Article 1. Scope of regulation
1.    The Rule for Recognition of Higher Education Credits" (hereinafter - the "Credit Recognition Rule" or “the Rule”) regulates the rule for the recognition of study courses completed by a student of "Bau International University, Batumi" LLC (hereinafter - the "University") within the curriculum of another higher education institution / other higher education program, defines structural units of the University authorized for recognition and establishes the procedures for confirmation of recognition, obtaining consent in accordance with the law, appeal and change of recognition.
2.    The purpose of the Credit Recognition Rule is to provide organizational support for the University's activities, to determine the compatibility of the student's courses with the university's educational program, and to introduce an appropriate legal framework to ensure a transparent procedure for the recognition of the completed education.
3.    This rule has been developed in accordance with the law of Georgia “on Higher Education" and the by-laws regulating higher education in force in Georgia, including the Order N3 of the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia dated January 5, 2007 "On Approval Of The Rules For Calculating Higher Education Programs By Credits", The order N98/N of Minister of Education and Science of Georgia dated October 1, 2010 on "On Confirmation Of The Authenticity Of Educational Documents Issued In Georgia And Approval Of The Rules And Fees For Recognition Of Education Received Abroad" and according to the order N N10/N of Minister of Education and Science of Georgia dated as of February 4, 2010 , on “ Approval Of The Procedure For Transferring From A Higher Educational Institution To Another Higher Educational Institution";
4.    The legal acts of the university related to the recognition of the study courses of the university student are adopted on the basis of this Rule and must be in accordance with it. In the event of a discrepancy between this Rule and the norms of other legal acts of the university regulating the relationship defined in this article, the Rule has superior legal force over other legal acts of the University.
5.    The issue related to the recognition of study courses completed by the student of the University, which is not regulated by this Rule and/or by the legal acts of the University adopted on its basis, is regulated and interpreted in accordance with the norms of the current legislation of Georgia.
6.    Compliance with the requirements of the Rule is mandatory for all employees of the University involved in the process of obtaining student status by mobility and recognition of education received at the university/other higher educational institution, students, or persons wishing to transfer. 

Article 2. Definition of Terms
1.    The terms used in this rule have the following meanings: 
a)    "BAU" or "University" - "Bau International University, Batumi" LLC
b)    "Primary Higher Education Institution" - a higher educational institution of Georgia or a foreign country, in which a student who transferred to the university by mobility completed study courses
c)    "Recognition" - determination of compliance of the study courses completed by the student with the university program in which the student is continuing his/her studies, according to the procedure defined in this rule.
d)    "ECTS" - European credit system of transfer and accumulation, in accordance with the legislation of Georgia.
e)    "Student" - a person who, in accordance with the applicable legislation and the legal acts of the University, is transferred to/or studies at the University to complete a higher education program.
f)    "Electronic educational process management system" - internal university electronic management system, where the following information is placed: student registration, academic performance, study plan, sources, as well as reflection of correspondence and documents belonging to human resources.
g)    "Recognition of education received abroad" - recognition of qualifications received abroad or education received within the framework of a higher education program during study abroad by the National Center for the Education Quality Enhancement.
h)    "Recognition of credits" - the procedure for determining the compatibility of the credits received by the student within the framework of another educational program/study courses completed with the educational program of the university.
i)    "Educational program of the university" - higher educational program of the BAU University, in which the student continues to study.
j)    "Equivalent study course" is a study component provided by the educational program of the university, the content, learning outcomes and volume of academic workload correspond to the content, learning outcomes and volume of academic workload of the recognized study course provided for by the educational program of the primary higher education institution.
k)    "Recognition Commission" - the commission defined in this rule, which carries out the determination of the compliance of the study courses completed by the students wishing to move with the educational program of the University.

