s results.
• A candidate who cannot register for courses during the prescribed period for registration because of illness, must ensure that medical report on his illness is forwarded by him or his parents/sponsors to reach the Dean of his Faculty not later than four weeks after the end of the normal registration period as scheduled in the University Calendar. Such a medical report should be forwarded for authentication by the Director of Medical and Health Services for it to be considered valid. Such a candidate shall be exempted from the penalties of late registration. All applications should be routed through the Head of Department.
• Students must attend a minimum of 75% of course instructions including lectures, tutorials and practicals where required to sit for examination in any course.
• A candidate for a university examination in particular degree programme should not be a regular candidate for another degree in this or any other university concurrently. Any candidate so discovered shall forfeit his/her studentship.

ABSENCE FROM EXAMINATION

Candidates must present themselves at such University examinations for which they have registered. Candidates who fail to do so for reasons other than illness or accident shall be bound by the following regulations.

• Any student who fails to register for courses during one semester without permission should be deemed to have scored ‘OF’ in the minimum number of units required for full time students (i.e 15 units).
• Candidates who registered for courses, attend classes regularly, did all practicals and tests but did not take required Semester examination should be given a continuous assessment in each of the affected courses and a grade of ‘O’ in the examination which they should have taken, but which they did not take.
• Candidates who have less than 15 units to graduate but who fail to take the required examination should be deemed to have scored ‘OF’ in the outstanding courses only provided such candidates obtained permission to register for less than 15 units.
• Any candidate who on account of illness, is absent from a University examination may be permitted by the Senate on the recommendation from the appropriate Faculty board, to present himself for such examination at the next available opportunity provided that:

(i)  A full-time student in the University shall report any case of illness to the University Health Centre at all times.

(ii) When a student falls ill during examination he should first report to the Director, Medical and Health Services before attending any hospital outside the University. A report of    sickness should be made to the registrar within a week and a medical certificate for validation of his illness within three weeks.

(iii) When a student falls ill before an examination he shall be under an obligation to send a medical report countersigned by the Director, Medical and Health Services within one week of such illness. Any time outside this period, shall be considered on its merit.

(iv) The Director of Medical and Health Services should within 48 hours, submit a medical report on a candidate who is ill during an examination and is taken to the Health Centre or referred by it to the hospital for treatment.

(v)  A candidate applying for leave of absence on medical  grounds must forward his application together with a            medical report to the Dean of his Faculty through his Head of Department. The Medical report must be countersigned by the Director of Medical and Health Services. All applications for Leave of Absence must be taken by the            appropriate Faculty Board.

EXAMINATION OFFENCES AND PENALTIES

Examination Offences

• A candidate shall not be allowed during an examination to communicate by word or otherwise with any other candidates, neither shall he leave his place except with the consent of an invigilator. Should any candidate act in such a way as to disturb or inconvenient other candidates, he shall be warned and if he persists he may, at the discretion of the invigilator, be excluded from the examination room. Such an action by the invigilator must also be reported in writing through the Head for an action by the Vice-Chancellor within 24 hours.
• It shall be an examination offence for any student, staff or any person whosoever to impersonate a candidate in any University examination. Any student or staff of the University found guilty under this regulation shall be subjected to disciplinary action by the appropriate authority of the University. The candidate impersonated shall also be liable of an infraction of this regulation where it is established directly from circumstantial evidence that the impersonation is with his knowledge or connivance.
• No candidate shall take into an examination room, or have in his possession during an examination any book or paper or printed to written documents, whether relevant to the examination or not, unless specifically authorized to do so. An invigilator has authority to confiscate such documents.
• Mobile phones are not allowed in examination halls.
• A candidate shall not remove from an examination room any papers, used or unused, except the question paper and such book and papers, if any, as he is authorized to take into the examination room.
• Candidates shall comply with all “direction to candidates” set out on an examination answer book or other examination materials supplied to them. They shall also comply with direction given to them by an Invigilator.
• Candidates shall not write on any paper other than the examination answer books. All rough work must be done in the answer books and crossed out neatly. Supplementary answer books, even if they contain only rough work must be tied inside the main answer books.
• When leaving the examination room, even if temporarily, a candidate shall not leave his written work on the desk but he shall hand it over to an invigilator. Candidates are responsible for the proper return of their written work.
• Smoking shall not be permitted in examination room during examination sessions.
• Any candidate or staff who attempts in any way to unlawfully have or give pre-knowledge of an examination question or to influence the marking of scripts or the award of marks by the University examiner shall be subjected to disciplinary action by the appropriate authority of the University.
• If any candidate is suspected of cheating, receiving assistance or assisting other candidates or of infringing any other examination regulation, a written report of the circumstance shall be submitted by the invigilator to the Vice-Chancellor within 24 hours of the examination session. The candidate concerned shall be allowed to continue with the examination.
• Any candidates suspected of examination malpractice shall be required to submit to the invigilator a written report immediately after the paper. Failure to make a report shall be regarded as a breach of discipline. Such report should be forwarded along with the invigilator’s report to the Vice-Chancellor.
• Where a Head of Department fails to forward a report on examination malpractice to the Vice-Chancellor such action would be considered as misconduct.
• Where the Vice-Chancellor is satisfied on the basis of the reports forwarded to him that any candidate has a case to answer, he shall refer the case to the Central Committee on Examination Malpractice.

