Master of Social Sciences (MSS)

Admission

• The students who have completed the BSS (Honours) in International Relationsfrom University of Dhaka are generally entitled to getthe admission into the MSS degree programme.

Assessment and Grading

• Assessment and grading follows the general guidelines of the Faculty of Social Sciences. They are determined on the basis of (1) an overall assessment of student’s performance in Mid-semester Examinations; (2) semester final examinations; (3) term papers/assignments; (4) active participation in the class discussion/tutorial class/group presentation/class test; and (5) class attendance.The distribution of marks for assessment in each course is as follows.

Semester Final Examination (Duration of 3 hours) Mid-Semester Examination (duration of 75 minutes) Term Paper Tutorial Class Attendance	50% 20% 15% 10% 5%
Total	100%

• Marking for class attendance follows the corresponding attendance range (in percent) as illustrated below.

Attendance Range	Marks
90%          and above	5.0
85%          to less than        90%	4.5
80%          to less than        85%	4.0
75%          to less than        80%	3.5
70%          to less than        75%	3.0
65%          to less than        70%	2.5
60%          to less than        65%	2.0
55%          to less than        60%	1.5
50%          to less than        55%	1.0
45%          to less than        50%	0.5
Less than 45%	0.0

• For each course, marks for the Semester Final Examination, Mid-Semester Examination, Term Paper, Tutorial, and Class Attendance are totaled and converted into letter-grades following a 4-point grading scale presented below.

Mark Range (%)	Letter Grade	Explanation	Grade Points
80 and above	A+	Excellent	4.00
75 to less than 80	A		3.75
70 to less than 75	A-		3.50
65 to less than 70	B+	Very Good	3.25
60 to less than 65	B		3.00
55 to less than 60	B-		2.75
50 to less than 55	C+	Good	2.50
45 to less than 50	C		2.25
40 to less than 45	D	Passing	2.00
Below 40	F*	Failing	0.0
……………………..	I**	……….	…Incomplete
……………………..	W***	……….	…Withdrawn

 

* ‘F’ grade is indicative of an unacceptable ‘failing’ performance overall by a student, i.e., fail to earn any credit.

** ‘I’ grade is indicative of a situation where a student, for non-academic reasons beyond his control, is unable to complete the full requirements of the course for not being able to sit for the Semester Final Examination. With the submission of valid and authenticated evidence of such reason(s), and the recommendation of the course teacher, that particular student shall be allowed to complete the Semester Final Examination with the next batch. Meanwhile, the student concerned will be promoted to the next semester. If an ‘Incomplete’ grade is not cleared with the next batch, the ‘I’ grade shall automatically be changed to an ‘F’ grade. A maximum of two ‘I’ grades shall be allowed to a student in one Semester.

*** ‘W’ grade shall be awarded when a student is permitted to withdraw/drop a course/semester without penalty. Withdrawals without penalty are not permitted after the mid-semester examination. However, a student may take re-admission in the semester concerned with the next batch by paying the fees for the whole year.

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• Computation of Semester Grade Point Average (SGPA): The Grade Point Average for a particular semester, i.e., SGPA is calculated in the following method –

SGPA= Semester Grade Point Average CH= Credit Hours EGP= Earned Grade Point TCAS= Total number of Credits assigned to a Semester

N.B.: Any course in which a student has obtained either ‘F’, ‘I’ or ‘W’ grade will not be counted as his/her earned credits. ‘F’ grade will not be counted for SGPA calculation, but will stay permanently on the Grade Sheet and Transcript.

• Computation of Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA): The Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of a student is calculated using the following formula –

SGPA= Semester Grade Point Average TCAP= Total number of Credits assigned to the Semesters

 

Promotion

• Although for promotion from First to Second semester at the MSS level does not require any minimum grade, a student requires to earn a minimum CGPA (calculated for First &Second semesters combined) of 2.25 for obtaining the degree.

Improvement

• A student earning ‘F’ grade in any course shall be allowed to improve the grade with the next batch.
• If a student obtains a grade lower than ‘B’- in a course, he/she will be allowed to repeat the term-final examination only once with the next batch for the purpose of grade improvement by forgoing his/her earlier term-final marks.
• If a student obtains ‘B’- or better grade in any course, he/she shall not be allowed to repeat the course for the purpose of grade improvement.
• If a student likes to improve the grade point earned in a course of 2^nd semester for the one-year MSS degree programme, he/she must apply for such improvement examination before the certificate is issued.
• Improvement shall not be allowed once the certificate is issued.
• A student carrying grade ‘F’ in any course shall not be awarded the degree unless he/she improves it by appearing at the semester final examination with the next batch.
• If the student gets ‘F’ grade in the improvement examination, he/she shall automatically be dropped from the semester and the student shall have to take re-admission with the next batch, provided the student concerned is eligible for re-admission.
• For the improvement of grade in a course, the student shall apply to the Chairperson of the Department at least 4 (four) weeks before the start of the Semester Final Examination.
• A student shall be allowed to improve the grade of a particular course only once.
• No improvement shall be allowed for the Mid-Semester Examination, Term Paper and Tutorial; and the grades earned in written and oral comprehensive examination.

Re-admission

• A student failing to get the requisite CGPAfor passing the programme may seek re-admission with the following batch.
• For re-admission, a student shall have to apply within one month after the announcement of result of the MSS examination.
• In case of re-admission, grades earned earlier by a student in the class of admission shall cease to exist and the student has to retake all the course works and examinations.
• Re-admission in a semester shall be allowed only once for a One-Year MSS degree programme.

Drop-out

• A student failing to earn the CGPA for passing the MSS programme after taking re-admission on any semester shall be dropped out of the programme.
• A student earning ‘F’ grade in any course after taking improvement examinations or re-admission in any semester shall be dropped out of the programme.