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Application of a credit system in education
Public and private higher education institutions functioning in the Azerbaijan Republic that joined the Bologna system in 2005 have been set certain tasks before them in accordance with requirements of that system.
If a student admitted to a higher education institution on any of the specialties wants to complete his education process successfully and to get a diploma, then he must sit exams on a certain number of pre-defined subjects. The subjects, that are to be taught over academic years, are divided into credits in accordance with tuition hours of these subjects, and unlike the former system, the student him-self selects the would-be taught subjects in a sequence stipulated in the curriculum. It means that over a tuition semester each student can choose 4-8 subjects, and in doing so, the tuition sequence of these subjects must be strictly complied with. For example: without fully learning and getting a positive result from the “Marketing” subject, the subject of “International marketing” cannot be taught.
Each subject has a value, which corresponds to its credit number. After the course has been fully mastered, an examination is set. The student, who fails to pass the exam successfully, during the following semester, having paid the amount indicated in the appendix in detail, attends the number of hours stipulated for that subject, and sits the exam again.
In this manner, the student, who has earned all of the stipulated credits, is given a diploma on a bachelor’s or master’s degree that meets international standards.
One of the advantages of the credit system is that during the tuition period of student, the credits earned by him at one of the education institutions in one of the states that have joined the Bologna system, remain valid (are recognized) in the other member-states too.
This system has been functioning in developed countries of the world for many years, and it has stood the tests of time successfully, because this system enables the student to acquire high quality knowledge and to become a highly qualified specialist.
The university has moved to the credit system since the academic year 2005-2006. This system is applied to the following specialties:
- – computer mathematics;
- – applied mathematics;
- - ecology;
- – international economic relations;
- – business organization and management;
- - management;
- – taxes and taxation;
- – finance and credit;
- – pedagogy and methods of primary education;
- - journalism;
- - translation (English);
- – foreign language (English);
- – international relations;
- – world economy;
- – biology teaching;
- – mathematics and information teaching;
- – computer engineering;
- – ecology engineering;
- - finance;
- – business administration;
- – foreign language teaching (English);
- – primary school teaching.
The students, who study for these specialties, have to learn the subjects stipulated in the curriculum in order to master this specialty, and having passed an examination, they must earn the required number of credits.
The credit hours essentially reflect the subject-load (every 15 hours equals 1 credit).
To get a bachelor’s degree at the university, each semester a student must earn a maximum of 30 credits, each year – 60 credits, and the total of 200-240 credits.
Apart from the spring and autumn semesters, students may earn credits by attending the summer semesters too (total of 6 weeks).
Meetings, held at the beginning of an academic year with the students newly admitted to the university and their parents, have become a tradition. At this meeting, both the students and their parents are fully informed about the credit system and the tuition process at Odlar Yurdu University. Besides, explanatory works are conducted also by the dean’s offices of faculties and tutors on a regular basis.
A 100-point appraisal system is applied at the university.
On each subject, interim exams are held twice during a semester.
An interim examination is conducted by the teacher, who teaches the subject.
A student can earn a maximum of 15 points from an interim exam.
In addition to that, during a semester, a student may earn 5 points for his attendance of the lessons, and another 5 points for his behavior.
Thus, by the examination date, a student may earn a maximum of 40 points. The rest 60 points is possible to earn through semester exams as it explained below.
At the university, semester exams are held specifically designated, computerized rooms that are connected to the local network, in the form of a test.
Each question card contains 20 questions.
Each correct answer’s mark is 3 points.
In the examination room, only special supervisors, chosen from among the technical workers, are allowed to stay.
A student is allowed into the examination room only with his mark-book (record-book) and a student card.
The time allocated to the examination is 120 minutes.
After the student confirms the answers, which he had confirmed to be correct answers of the questions on the card, by pushing the sign, which indicates the end of the examination concerned, the mark received by him, together with the results of his interim exams (provided that he has earned at least 17 points), is shown on the screen of the monitor. Through the local network, the exam results are passed over to the center, the dean’s office of the faculty.
The appraisal system in points is as follows:
- 91-100 excellent A
- 81-90 very good B
- 71-80 good C
- 61-70 so-so D
- 51-60 satisfactory E
- less than 51 points unsatisfactory F
If a student is not satisfied with an exam result, he may appeal in writing within 3 days after the exam to the Commission of Appeal of the university.
Students, who have academic debts, attend the subjects together with the students of a lower level (course), and after that they are allowed to the exam again.
With the purpose of organizing the tuition process at the university in an efficient manner, a rule of writing papers (essays) has been established.
A calendar-thematic plan is drawn by the subject teachers on the basis of a program approved by the Scientific Council.
A calendar-thematic plan is given to students, after it has been approved by the head of the chair (It is supervised by the chairs).
A calendar-thematic plan contains a brief plan of each topic, a list of used literature (bibliography), the page in a literature devoted to the topic.
Practical trainings indicated in a calendar-thematic plan are conducted in the form of a paper (essay) (not less than 3 pages). It means that each student get from the teacher a calendar-thematic plan of the taught subject and learns the practical training topics indicated there in the form of a paper.
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