(This is a translation of the official version in Chinese 沪交研〔2021〕85号. In case of any discrepancy, the Chinese version shall prevail.)
Chapter One: General Provisions
Article 1 Courses teaching is of great importance to the graduate education, and the course teaching is a paramount means for the graduate students to master the basic theories and the systematic expertise. Standardizing and strengthening the management of the teaching activities for the graduate programs, as well as establishing and maintaining the order of course teaching are essential to guarantee and improve the quality of the graduate education.
Article 2 The teaching activities of graduate programs are managed by both the University and the Schools. As the administrative authority of the teaching activities for the graduate programs of the University, the Graduate School is responsible for the macro management of the graduate teaching of the whole University, and for coordinating and managing all the General Courses, as well as the evaluation and examination of curriculum development and various teaching activities of the graduate programs. As the entities which practically implement the teaching activities, the respective Schools (Departments) shall be in charge of the graduate education and management within the Schools. The Schools (Departments) which offer General Courses shall take responsibility for their practical establishment and implementation.
Chapter Two: Formulation and Management of Curriculum System
Article 3 The schools recruiting graduate students should develop the curriculum system based on the first-level academic discipline. The course development, opening, course library maintenance, course revision and other course management issues all should follow the "SJTU Regulations On Graduate Course Establishment and Management".
Chapter Three: Course Instructor
Article 4 The graduate courses shall generally be taught by professors, associate professors, lecturers with Doctoral degrees or other personnel with equivalent professional titles. With the consent of the School (Department), some courses can also be taught by non-PhD lecturers with over four years’ teaching experience. Regarding the engagement of graduate course instructors from outside the University, a written report shall be submitted by the relevant discipline three months prior to the starting of the course, reviewed and approved by the School (Department), and thereupon delivered to the Academic Affairs Office of the Graduate School for archive.
Article 5 The course instructors shall submit the updated course syllabus before the beginning of the new semester in the Graduate Education Info Management System, and shall deliver the course according to the teaching plan and the course syllabus. The course teaching should follow the "SJTU Regulations on Teaching Orders for Graduate Programs".
Article 6 The course instructors shall cooperate with the departments responsible for teaching management on matters like the course commencement and enrollment, class attendance, examination arrangement, grade input, teaching appraisal and keeping of course assessment materials. In case the teaching order is disturbed or a poor teaching quality is resulted due to the instructor’s irresponsibility, the issue should be dealt with according to the University regulations.
Chapter Four: Course Arrangement
Article 7 The Graduate School and the graduate offices of the respective Schools (Departments) are responsible for the arrangement of the General Courses and the Specialized Courses (Specialized Core Courses, Specialized Frontier Courses), respectively. The University arranges the graduate courses for the next semester three times per academic year, prior to the end of each semester.
In order to expand the international impact of the graduate education and enrich the courses of the summer semester, the university encourages Schools (Departments) to introduce outstanding overseas instructors to open courses of the summer semester. All schools shall report the teaching plans of the summer semester in time according to the schedule of the Graduate School.
Article 8 The Graduate School and the Schools (Departments) should set up the courses according to the requirements as specified in the graduate program curriculum for each academic discipline. The Course Schedule shall specify the time, weekday, total number of weeks it lasts, as well as the place, capacity, course instructor, instruction language, course syllabus, learning materials, etc. The Course Schedule shall be entered into the Graduate Education Info Management System, and published on the website of the Graduate School. The schedule for the following spring semester shall be published on the website of the Graduate School before the 16th week of the semester. The schedule for the following fall semester shall be published on the website of the Graduate School before the 14th week of the semester. The course schedule for the summer semester shall be confirmed before the fall semester ends and be published on the website of the Graduate School before May each year.
Article 9 To make better use of teaching resources, general course classes with less than 15 students attending and other course classes with less then 5 students attending should be canceled. These students shall join other classes or take the course next semester or academic year. If it is necessary to take the courses this semester, an application to the Graduate School is a must.
Article 10 In principle, the Schedule cannot be changed once published, and shall be strictly implemented to guarantee the teaching order. Failure to deliver the classes as scheduled can only be justified in cases of force majeure or out of other legitimate reasons. The course instructors shall prioritize teaching over all other business or personal issues. In case the course instructor violates the Course Schedule, suspends or changes courses without permission, such cases shall be dealt with as teaching accidents according to the university regulations, once the fact is reported or discovered in the spot check. In case an adjustment has to be made under special circumstances, it shall follow the "SJTU Regulations on Teaching Orders for Graduate Programs"
Chapter Five: Courses Add/drop Management
Article 11 The university should make a unified arrangement of the teaching classes of some general courses for all graduate students in accordance with the training plans of the discipline and the teaching schedule, and usually the arrangement takes place before the semester in which the courses will be available starts. After international graduate students take the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK) and receive their evaluation grades, the university shall make a unified arrangement of the teaching classes of "Chinese" and "Introduction to Chinese Culture" in accordance with the training plans of the discipline and the teaching schedule. As for some specialized courses, Schools (Departments) are responsible for making a unified arrangement of them in accordance with the training plans of the discipline and the teaching schedule. For courses that are not within the unified arrangement by the university or Schools (Departments), students can add them into the plan of their own course by logging in to the system.