Article 3. Principles for Credit Recognition 
1.    According to this rule, recognition applies to the below listed: 
a)    Credits completed in another higher educational institution of a student enrolled in the university with mobility;
b)    Study courses completed by a student enrolled in the university through mobility at another higher educational institution, which were not calculated in accordance with the ECTS system. 
c)    Credits taken at another educational program of the university in case of internal mobility;
d)    In case of change/modification of the university program, the credits passed by the student before the program change;
e)    In the case of restoration of the student's status - the credits completed before the suspension of the status, if his/her educational program underwent a change during the period of suspension of the status.
2.    Recognition of credits is subject to the principle of conformity of the course content and academic load taken by the student with the educational program of the University.
3.    Credits received within the framework of the higher educational program(s) for which enrollment and teaching were carried out in accordance with the law are subject to recognition.
4.    The prerequisite for the recognition of   courses completed in a higher educational institution of a foreign country is the recognition of the education received by the student abroad, which is carried out by the National Center for the Educational Quality Enhancement of Georgia in accordance with the international agreements and the rules established by the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia.
5.    For the purposes of the university educational programs, students will have recognized: 
a)    Credits for compulsory study courses, as a result of determining the compatibility of the content, learning outcomes and volume of the academic load of the course(s) taken for the first time in the higher educational institution with the mandatory component of the University educational program, with the volume of equivalent course(s) in the University educational program.
b)    Credits of the elective courses of the specialty, as a result of determining the compatibility of the content and learning outcomes of the course(s) taken at the higher educational institution with the main field of study of the educational program of the University, with the volume taken at the respective university, but not exceeding the limit of the elective courses of the specialty provided by the educational program of the University.
c)    Credits for non-specialty elective courses - regardless of the field of study, with the volume taken at the first university, but not more than the limit volume of non-specialty elective courses provided by the educational program of the University.

Article 4. Commission for Credit Recognition 
1.    The recognition of credits in the university is carried out by the Credit Recognition Commission, which includes the Dean of the School, the Head of the educational program and the representative of the Quality Assurance Service.
2.    Depending on the need of the issue to be discussed by the commission, it is possible to include a person with relevant field qualifications, from the University's academic or guest staff, as well as guest specialist.
3.    The commission is convened as necessary, in order to protect the interest of recognition of the educational program completed by the student.
4.    The Quality Assurance Service ensures the resolution of organizational issues related to the commission's activities.
5.    The commission is accountable to the Rector of the university.

Article 5. Application for Credit Recognition 
1.    A student wishing to have credits recognized applies to the Quality Assurance Service of the University with an application for recognition.
2.    The student's application should be accompanied by the student's academic record sheet issued by the primary higher education institution, which should fully reflect the number of credits taken by the student, and the name of the study course should be clearly indicated in it.
3.    The university is entitled to request a translation of the academic record submitted in a foreign language (except English) into English or Georgian. The said translation must be certified in accordance with the law.
4.    The specific foreign language that the student has passed must be presented in the transcript.
5.    According to the decision of the commission, it is possible to order the student to present the following additional information:
a)    Educational program, its learning outcomes or curriculum;
b)    Information about the language of instruction of the educational program;
c)    Course syllabus, course learning outcomes or course program;
d)    Information about the Primary Higher educational institute Assessment System;
6.    The documentation submitted by the student must be certified by the primary higher education institution.
7.    If the documentation submitted by the student is incomplete or does not comply with the requirements defined in this article, the commission is authorized to refuse the recognition of credits of the student, in whole or in part (in relation to specific study courses).

Article 6. Procedure for Recognition of Credits in the Compulsory Component of the Program
1.    At the time of recognition of the study course taken in the primary higher education institution in the mandatory component of the BAU program, the commission takes into account the compliance of their name, study goals and results, academic load written in credits or hours with the goals, results and academic load provided by the relevant course of the University educational program.
2.    If the name of the study course completed by the student corresponds to the name provided by the educational program of the university, the commission makes a decision on the recognition of the study course.
3.    In the event that the name of the study course taken by the student is slightly different from the name provided by the educational program of the university, although the content of the course can be determined by the name, taking into account the existing and known requirements for the study courses of the educational program of the relevant field, the commission is authorized to make a decision on the recognition of the study course or, in order to obtain additional information about the content of the course, to request the student to present the syllabus of this course; 
4.    In the event that the name of the course taken by the student is significantly different from the name provided by the educational program of the University and it is difficult to determine the content of the course, taking into account the existing and known requirements for the educational program of the relevant field, the Commission is authorized to make a decision on request to the student to  submit the syllabus for this course order to obtain additional information; 
5.    The Commission is authorized to request the involvement of specialists in the relevant field in order to determine the compatibility of the course content and learning outcomes. The main educational unit of the university ensures the involvement of respective field specialists.
6.    If the number of credits of the study course taken by the student matches the number of credits of the recognized course provided by the educational program of the university, the study course is recognized with this volume.
7.    If the number of credits of the study course passed by the student exceeds the number of credits of the study course provided by the university program, then as many credits are recognized as provided by the educational program of the University.
8.    If the amount of credits of the course taken by the student for the first time in the higher educational institution is less than the amount of academic load of the corresponding subject of the university, but the difference between them does not exceed 40%, then the issue of recognition of this course is decided by the commission based on the analysis of the learning goals and results provided by the syllabus of the course. In this case, the commission is authorized to:
A)    Based on the analysis (comparison of course objectives and results) of the syllabus of the discipline mastered in Primary HEI and the current syllabus of the university educational program (comparison of the goals and results of the study course), the commission makes a reasoned decision to grant the student credits to the extent provided for in the current educational program of the University;
B)    Based on the analysis of the syllabus of the discipline mastered in the primary higher educational institution and the current syllabus of the educational program of the university (comparison of the goals and results of the educational course), in case of their inconsistency, the student is refused recognition in the compulsory component of the educational course program and he/she is obliged to master the compulsory course with the content provided by the educational program of the university. The student has the right to request the recognition of the course completed by him/her in the optional component of the program.
9.    If the amount of credits of the course taken by the student in the primary higher educational institute does not amount to 60% of the academic load of the relevant subject of the University, the student will not have recognized this course in the mandatory component provided by the educational program of the university.
10.    The rule established by this article also applies to study courses of programs not covered by the ECTS system, taking into account the peculiarities established by article 9 of this rule.

