SUMMARY OF GENERAL FACULTY REGULATIONS UNDERGRADUATE STRUCTURE OF DEGREE PROGRAMMES BSC Honours Degrees Except in the case of special

l entry, where a lesser period may be allowed, a BSc Honours Degree Programme requires full time study over a period of four years. Normally a student will be required to complete the Programme in not more than eight years from the date of first registration for the Programme. Each student admitted to studies in the Faculty of Science shall, in the first instance, be admitted to a BSc Honours Degree Programme. A BSc Honours Degree Programme shall consist of distinct courses with a total weighting of at least 480 course units which shall consist of taught courses worth at least 360 course units in a single Programme, including a course HBS111 Entrepreneurship and a course HBS201 Business Management for Scientists , these latter courses shall be core courses in every BSc Honours Programme, and a period of Industrial Attachment normally extending over one Academic Year worth 120 course units and two additional core courses in Communication Skills, (CSSC101 and CSSC102). At initial registration a student shall register for Level 1 courses worth at least 60 course units taken from the Level 1 Semester 1 courses of the programme for which he/she is registering and, in addition, shall register for the Communication Skills Course CSSC101. At the start of the second semester, he/she shall register for further courses worth at least 60 course units from the Level 1 Semester 2 courses of his/her chosen Programme. Normally courses worth at least 120 course units will be taken at Level 2 and further taught courses worth at least 120 course units will be taken at Level 4. The Industrial Attachment will normally be at Level 3 but may be delayed to Level 4 if the dissertation project is carried out at the place that the student is assigned for her/his Industrial Attachment in which case the Level 4 courses, other than the dissertation project, will be taken at Level 3. While courses shall be designated as Semester 1 or Semester 2 courses, those courses may be taught in the other semester if circumstances, such as staff availability, so demand subject to the approval of the Dean of Science. In a BSc Honours Degree Programme, a student must pass at least one project course examined by a dissertation and having a weighting of at least 20 course units, hereinafter referred to as the Dissertation Project. This course must be a Level 4 course and will normally be taken in the final year of study. This course shall be listed as a core course in the Special Regulations for the Programme of which it forms a portion. In an Honours Degree Programme the weighting of each additional project course shall be at least 10 course units and the total weighting of project courses in an Honours Degree Programme shall not exceed 40 course units. Final year honours students may be required to be in attendance in the Department outside normal University semesters to carry out work on the dissertation project course. In a given Programme offered in a particular department a student may be required or allowed to take courses from an ancillary Programme up to a total of at most 100 course units provided that such courses are at the appropriate level in the Programme from which they are taken. These courses may be offered by Faculties other than the Faculty of Science. A department will normally assist each student in a Programme under its control to find a place in a suitable institution or commercial firm to undertake his/her Industrial Attachment. The appropriate department must approve the choice of the place of attachment and must liaise with that institution so that a suitable person, to be called the Placement Supervisor, employed by that institution, is appointed to supervise the students performance at that institution. The department will assign a member of academic staff to supervise each students period of attachment. Such a supervisor, to be called the Attachment Supervisor, must be in regular communication with the student and his/her Placement Supervisor and shall visit the student at his/her place of attachment at least three times during the period of attachment. The following BSc Honours Programmes will be offered in the Faculty of Science. Each Programme shall be described as the BSc Honours Programme in followed by the title as listed below:

CODE HBC HBZ HCH HCT HGGENV HGGIS HGGB HGGH HGL HMTH HPH HSTS HFST HNS

TITLE Biochemistry Biological Sciences Chemistry Computer Science Environmental Science Geographical Information Science and Earth Observation Geographical Biogeosciences Geography of the Human Environment Geology Mathematics Physics Statistics Food Science and Technology Nutrition Science

REGISTERING DEPARTMENT Biochemistry Biological Sciences Chemistry Computer Science Geography and Environmental Science Geography and Environmental Science Geography and Environmental Science Geography and Environmental Science Geology Mathematics Physics Statistics IFNFS IFNFS