For course classes that are under the unified arrangement by the university or the Schools (Departments), students can apply for changing his/her class if necessary. The application should be submitted in the first 1-2 weeks of that semester and students can finish the process in the Graduate School after getting approval from the teacher and the School (Department) that opens the course.
Online courses add/drop for the fall semester should be arranged in the first 1-2 weeks of the fall semester, during which students can add courses, take a trial lesson or adjust their courses. Online courses add/drop for the spring semester should be arranged in the last 14-16 weeks of the fall semester. During the first 1-2 weeks of the spring semester, students can add courses, take a trial lesson or adjust their courses. After the online system is closed, students are not allowed to add or drop courses, and the university will confirm the final lists based on the list of the students registered. Students who are not on the list will not be allowed to take the course or examinations, and the course picked with its credits will not be recorded either.
For courses in summer semesters and courses of physical education, students shall follow notices from the Graduate School to add/drop these courses. In principle, teaching classes in summer semesters are not allowed to be adjusted.
Article 12 After the course add, students whose status has been changed due to transfer to other universities, transfer to other majors, suspension or resumption, and therefore must drop, add or change courses can finish the process after the approval of the teacher and the School (Department) that opens the course based on the evaluation on the change of the student status. Students who are allowed to drop the course will not be recorded for the course and its examination. Students who are allowed to add or change the course should be recorded for their course performance and grades following Articles 20 and 25.
Article 13 Undergraduate students can apply to take graduate courses in advance. For students who are admitted by the university as graduate student later, if the courses he/she takes in advance are not used for other degree application and meet the current training plan, the courses then can be taken into his/her graduate training plan after the supervisor and the School (Department) approve. Undergraduates who apply to take graduate courses in advance should follow notices of course add and add courses in the undergraduate-graduate courses mutual selection system. Students are allowed to take trial lessons in the first 1-2 weeks during that semester.
Article 14 Exchange students, auditors and students of university cooperative training programs who study in SJTU through cooperative programs can electively take graduate courses. These students should follow notices of course add and log in to the system to add courses. Students are allowed to take trial lessons in the first 1-2 weeks during that semester. Priority is given to guarantee the course need of the graduate students of SJTU.
Article 15 For graduate students who are admitted from other disciplines, or considered as with equivalent academic ability, or considered necessary to learn basic knowledge of the discipline by the supervisor, they should take the undergraduate or graduate courses and the credits will be counted as optional elective courses. Students who need to take the undergraduate course should add courses during the available course election time opened by the Academic Affairs Office.
Chapter Six: Course Assessment
Article 16 Assessment must be carried out for all graduate courses without exception. It can take the form of open-book or closed-book examinations, essay, or combined written-oral tests. The final grade can be determined based on a comprehensive evaluation of the class performance, assignments, class discussion, research report, social practice, etc. For the assessment methods not listed above, the grading can be performed in a similar manner.
Article 17 Examinations of graduate general courses and specialized courses, in principle, should involve written examinations. All course instructors and personnel involved in the setting of test problems shall obey the relevant regulations on keeping the problems undisclosed, and cannot divulge them in any way. The tests shall be designed to have an appropriate level of difficulty and amount. Under regular circumstances, an examination lasts for 120 minutes, and cannot be prolonged or shortened at will.
Article 18 The Graduate School shall be responsible for the scheduling and organizing of the examinations of graduate General Courses within the University. Examinations of Specialized Courses shall be scheduled by respective Schools (Departments). All the examination schedules shall be published on the Graduate School website beforehand, and shall not be changed once published. In case adjustments are needed, a notification shall be made promptly. During the examination, at least two proctors shall be present at the examination venue, and the relevant regulations on the course examination should be strictly followed. The Graduate School and respective Schools (Departments) shall organize inspections to the examinations, and any violation to the regulations found shall be treated seriously according to the relevant regulations.
Article 19 For students who did not finish the course election process, teachers or proctors of the course should not allow them to attend the examination. Teachers should not record their grades and the university will not admit the grades or the credits.