Article 7. Procedure for Recognition of Credits in the Elective Component of the Program
1.    During the recognition of the study course completed in the primary higher education institution, in the optional component of the University program, the commission takes into account the conformity of their name, study goals and results with the main field of study provided by the educational program of the University.
2.    In the event that the teaching field of the study course completed by the student corresponds to the main field of teaching of the University's educational program, the commission makes a decision on the recognition of the study course in the specialty elective component.
3.    In the event that the teaching field of the study course completed by the student does not correspond to the main field of study of the university educational program, the commission makes a decision to recognize the study course in the non-specialization elective component.
4.    The commission is authorized to request the involvement of specialists of the relevant field in order to determine the field of teaching of the course. The main educational unit of the university ensures the involvement of field specialists.
5.    The study course must be recognized in only one component of the university educational program (compulsory, specialty elective, non-specialty elective).
6.    The study course(s) completed by the student in the elective component of the specialty is recognized by the volume completed in the primary higher educational institution, but not more than the threshold volume of the elective study courses of the specialty provided by the educational program of the university.
7.    The recognition of the study course(s) completed by the student in the non-specialty elective component is based on the volume completed in the primary higher educational institution, but not more than the threshold volume of the non-specialty optional study courses provided by the university educational program.

Article 8. Recognition of Integrated Courses 
1.    The integrated block of courses provided by the educational programs of the university is recognized by the recognition of the subjects included in the block.
2.    In recognition, these independent subjects mastered at another university can be recognized together in all blocks that include subjects of these subjects.

Article 9. Peculiarities of Recognition of Courses Completed with a Different Credit System
1.    The University is authorized to recognize the courses completed within the program of the primary higher education institution, which are not calculated in accordance with the ECTS system, in compliance with the general conditions established by this Rule and the special conditions defined by this Article. 
2.    If the student's primary higher education institution has a different system for granting credits, the student is required to present an official document issued by the primary higher education institution that explains the compatibility of this system with the ECTS system.
3.    In case of inability to present the information specified in Clause 2 of this Article, the student has the right to present information certified by the primary university about the duration of the study course (how many weeks the student studied this study course and how many hours per week were devoted to it.) Conditional credits are awarded for the said course according to the following principle - the contact hours specified by the primary HEI are added to the hours of independent work (contact hours multiplied by 1.5/2) and the resulting figure is divided by 30. The credit calculated in this way must be rounded up to a whole number.
4.    If the student's primary HEI uses a grading system other than the 100-point grading system, the student must provide an official document issued by the primary HEI explaining the compatibility of that system with the 100-point grading system.
5.    If the student has received the so-called "differentiated credit" in any subject compatible with the university curriculum, in case of recognition of the study course, the evaluation score in this component will be calculated in accordance with the principles of conversion from a 5-point system to a 100-point system.
6.    The conversion of the 5-point evaluation system to the 100-point system is carried out according to the following principle:
Grade Excellent (5) corresponds to 91 points / Grade A;
Grade Good (4) corresponds to 81 points / Grade B;
Satisfactory grade (3) corresponds to 61 points / D grade.
Unsatisfactory Grade (2, 1) corresponds to 40 points / F grade
7.    If the student has received the so-called "non-differentiated credit" in any subject compatible with the university curriculum, then in the case of recognition, the evaluation score for this component is defined as the 51 / E grade.
8.    In the event that the student knowledge assessment system operating in a foreign higher education institution does not consider points, but Latin letters denoting assessment (A+, A, A-, etc.) and an official document explaining this system is not presented, the given system should be transferred to the system operating at the university. with a 5-point bid according to the following principle:
    A+ corresponds to 100 points
                             A corresponds to 95 points
A-    corresponds to 91 points
A similar principle applies in the case of other evaluations, for the calculation of the point index determined for the university evaluation.
9.    The commission is authorized to obtain or verify information about the credit calculation and student evaluation system of the primary higher education institution independently, using available sources of information.