Upgrading of a BSc Degree to a BSc Honours Degree. A person who holds a BSc Degree of the University of Zimbabwe with a major in an appropriate subject or an equivalent qualification and has passed that major subject in the upper second division or a higher division, may apply to the University to be admitted to studies in the Faculty of Science to upgrade that degree to a BSc Honours Degree Programme offered by the appropriate department under these Regulations. A person who has passed the major subject in the lower second division and has at least two years of postgraduate experience that is likely to have improved her/his knowledge and understanding of the major subject may be admitted to a Programme offered by the appropriate department subject to a qualifying examination that confirms that his/her knowledge and understanding has in fact improved. The upgrading programme will normally be a two year full-time programme but may be taken over four years on a part time basis. A student admitted to this programme will normally undertake the Industrial Attachment and Level 4 of the BSc Honours Programme. In doing so, the student will take Level 4 courses worth at least 120 course units, including the Dissertation Project course (specified in 5.1.3.) from that Programme (If in the particular Programme, the Industrial Attachment is at Level 4, the student will have to take the relevant number of courses at Level 3, the Industrial Attachment and the Dissertation Project specified in 5.1.3). He/she may also be required to take and pass lower level courses that she/he did not take or did not pass in the BSc Programme so that the total number of credits obtained in the given subject in the BSc Programme and in the upgrading Programme is at least 480 course units. Where such a student has been in

suitable employment for at least a year after graduating from the BSc Programme, he/she may apply to Senate for exemption from the Industrial Attachment. If Senate agrees to such an exemption the length of the programme shall be reduced accordingly. BSc Degree A student registered for a BSc Honours Degree Programme whose progress is delayed by the failing of courses may either opt to change his/her BSc Honours Programme, retaining credit for courses he/she has passed which form part of the new Programme, or may opt to do a BSc Degree in two distinct major subjects. This latter course of action will normally be taken by a student who, at the end of the third or fourth year after initial registration, has not completed Level 2 of his/her BSc Honours Programme or has not completed that Level of the Programme with sufficiently good passes. For the purposes of this Section a major subject is defined to be the title of the BSc Honours Degree Programme, as listed in Section 5.1.7, from which the courses taken are chosen. The major subjects may include the subject of his/her original choice of BSc Honours Programme or two different major subjects. However the student must satisfy the entry requirements for the two major subjects he/she chooses to do in the BSc Degree programme. Moreover the student must complete the BSc Degree Programme in not less than four years nor more than eight years from the time of his/her original registration for the BSc Honours Degree Programme. A BSc Degree Programme shall consist of distinct courses with a total weighting of at least 480 course units. The Programme shall include two distinct major subjects as defined in 5.3.1 chosen from the BSc Honours Programmes listed in 5.1.7 ( excluding those offered by IFNFS) from which the courses shall be chosen and shall include a period of Industrial Attachment in one of the major subjects. For a major in a subject, a student must study courses worth at least 180 course units in that subject, including all core courses listed in the Special Regulations for the appropriate Programme. Of these courses, courses with a weighting of at least 80 course units must be Level 2 or higher level courses. The level of a course is that assigned to the course in the Special Regulations for the relevant BSc Honours Programme. In satisfying these conditions a course may only be counted once. It should be noted that, for each type of Degree and for each Programme, while studying a course, a student will be expected to attend lectures and shall be required to attend all practicals and tutorials in that course and to complete all items of continuous assessment according to the published timetable, regardless of the number of courses he/she is registered for. Selection of Courses For each Level 2 or higher level course all pre-requisites that apply to that course and whether it is a core course shall be listed in the Special Regulations for the Programme of which that course forms a portion. A student shall not be admitted to a Level 2 or higher level course unless he/she has passed all pre-requisites for that course prior to the start of the semester in which he/she intends to study that course. A student shall study all co-requisite courses for each course for which he/she registers at the same time as or at an earlier time than that course. Passing a co-requisite course cannot be a condition for passing a course. A student may be required to include in his/her Programme approved courses offered by other faculties up to a total equivalent to, at most, 80 course units. The weighting allocated to a course from another Faculty shall be that allocated to the course by that other Faculty. Normally a course will only be approved if it is fully compatible with these Regulations. A students selection of courses for a Degree Programme is subject to the approval of the Dean of Science and the Boards of all relevant Departments and to the following conditions:The course combination is feasible in terms of the timetable. The student shall not register for courses worth more than 80 course units in a semester. The chosen courses must enable the student to complete his/her Programme in as close to the minimum period as is possible and the student must include courses that will allow him/her to complete the requirements for a given level in preference to higher level courses wherever possible. The student shall not be allowed to carry a Level 1 course into Level 3 of his/her programme.