Article 20 For students whose total amount of absent hours from a course (including the days off) exceeds one-third of the total teaching hours of the course, he/she shall not be allowed to attend the course examination or assessment, and will be regarded as fail in the examination.
Chapter Seven: Course Waiving, Postponement and Retaking (Re-examination)
Article 21 For students who have studied in the university before enrollment and have passed the examinations of courses that are not used for other degree applications and meet the current training plan, they can apply to waive the course and it will be counted into the credits. Courses that are already used to apply for other degrees but also belong to the compulsory courses of the current training plan should be listed in the plan and students shall add courses in time. The student shall apply in person two weeks before the semester begins. After the teacher evaluates the application, the School (Department) and the Graduate School approve it, and the student is allowed to not attend the course but must take the examination.
Graduate students from Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and Taiwan Province can apply in person to waive the political courses that are compulsory in the training plan after the approval of the School (Department) and the Graduate School, and the course will not be counted into the credits that are already completed. The students shall take other social science courses approved by the University instead to meet the credit requirements in the training plan.
International graduate students who meet the requirements of course waiving set by the university can apply in person to waive or not attend the "Chinese" or "Academic English" course: "Chinese" can be waived and will be counted into credits with a P grade; "Academic English" can be waived and will be counted into credits with a B- grade. Students can also apply for not attending these courses and they shall take the examinations. The final grades will be recorded.
Article 22 Graduate students who take courses should follow the arrangement of the teaching classes and attend examinations. If there is a sudden illness or other inevitable incidents that prevent the students from taking the examinations, students can apply for a postponement.
Application for postponement should be submitted before examinations. Students who have to postpone examinations due to illness shall submit a sick leave signed by grade A secondary or above hospitals. Students who have to postpone examinations due to activities shall submit the notice signed by the host institute of the activity and the comments from the university. After the teacher, supervisor, School (Department) and the Graduate School approve the application, students can take the make-up examinations organized by the university. Students who failed to submit the application in time or did not submit the application will be considered failures in the examinations.
At the beginning of every spring and fall semester, the university will organize the make-up examinations for students who are allowed to postpone their examinations. These students should take the make-up examinations and those who are absent will be considered failures. The teacher shall give a comprehensive grade after the make-up examination. The results will be recorded based on a grading system. If the grade is B or above, it will be recorded as B. Otherwise it will be recorded as the actual grade.
Article 23 Master students who fail the examination of courses listed in their training plan can apply for a course retaking or re-examination, yet the original courses cannot be substituted or removed from the training plan. Students whose GPA is less than 2.70 can apply to retake an unsatisfactory GPA course with a grade of less than B- (B- excluded). Upon the approval of the course instructor, the student can have a re-examination without retaking the course. PhD students who fail the examination of courses listed in their training plan can apply for course retaking or re-examination, yet the original courses cannot be substituted or removed from the training plan. Each course can be retaken (or reexamined) at most twice.
Article 24 For previously failed courses, if a grade of B- or above is obtained after retaking the course (or re-examination), the grade shall be recorded as B-. In case a grade of lower than B- is obtained after retaking the course (or re-examination), the grade shall be recorded as it is. In case the student got a passing grade, while his/her GPA is less than the standard of 2.70, the grade obtained from retaking (or re-examination) shall be recorded as is.
If the grades of the retaking (re-examination) are lower than the original ones, the higher ones will be recorded and counted.
Grades of retaking (re-examination) will be recorded in the re-examination blank. The retaking and re-examination of graduate courses should be arranged when the course is opened next time.
Chapter Eight: Grade Management
Article 25 The assessment result of graduate courses should be scaled with the eleven-grade system ranging from ‘A+’ to ‘F’, or marked as ‘Pass/Fail’. The specific grades and their corresponding GPA scores are listed as below (applicable to graduate students enrolled since the fall semester of 2016):
Article 26 The course instructor and the exam marker shall be realistic, objective and impartial when evaluating the performance of the graduate students, so as to ensure the quality and veracity of the course grades. For General Courses and Specialized Courses with a considerable number of students, in particular, the grades shall follow a normal distribution. The grade of graduate courses can either be based on the final examination, or by combining the students’ daily performance (including quizzes, homework, report, experiment, practice, etc.) and the final examination results.