Article 10. Decision on Credits Recognition 
1.    The decision of the recognition commission on credit recognition is made in the form of a credit Recognition Conclusion.
2.    The Recognition Conclusion includes information on determining the compatibility of the   courses completed in the primary higher education institution with the educational program of the university, the amount of recognized and passing credits, the evaluation of the recognized credits according to this rule and the number of remaining semesters of study.
3.    The Commission determines the number of remaining semesters by dividing the difference between the volume of the university's educational program and the number of recognized credits by 30. When determining the number of remaining semesters, the prerequisites for studying the teaching courses to be mastered and the number of additional credits to be obtained within the individual educational program are taken into account (no more than 15 credits in total for the Medicine and no more than 15 credits per year for other programs).
4.    The draft of the Conclusion will be presented to the student before its approval. The student has the right to submit substantiated comments on the Conclusion within a reasonable period determined by the Commission.
5.    The student's consent to the credit recognition report is obtained in writing.
6.    The final Conclusion is signed by all members of the commission involved in its preparation. The Conclusion is verified with the seal of the university and recorded in the student's personal file.
7.    The decision on the credits recognized for the student will be attached to the order of the Rector of the University on the enrollment/mobility/reinstatement of the student, or will be reflected in the text of the relevant Order.
8.    The information about the recognized credits of the student is reflected in the electronic system of management of the educational process, in the student's study card.
9.    The supllement of the student's diploma reflects both the information about the credits recognized within the new educational program, as well as the credits/courses completed within the primary higher education institution educational program.

Article. 11. Refusal on Credit Recognition 
1.    The recognition committee has the right to refuse recognition of credits to a student if:
a)    Enrollment and education in the primary higher education program was not carried out in accordance with the law;
b)    The recognition of the education received by the student abroad is not confirmed by the National Center for Education Quality Enhancement, in accordance with the international agreements of Georgia and the rules established by the Minister of Education, Science and Youth of Georgia.
c)    Content and volume compatibility of the educational course with the mandatory component of the university educational program is not confirmed, in accordance with Article 6 of this rule.
d)    The compatibility of the educational course with the optional component of the educational program of the university is not confirmed, in accordance with Article 7 of this rule.
e)    The student has not submitted the documentation required by the commission (educational program, syllabus, information about the evaluation system) necessary for making a decision on recognition.
2.    In case of rejection decision, the student must take the relevant courses within the educational program of the University.
3.    The commission's decision on refusal can be appealed in accordance with the law, within 30 days of its adoption.
4.    The student has the right to apply to the university again with the request for recognition of credits in case of change of circumstances (obtaining information and/or documentation) provided for in the first paragraph of this article.

Article 12.  Transitional Provisions
1.    Students of the University, who have received credit recognition before the entry into force of this Rule, are entitled to submit substantiated comments on the conclusions of recognition of credits in accordance with this rule, including April 1, 2024.

Article 13. Legal Consequences of Entering the Rule into Force 
1.    This rule shall enter into force after its approval by the Academic Council of the University.
2.    Changes/additions to this rule are made by the resolution of the Academic Council.
3.    With the entry into force of this rule, the "Rule Of Recognition Of Higher Education Credits Received During Studies At Another Accredited Educational Institution" approved by the order N75 of the university rector dated July 8, 2015 `is declared void.
4.    This rule has superior legal force to the legal acts of the university adopted before its entry into force, which regulate the legal relations defined by this rule differently.
5.    Norms of this rule do not apply to legal relations arising before its entry into force.