 A student shall register at the start of each semester and may only register for courses offered in that semester. ASSESSMENT OF COURSES The assessment of a practical course shall be based on written reports submitted during the course according to a schedule laid down by the appropriate Departmental Board. The assessment of a field course or a project course shall be based on written reports or on a dissertation submitted at a date determined by the Departmental Board. Students shall be notified of this date at the start of the course. The assessment of the Industrial Attachment shall be based on 4 marks, a mark from the Placement Supervisor which shall be justified by a brief written report, a mark from the Attachment supervisor which shall also be justified by a brief written report, a mark for the students written report and a mark for the presentation by the student based on his written report. The final mark for the Industrial Attachment shall be calculated on those four marks weighted in the ratio 1:4:4:1. The assessment of a course containing theory and practical components shall be based on an end of course theory examination, continuous assessment (including both theory and practical work) and may include an end of course practical examination. All other courses shall be assessed by continuous assessment and an end of course examination. The end of course examination for a course worth 10 course units shall be of two hours duration, A course worth 20 course units shall normally have a three hour end of course examination, but if there is a practical component to the course the end of course theory examination may be two hours long. Where a course has an end of course practical examination, the end of course practical examination may be held at a time and venue different from that of the end of course theory examination for the same course. The duration of the end of course practical examination shall be specified in the Special Regulations for the subject, but shall not be greater than ninety minutes in the case of a course worth 10 course units nor greater than three hours in the case of a course worth 20 course units. An end of course practical examination shall have the same weighting as the end of course theory examination. A course with an end of course practical examination shall contain a practical component in the continuous assessment. The continuous assessment may be entirely practical or contain theory and practical components, but the relative weightings shall be stated in the Special Regulations for the subject. In a course with a theory and a practical component the weightings of the continuous assessment mark and the end of course examination mark need not be within the limits stated in the General Regulations but these weightings must be stated in the Special Regulations for the subject. Furthermore the continuous assessment weightings shall be between 25% and 75% of the overall mark for the course. For each course that contains a theory and a practical component, the appropriate Departmental Panel of Examiners shall determine for each student a theory continuous assessment mark, a practical continuous assessment mark, an end of course theory examination mark, an end of course practical examination mark (where appropriate), an overall theory mark, an overall practical mark, an overall mark and a final mark for the course. If a student obtains an overall mark of at least 50%, an overall theory mark of at least 50% and an overall practical mark of at least 40%, that student shall pass the course and the final mark for the course shall be the overall mark for the course. If a student obtains less than 50% in the overall theory mark for the course and an overall practical mark of at least 40%, the student shall fail the course and his final mark for the course shall be the overall mark or 48%, whichever is the lesser. If a student obtains an overall practical mark of less than 40% the student shall fail the course and the final mark shall be the overall mark or 48%, whichever is the lesser For each practical course, field course or project course and for each student, the Departmental Panel of Examiners shall determine a final mark for that student for that course based on the assessment of the written reports or of the dissertation submitted by that student. The Panel shall determine whether the student has passed or failed the course. For all other courses the Departmental Panel of Examiners shall determine, for each student, a continuous assessment mark, an end of course examination mark, an overall mark, a final mark and whether the student has passed or failed. The final mark for that course for that student shall be the overall mark for that

course. Each Departmental Panel shall submit, for each course under its control and for each student enrolled in that course, the final mark and the result to the Faculty Board of Examiners. For each student it shall indicate the number of credits obtained in courses under its control.

DETERMINATION OF RESULTS The examination results of a student shall be determined in accordance with the General Academic Regulations for Undergraduate Programmes. The overall result PASS: GRADUATE shall apply to a student who has completed all the requirements for the Programme he/she is registered for. The overall result PASS: PROCEED shall apply to a student who has passed all the prescribed Level 1 OR Level 2 OR Level 3 courses, as the case may be, in the given programme. The overall result INCOMPLETE: PROCEED CARRYING (followed by a list of courses to be carried) shall apply to a student who has: at least 100 credits at Level 1,OR who has passed all prescribed Level 1 courses and has at least 100 credits at Level 2 OR who has passed all prescribed Level 1 courses, has at least 100 credits at Level 2 and has completed the Industrial Attachment. The overall result INCOMPLETE: REPEAT FAILED COURSES shall apply to a student who has at least 60 credits but less than 100 credits at the Level for which he/she is currently registered. Such a student may be permitted to register for courses at the next level whose pre-requisites he or she has passed but shall give precedence to completing the courses at the current level and so shall not be allowed to register for more too many courses at the higher level. It shall also apply to a student who, at the end of the academic year is expected to complete his/her studies, but fails to meet the requirements for graduating. The overall result INCOMPLETE: ALLOWED TO APPLY TO REPEAT FAILED COURSES shall apply to a student who has less than 60 credits at the Level for which he/she is currently registered or has failed courses at more than one Level. Such a student, if allowed to repeat, shall only be allowed to register for courses he/she has failed or to replace a failed course by a replacement course at the same level as the failed course. A student may be required to withdraw from the programme in accordance with the General Regulations.