PENALTIES FOR EXAMINATION MALPRACTICE AND OTHER OFFENCES

• Any examination offence would attract appropriate penalty including outright dismissal from the University.
• Where the Vice-Chancellor has reason to believe that the nature of any question or the content of any paper may have become known before the date and time of the examination to any persons other than the examiner of the paper, the Board of Examiners, and any official of the University authorized to handle the paper, he may order the suspension of the examination or the cancellation of the paper or setting of a new paper and shall report the matter to the Senate. The Vice-Chancellor shall also take any disciplinary measure against any student or students involved as he may deem appropriate.
• If in the opinion of an invigilator, circumstances arise which render the examination unfair to any candidate he must report the matter to the Vice-Chancellor within 24 hours after the examination. Where such matter is reported to the Vice-Chancellor he may take such action as he deems fit. If he directs that another examination be held, that examination shall be the examination for the purpose of this regulation.
• Any candidate or member of staff may complain to the Vice-Chancellor that an examination had been improperly conducted. The Vice-Chancellor shall investigate the complaint and report the result of his investigation to the Senate which shall take such action as it may deem appropriate, including with-holding a result or deprivation of the award of a degree, diploma etc. as laid down in Statute 17. However where it is shown to the satisfaction of the Committee of Deans that any alteration or amendment of a University regulation involving a change in a course of study or in examination requirement has caused hardship to a candidate in any examination, the Committee of Deans shall make such provisions as it thinks fit for the relief of each hardship and report same to Senate.

COURSE UNIT SYSTEM AND THE COMPUTATION OF GRADE POINT AVERAGE (CGPA)

DEFINITION OF TERMS

• Student Workload: This is defined in terms of course units. One unit represents one hour of lecture or one hour of Tutorial or 2-4 hours of practical work per week throughout a semester. Thus for example, a course in which there are 2 hours of lectures and 1 hour of Tutorial per week is a 3 units course.

(ii)  Total Number of Units (TNU): This is the total number of   course units carried by a student in a particular semester. It  is the summation of the load Units on all Courses carried during the semester. For example, a student who is carrying 6 courses of 3 units each has a TNU of 18 for that semester. No student shall be allowed to carry (i.e register for) or be examined in more than 24 units in any particular  semester.

• Cumulative number of Units (CNU): This is the summation of total number of units over all the semesters from the beginning to date. A student who is prone to repeating courses will finish (if he does not drop out) with a higher CNU than his non-repeating colleague and will most likely require a longer time to complete requirements for the award of Degrees.
• Level of Performance Rating: This is the rating of grades obtained in terms of credit points per load unit. The rating used is as follows:

Levels of Performance           Rating (credit points per unit)

A         =          70%-100%                              5

B         =          60%-69%                                4

C         =          50%-59%                                3

D         =          45%-49%                                2

E          =          40%-44%                                1

F          =          0%-39%                                  0

Based on the above, a student who obtained a grade of ‘A’ in a 4-unit course has scored 20 Credit points, and one who obtained a grade of C in that course has scored 12 credit points.

• Total Credit Points (TCP): This is the sum of the product of the course units and rating in each course, for the entire semester period. For example, consider a student who took 4 courses of 5 units each. Let’s say the grade obtained in the four courses were C.B.F.D respectively. The TCP of this student is obtained as 5×3+5×4+5×0+5×2=45.
• Cumulative Credit Point (CCP): This is the summation of Total Credit Points over all semesters from beginning to date.
• Grade Point Average GPA: This is the total credit points (TCP) divided by the total units (TNU). For example, consider the student’s scores referred to above. His TCP is 45, and of course, his TNU is 20 (i.e 4 courses at 5 units each, for the semester). The higher GPA that can be earned is 5.0 and that is when a student has earned a grade of ‘A’ in every course during the semester. The lowest GPA obtained is 0.0 and this would happen if the student has F all round during the semester.
• Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA): This is the summation of TCPs for all semesters, divided by the summation of TNUs for the said semesters. Like the GPA, CGPA obtained ranges from 0 to 5.

Sample Computations: For a student who has enrolled in B.A. History (Single Honours) programme and has just completed 2 full semesters in the University, his course programmed and his GPA and CGPA could be as follows:

SEMESTER I

SEMESTER II

ASSESSMENT AND AWARD OF DEGREES

(i)   A student workload is defined in terms of course units. One unit represents one hour of lecture or one hour tutorial, or 2-4 hours of practice work per week throughout a semester. All courses shall run for one semester or a full session of two semesters.

(ii)  The final award and the class of the degree shall be based on the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) obtained by each candidate in all prescribed courses approved by the University. The final cumulative grade point average shall be calculated on the basis of the total number of credit points and the total number of course units registered for during the course of the student’s programme. In the case of a failed course, the candidate must repeat the course at the next available opportunity. If the course is an elective, the candidate may substitute another course which is a restricted elective, substitution can only be made from the list of restricted electives. The failed grade would however be reflected in the transcript.

(iii) A candidate who has satisfactorily completed all requirements for the degree with an overall grade point          average of not less than 1.50 shall be awarded the honours degree as indicated below:

First Class                                     4.50-5.00

Second Class (Upper Division)                 3.50-4.49%

Second Class (Lower Division)                2.40-3.49%

Third Class Honours                                 1.50-2.39%

Pass                                                           1.00-1.49%

(iv) Passes in 12 units of Special Electives is a requirement for   graduation.

(v) A candidate who scores a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of less than 1.00 in two consecutive semesters       shall be required to withdraw from the University.