Exemption from Courses

Students may request exemption from courses they took and passed at other higher education institutions before enrolling in OzU or while enrolled in OzU in order to have them counted towards the graduation requirements of the program in which they are currently enrolled. These proceedings are completed as per YÖK’s “Rules and Regulations on the Principles of Transfers between Associate and Bachelor’s Degree Programs, Double Major and Minor at Higher Education Institutions, and Credit Transfers between Higher Education Institutions” as well as the principles of the University Senate.

General Rules of Course Exemption

• The final decision about the courses to be exempted, and the required grade and credit transfers is rendered by the Executive Board of the respective faculty/school/graduate school.
• Where exempted courses are the courses taken at OzU, their credits and courses are transferred as is. Where exempted courses are the courses taken at other higher education institutions, their credits and grades are converted based on the  Grade Conversion Table, and recorded in the student’s file. 
• Based on the total credits of exempted courses, the number of semesters is calculated. 30 ECTS credits given for exempted courses correspond to a semester. The number of semesters deemed completed is counted towards students’ period of study.  If the calculated number of ECTS credits is between 24 and 30, then one semester will be deducted from the student’s period of study. If the ECTS credits amount to less than the full multiples of 30 but between 24 and 30, then one more semester will be deducted from the student’s period of study. 
• The language of instruction of courses taken and successfully completed by the student at another higher education institution must satisfy the language of instruction requirements of exempted courses offered by the respective academic program at OzU. For instance, since almost all of the courses offered by our English-medium programs are in English, the language of instruction of courses for which course exemption is requested must also be English in order to qualify for course exemption.
• The courses for which course exemption is requested must have been taken from a YÖK-recognized higher education institution.
• Suspended students are not allowed to take courses from another higher education during their period of suspension, and any courses taken as such are not acceptable by the University.
• The Grade Conversion Table is updated regularly by the University. If you are unable to see the University for which you will request course exemption in the table, please contact the Dean’s/Director’s Office at your faculty/school/graduate school.
• Students with exempted courses must attend the University as registered students for at least two semesters, and complete at least 60 ECTS credits within this period in order to be eligible for graduation.
• Horizontal or vertical transfer students and students who applied for exemption from the courses they previously passed at another higher education institutions before enrolling in OzU cannot repeat such exempted courses during their period of study at OzU.

Applications

A. Applications for Courses Taken Previously Prior to Enrolling OzU

Students who took

• Courses from another university prior to enrolling to OzU
• Courses from OzU prior to enrolling to OzU
• Courses from OzU as special student or exchange student prior to enrolling to OzU must petition for exemption by submitting an application to the faculty/school/graduate school to which they are admitted along with the Course Exemption Application Form, official transcript and course information documents after their enrollment to OzU. Horizontal transfer students are not required to submit a separate application for exemption from courses they had previously taken as they are evaluated during admissions.

B. Taking Courses at Other Higher Education Institutions While Enrolled in OzU

Courses Taken as a Special Student

• Students who wish to take courses from other higher education institutions as special students must first submit a petition to the Dean’s/Director’s Office of their faculty/school/graduate school. Petitions must be submitted together with the detailed description and content of the course the students plan to take as well as the necessary official documents and information about the higher education institution which offers the course. Students can take courses from other higher education institutions only if their petitions are approved by the Dean’s/Director’s Office of their faculty/school/graduate school.
• Students are allowed to take courses from other higher education institutions at most for two semesters as special students. Summer sessions are not counted towards the maximum number of semesters that can be spent at another higher education institution as special students.
• Courses taken as special students are counted towards course load calculations.  Students are not allowed to exceed their semester course loads due to courses taken from other higher education institutions.
• Courses offered by our University’s summer school, or the Sectoral Education Program courses (All SEC-coded courses), which are engineered exclusively for our University, or capstone projects cannot be taken from other universities’ summer schools. Likewise, should there be any other courses which faculties/schools/graduate schools do not allow to be taken from other universities’ summer schools, these courses will be announced to students by the respective academic unit.
• Courses which can be taken from other higher education institutions during the summer session, and the higher education institutions (universities) where these courses can be taken are determined by the Faculty / School Executive Boards. Students must apply to the Dean’s/Director’s Office of their faculties/schools in order to take the courses not offered by the OzU summer school from other universities and have their grades transferred. To do so, the following requirements must be met.

a) Applications must be submitted with a petition which clearly explains the requested course, university offering the course,  course description, course credits, and language of instruction (by the due date, if any, announced by the respective academic unit, and together with any additional/supplementary documents). 

b) The course can be taken only if its course description, course credits, and language of instruction are deemed acceptable by the executive board of the respective academic unit.

c) The Faculty / School Executive Boards review the credits and courses the students have completed, and decide which courses to be waived after credit and grade transfers as per Article 26 of the Rules and Regulations for Undergraduate Programs.

• In order to gain an exemption for courses that students completed at other higher education institutions as special students upon the permission of their faculty/school/graduate schools, students must submit an application to the Dean’s/Director’s Office of their faculty/school/graduate school by the last day of the course registration period announced in the academic calendar for the subsequent semester. Applications must be made with the following documents:

1. Official transcript that shows the grade achieved
   
   
2. Course Description Form
   
   
3. Course Exemption Petition

• The semesters spent by students at other higher education institutions as special students are counted towards their periods of study.
• Students must pay their semester tuition to Özyeğin University in full during the semesters they spend at other higher education institutions as outgoing special students. However, students who take courses from other higher education institutions during the summer session must pay their tuition to the host institution.

Courses Taken as an Exchange Student 

• Students who wish to take courses from other higher education institutions as exchange students must first submit a petition to the International Exchange Programs Office within the announced application period. Students can take courses from other higher education institutions as exchange students only if their petitions are approved by the International Exchange Programs Office and the Executive Board of the faculty/school/graduate school in which they are enrolled. 
• The semesters spent by students at other higher education institutions as exchange students are counted towards their periods of study.
• Students must pay their semester tuition to Özyeğin University in full during the semesters they spend at other higher education institutions as outgoing exhange students. 

Grade Conversion Table

Please click here if you cannot see the table below.