REPEATING OF COURSES Normally a student who fails a course and elects to repeat that course will be required to repeat the entire course including attending all lectures, all tutorials, all practicals, writing the end of course examination and doing all items of continuous assessment. AWARDING A DEGREE AND CLASSIFICATION OF THAT DEGREE To be eligible for the award of a BSc Honours Degree in a particular Programme a student must satisfy ALL of the following conditions: have passed courses worth at least 480 course units, of which courses, courses worth at least 120 course units shall be Level 1 courses, courses worth at least 120 course units shall be Level 2 courses, courses worth at least 120 course units shall be the Industrial Attachment and courses worth at least 120 units shall be Level 4 courses, except that if the Industrial Attachment in the particular Programme is at Level 4,the student must pass courses worth at least 120 course units at Level 3 or a higher level; AND of the courses passed, at least one shall be the Dissertation Project course with a weighting of at least 20 course units; AND have passed all core courses listed in the Special Regulations for that Programme; AND have passed the Communications Skills courses CSSC101 and CSSC102. To be eligible for the award of a BSc Honours Degree after being admitted to the Programme to upgrade a BSc

Degree to a BSc Honours Degree, as described in Section 5.2, a student must satisfy ALL of the following conditions: o have passed Level 4 courses worth at least 120 course units, except that if the Industrial Attachment in the particular Programme is at Level 4,the student must pass courses worth at least 120 course units at Level 3 or a higher level; AND of the courses passed at least one course shall be the Dissertation Project with a weighting of at least 20 course units; AND have passed all courses that he/she was required to take at Level 1 and Level 2 in order to improve the total number of credits obtained in the major subject in the BSc Degree and in the upgrading Programme to at least 480 course units including the Industrial Attachment UNLESS he/she has been exempted by Senate from the Industrial Attachment. have passed all core courses listed for a major in that subject in the BSc Degree and all core courses listed in the Special Regulations for the upgrading Programme. To pass a major subject in a BSc Degree Programme a student must: pass each core course listed in the Special Regulations in the appropriate BSc Honours Programme; AND pass courses worth at least 180 course units in that subject. At least 80 of the course units passed must be for Level 2 or higher level courses. To be eligible for the award of a BSc Degree a student must have: passed two major subjects; AND passed courses worth at least 480 course units including the Industrial Attachment. Courses worth at least 160 course units shall be for courses at Level 2 or a higher level; AND passed the Communications Skills courses CSSC101 and CSSC102. Each Departmental Panel of Examiners shall, having determined that a student is eligible for the award of a BSc Honours Degree in a particular Programme, determine the division in which he/she has passed that Degree. In classifying the pass in a BSc Honours Degree Programme the Board shall consider the weighted aggregate of three marks, The Level 2 mark which shall be the aggregate of the marks for the Level 2 courses worth 120 course units that the student has passed that give the student the highest aggregate, provided that all Level 2 core courses listed in the Special Regulations for that Programme are included. The Industrial Attachment mark obtained according to Section 6.3 above. The Level 4 mark which shall be the weighted aggregate of the mark for the Dissertation Project course worth at least 20 course units and the marks for the Level 4 courses with a weighting of the difference between 120 courses units and the weighting of the Dissertation Project that the student has passed that give the student the highest aggregate, provided that all Level 4 core courses listed in the Special Regulations for that Programme are included. If the Industrial Attachment in that particular Programme is at Level 4, then the Level 4 mark shall be replaced by the Level 3 mark which shall be the weighted aggregate of the mark for the Dissertation Project course worth at least 20 course units and the marks for the Level 3 courses with a weighting of the difference between 120 courses units and the weighting of the Dissertation Project that the student has passed that give the student the highest aggregate, provided that all Level 3 core courses listed in the Special Regulations for that Programme are included. The weighted aggregate of these three marks shall be obtained by multiplying the Level 2 mark by 2, the Industrial Attachment mark by 1 and the Level 4 mark or Level 3 mark (as appropriate) by 4. The classification of the degree will then be determined according to the General Regulations except that if the student takes longer than three years to complete Level 2, Level 3 and Level 4, the division of the pass shall be the third division.