Article 27 The instructors of General Courses shall register the grades into the Graduate Education Info Management System within 10 working days after the examination, and print the summary of grades of the class, which shall be firstly confirmed and signed by the instructor, then reviewed and stamped by the Graduate Academic Affairs Office of the School (Department), and finally reported to the Graduate School together with the test papers and reference answers, backup test papers and reference answers (sealed), daily performance records and illustrations and other original materials for archive. If the grade of Specialized Courses (including Specialized Core Course, Specialized Advanced Course and Optional Course) is drawn only from the students’ daily performance and the written examination, the course instructor shall register the grades into the Graduate Education Info Management System within 10 working days after the examination, and print the summary of grades of the class.The transcript shall be confirmed and signed by the instructor, and delivered to the Graduate Academic Affairs Office of the School (Department) together with the test papers and reference answers, backup test papers and reference answers (sealed), daily performance records and illustrations and other original materials for archive. In case the grade of the Specialized Course also includes the students’ performance on essay, report or interview besides the daily performance and written examination, the course instructor shall register the grades into the Graduate Education Info Management System within 30 working days after the examination. After the summary of grades of the class is printed, the instructor shall sign it upon affirmation, and have it delivered to the Graduate Academic Affairs Office of the School (Department) together with daily performance records and illustrations, course essays or reports and the illustrations for the grades, and other original materials for archive. The grades for cross-school (-department) elective courses shall be registered by the School (Department), which delivers the course, and it is responsible for the archive of the original materials.
Article 28 The original examination documents for the graduate courses, such as the test problems the test papers (including oral test record, assessment paper, etc.), reference answers, backup test papers (sealed), essays, course thesis and reports shall all be kept for 5 years by the Graduate Academic Affairs Office of the School, which delivers the course.
Article 29 After the grades are submitted by teachers, no one is allowed to change them. Before the system is open to students for accessing the grades, if there is any situation including record missing, record mistake, or grade misjudgment, the teacher shall apply for revision to the School. After the director of the School approves the application, it should be submitted to the Graduate School. After being approved by the Graduate School, the teacher can revise the grades that are returned. After the system is open to students for accessing the grades, if there is any situation including record missing, record mistake, or grade misjudgment, the teacher shall apply for revision to the School. After the director of the School approves the application, it should be submitted to the Graduate School. After being approved by the Graduate School, the teacher can revise the grades in the Graduate Education Info Management System. Any teaching incidents should be handled in accordance with the "SJTU Regulations on Teaching Incidents Identification and Handling" (Chinese official version: 沪交教〔2018〕48 号).
Article 30 The graduate students can login the Graduate Education Info Management System to access the grades obtained. When in doubt, the student can apply to the Academic Affairs Office of the School (Department) to recheck the grade (Application shall be filed no later than the first 4 weeks of the new semester). Upon review and approval by the aforementioned School, the application shall be reported to the Academic Affairs Office of the Graduate School for review. Once approved, the application shall be transferred to the School (Department) that delivers the course, which shall provide feedback within 5 working days. After receiving the feedback, the Academic Affairs Office of the Graduate School shall deliver it to the student within 3 working days. The recheck is limited only to mistakes concerning test sheet grading, grade recording, and grade input. Strictness on grading is not included. The student cannot access the original papers by him/herself.
Chapter Nine: Teaching Inspection and Appraisal
Article 31 Daily teaching appraisal and inspection are implemented by the respective Schools (Departments) in cooperation with the Graduate School. The Graduate School centers on the inspection of class attendance, classroom order and teaching practice of graduate General Courses. The head of School (Department) in charge of graduate education and the academic staffs shall conduct casual inspections on graduate courses within the School in terms of the above-mentioned aspects, and hold experience exchange meetings on learning and teaching from time to time, so as to grasp the progress of graduate courses within the School.
Article 32 As an important organization to inspect and appraise the teaching activities in graduate programs within the University, the Graduate Education Steering Committee shall make casual inspections on the teaching quality and management of the graduate courses of respective Schools (Departments). All the Schools shall actively cooperate with the Committee, and carefully heed the advice from the Committee, so as to make further improvement.
Article 33 Teaching inspectors are an important guarantee of the effective supervision on the teaching activities of the graduate programs within the University. The inspectors are from both the University and School level, responsible for the research, quality appraisal and counseling of the teaching and management of graduate programs. Through visiting classes and on spot interview, the inspectors randomly inspect all the teaching activities in graduate programs within the University.
Article 34 Based on self-appraisal and inspection of respective Schools (Departments), the Graduate School shall organize the Graduate Education Steering Committee, teaching inspectors and relevant experts to conduct regular inspections on the teaching activities, visit classes and carry out various forms of course appraisal. The Graduate School shall also organize online student evaluations for the graduate General Courses and Specialized Core Courses. Results of these activities shall be submitted to relevant Schools (Departments) and course instructors, so as to improve the teaching activities.
Chapter Ten: Supplementary Provisions
Article 35 These regulations are subject to interpretation by the Graduate School and come into force on September 1, 2021. In case of any discrepancies with previous provisions, these regulations shall prevail
