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About Electives
(Practical Guide)
Introduction
Georgian legislation requires that all MA granting programs last no less than 2 academic years, and that the total accumulated number of credits required to graduate equal or exceed 120. Consequently, every MA program at GIPA strictly adheres to this requirement.
At the same time, individual MA granting programs at GIPA define the core courses that is mandatory for the students of the given program. Besides these core courses that only the students of the particular program can take the programs offer a range of elective courses that are available to all MA students of GIPA. There are certain quotas on each elective course set by the host program. The quotas predefine the number of students that may enroll from a different program. The procedure for filling out the quotas is defined by the host program.
Hereby the student may opt for an elective offered by a different MA proghram than his/her own instead (or in addition to) of an elective offered by the program s/he is currently enrolled in provided his/her Program Coordinator approves the choice. The students should beware of the implications that such a change may entail including but not limited to acquiring sufficient credits for graduation.
Procedure
10 days before the new semester begins the list of electives will be placed on GIPA website. The list will include the information regarding the titles of the courses, names of the lecturers, names of the programs offering the courses, course code names, credit info, quotas, and dates when the courses will be offered. Thus, students will be able to make informed choices about the electives they wish to take, and they also can check the syllabuses of the courses on the websites of the corresponding programs.
In 2 weeks since the start of the semester the students must fill out the Course Registration Card where the core and elective courses should be entered as required. The Course Registration Card should later be approved by the students’ respective Program Coordinators. Thus, it is crucial that the students secure their Coordinator’s approval before filling out the card.
After securing their Coordinator’s approval student sends an email to the official of the program that
offers the course of his/her interest. In 2 days the program administration reviews the student’s brief motivational justification
for attending the course and approves his/her enrollment if the quota allow, and notifies the student of the decision.
If the decision is a positive one the Coordinator of the said program signs in the appropriate field of the student’s Course
Registration Card confirming the enrollment. As soon as the student confirms his/her enrollment in all the courses for the given
semester s/he submits the card for the final registration to the coordinator of his/her program who with the Dean of the School
that the program belongs to confirms the enrollment (see Case #1).
The student may make changes in the Course Registration Card during the registration period unless s/he already submitted the card
to his/her school administration as described above. If the student fails to follow the procedure s/he is considered to be automatically
registered for the planned courses of his/her program (see Case #2).
The grades received in electives from other programs than student’s host program have the same bearing on the student’s academic standing as the grades received from the electives of his/her host program.
Additional Financial Implications
The student pay for the elective course only if two conditions simultaneously arise. First, the accumulated
credits by the student during the 2 years’ of study exceed 120, and second, the number of courses taken by the student during
this period exceed the number of courses the student would have taken if s/he followed the planned curriculum of his/her
host program (see Case #3).
In this case the student pays for the additional course(s) taken. The amount of fee is determined by the administration of the program that offers the course.
Links:
The Electives Offered in 2008 Spring Semester
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