POSTGRADUATE

STRUCTURE OF THE PROGRAMMES The duration of an MSc programme shall be one of the following: A programme with a weighting of at least 200 course units which shall be of either one year and six months duration on a full-time basis or 3 years duration on a part-time basis. A programme with a weighting of at least 240 course units which shall be of two years duration on a full-time basis or four years duration on a part-time basis. Each MSc programme is divided into two parts. Part 1 shall be the coursework component and Part 2 shall be the research component for at least six months duration. The coursework component shall have a weighting of at least 120 course units and the duration shall be given in the individual programme regulations. The research component shall be weighted so that its weighting is within the limits prescribed in the General Academic Regulations. Normally the duration of each component shall conform to the relative weighting, in terms of course units, of that component compared with the overall weighting of the programme. Each course shall consist of a minimum of 60 contact hours, including seminars and practicals, at least 48 contact hours shall be lectures. The minimum number of contact hours for each course in a specific programme shall be specified in the individual programme regulations. The combination of courses shall be as specified in the individual programme regulations. The length of a dissertation will normally be between 12 000 and 20 000 words but a dissertation consisting mainly of computations need not conform to these limits. The dissertation will normally be submitted on or before the end of the last month of the programme.

EXAMINATIONS Courses will be examined at the end of the semester in which they are taught and each course comprises one paper examinable for at least three hours. If there is a practical component in the course, the end of course theory examination may be two hours long. Where a course has an end of course practical examination, the end of course practical examination may be held at a time and venue different from that of the end of course theory examination for the same course. The duration of the end of course practical examination shall be specified in the individual regulations for the programme but shall not be greater than three hours. Normally an end of course practical examination shall have the same weighting as the end of course theory examination. External moderation of end of courses examinations shall be in accordance with Section 6.2 of the General Regulations. To be admitted to a formal examination, a student should attend lectures regularly. Attendance at seminars, tutorials and practicals is compulsory. Examiners may require a student to attend a viva voce examination. A student must pass Part 1 before proceeding to Part 2. A student who fails a course will be allowed to supplement or repeat the course.

ASSESSMENT OF COURSES

The assessment of a practical course shall be based on written reports submitted during the schedule laid down by the appropriate Departmental Board.

course according to a

The assessment of a field course or a project course shall be based on written reports or on a dissertation submitted at a date determined by the Departmental Board. Students shall be notified of this date at the start of the course. The assessment of a course containing theory and practical components shall be based on an end of course theory examination, continuous assessment (including both theory and practical work) and may include an end of course practical examination. All other courses shall be assessed by continuous assessment and an end of course examination. The end of course examination for a course will normally be of three hours duration, If there is a practical component in the course, the end of course theory examination may be two hours long. A course with an end of course practical examination shall contain a practical component in the continuous assessment. The continuous assessment may be entirely practical or contain theory and practical components, but the relative weightings shall be stated in the individual regulations for the programme. In a course with a theory and a practical component the weightings of the continuous assessment mark and the end of course examination mark need not be within the limits stated in the General Academic Regulations but these weightings must be stated in the individual regulations for the programme. Furthermore the continuous assessment weightings shall be between 25% and 75% of the overall mark for the course. For each course that contains a theory and a practical component, the appropriate Departmental Panel of Examiners shall determine for each student a theory continuous assessment mark, a practical continuous assessment mark, an end of course theory examination mark, an end of course practical examination mark (where appropriate), an overall theory mark, an overall practical mark, an overall mark and a final mark for the course. A student shall pass the continuous assessment and the end of course examination separately. A student who fails continuous assessment shall be barred from sitting for the end of course examination in accordance with item 6.5 of the General Academic Regulations. For each practical course, field course or project course and for each student, the Departmental Panel of Examiners shall determine a final mark for that student for that course based on the assessment of the written reports or of the dissertation submitted by that student. The Panel shall determine whether the student has passed or failed the course. For all other courses the Departmental Panel of Examiners shall determine, for each student, a continuous assessment mark, an end of course examination mark and an overall mark and whether the student has passed or failed. The final mark for that course for that student shall be the overall mark for that course. Each Departmental Panel shall submit, for each course under its control and for each student enrolled in that course, the final mark and the result to the Faculty Board of Examiners. For each student it shall indicate the number of credits obtained in courses under its control.