Regulations on ensuring the right of students to choose academic courses
and the procedure for forming an individual curriculum for students
of National Aerospace University «Kharkiv Aviation Institute»
Approved by:
Academic Council
of National Aerospace University «Kharkiv Aviation Institute»
Protocol No. 3 of March 24, 2021
Put into effect by order №135 of March 25, 2021
СУЯ ХАІ-НМВ-П/003:2020
Date of introduction March 25, 2021
Editorial No. 3
1. General regulations
1.1 Regulations on ensuring the right of students to choose academic courses and the procedure for forming an individual curriculum for students (hereinafter - Regulations) at National Aerospace University «Kharkiv Aviation Institute» (hereinafter - the University) were established in accordance with the laws of Ukraine "On Education", "On Higher Education", Regulations on the organization of the educational process at National Aerospace University KhAI and includes the basic requirements for the implementation of students' right to choose courses and the formation of an individual student curriculum.
1.2 These Regulations determine the procedure for compiling a list, selection and further study by the University students of elective courses within the limits provided by the relevant educational program and curriculum, the procedure for forming the individual curriculum (hereinafter - IC) of the student as well as monitoring the learning results in selected courses.
1.3 Regulations are based on the principles of student-centered approach and free creative learning, which guarantees students the construction of an individual learning trajectory taking into account their own potential, personal growth and their scientific and professional interests.
1.4 The educational program (hereinafter - EP) of training consists of compulsory and elective parts. Courses chosen by students meet the professional, educational and cultural needs and interests of applicants.
1.5 Students choose courses in the process of forming their individual curriculum within the limits provided by the relevant EP and semester curriculum, in compliance with the sequence of their study in accordance with the structural and logical scheme of training. At the same time, students of a certain level of higher education have the right to choose the courses offered for other levels of higher education, in agreement with the dean of the relevant faculty.
The choice of academic courses by the student creates conditions to achieve the following goals:
- deepening of professional competencies within the chosen specialty (specialization, educational program) and acquisition of additional special (professional, subject) competencies, including professional qualification (partial professional qualification), if it is provided by the educational program or other normative documents;
- deepening of knowledge and acquisition of additional general and general professional competencies within related specialties and fields of knowledge;
- acquaintance with the current level of research in other fields of knowledge and the expansion or deepening of knowledge in general competencies.
1.6 The volume of elective courses must be at least 25% of the total ECTS credits.
1.7 Elective courses/ blocks of courses are added to the individual curriculum of the student and are mandatory.
1.8 The volume of each elective course is at least three ECTS credits.
1.9 Heads of relevant departments that offer elective courses, provide work programs (syllabuses) in academic courses, methodological and organizational materials necessary for the study of elective courses.
2. Implementation of the student’s right of choosing academic courses
2.1 The graduate student is invited to achieve the goals set out in paragraph 1.5 by
- selecting courses from the blocks, through which non-specialized competencies are acquired, which are important for career growth, acquisition of soft skills necessary for socialization;
- selecting one of the blocks of Minor courses from the list of proposed blocks;
- selecting individual courses from the list of proposed courses.
2.2 Selective components of the curriculum of the first (bachelor's) level higher education students are divided into four conditional blocks:
- humanitarian unit (provides soft skills);
- physical and mathematical unit;
- Minor unit;
- unit of courses of individual choice.
2.2.1 Humanitarian unit. The courses of this unit provide a humanitarian component of the EP, which provides for the acquisition of knowledge necessary for the deepening of professional competencies, by studying the courses proposed within this unit:
- language competencies (Ukrainian studies);
- language competencies (foreign language) - the student chooses the language they want to study, as well as the level of language proficiency in accordance with the generally accepted classification of foreign language knowledge and previous testing;
- legal competencies;
- competencies aimed at forming a systematic scientific worldview;
- competencies of the general cultural outlook and development of communications.
The courses offered to choose from within this unit are unique and differ in thematic and methodological approaches to their study. Courses teaching is provided by various teachers of the University, each having one’s own practices of applying knowledge and skills and unique experience.
2.2.2 Physical and mathematical unit. This unit includes courses, the study of which is necessary to deepen knowledge of physics and mathematics, which allows to acquire certain competencies in the specialty or prepare to master the trajectory of learning other than the main one.
2.2.3 Minor unit. It is a unit of logically interrelated courses aimed at acquiring knowledge, skills and abilities by the student, independent of the basic curriculum. Each Minor unit consists of four courses of five credits each. There are several Minor units to choose from, which are offered by different departments of the University. Mastering the Minor unit may involve obtaining a partial professional qualification.
2.2.4 Unit of courses of individual choice. General university unit, in which the courses for choice are offered by the departments of the University or other departments according to the directions of their activity or scientific directions/schools.
2.3 Selective components of the curriculum of the second (master's) level of higher education students are determined at the meetings of the branch scientific and methodical commissions of the University.
2.4 The semester, which proposes one or another elective unit/elective course is determined by the relevant curriculum template developed by the relevant scientific and methodological commission of the University. Curriculum templates are posted on the University website (https://khai.edu/ua/education/osvitni-programi-i-komponenti/nmk/).
2.5 It is allowed to master academic courses in other educational institutions under academic mobility programs. At the same time, students of a certain level of higher education have the right to choose academic courses offered for other levels of higher education.
2.6 Formation of individual curricula for students takes place in the personal account of the electronic Pilot system of educational process support. Access to the personal account is possible using personal profiles and passwords, which are issued to students when enrolling in the University by the responsible staff of the dean's office.
2.7 Exercising their right to choose academic courses, students choose not one discipline within a particular unit, but several, and they determine the priority for each discipline (the most desirable is in the first place). The formation of groups for the study of elective courses/units of academic courses at the University takes place using the Gale-Shapley algorithm (deferred acceptance). If a group is not formed in accordance with the restrictions set by the University on the minimum number of students in a group or the number of students who choose a course exceeds the maximum allowable, students who have chosen this course are appointed to study the next discipline according to their priority. This happens consistently until all groups are formed in accordance with the established requirements.
2.8 The minimum number of students in a group is 15 people, the maximum number of students who can choose a particular course is no more than 100 people. In some cases, with the consent of the teacher of the course, the number of students who have chosen this course may exceed 100 people, but provided that they are divided into groups.
2.9 If a student does not exercise their right to choose academic courses/unit of courses in due time without good reasons, the corresponding positions of their individual curriculum are determined by the Pilot system in automatic mode taking into account the choice of other students.
2.10 Based on the results of the student's right to freely choose academic courses, all selected courses should be included in their individual curriculum. The total amount of compulsory and elective components of the individual curriculum must be 60 ECTS credits per academic year, which corresponds to the mandatory annual workload, and is a condition for transfer to the next course or admission to the final certification.
2.11 The total amount of compulsory and elective components of the individual curriculum of the student, regardless of the ways of exercising the right to free choice of courses, should correspond to that specified in the educational program being studied.
3. Procedure for choosing academic courses by students
3.1 Time frames of the procedures for choosing academic courses by students are determined by the need for timely (for planning and organizing the educational process, its methodological support and staffing) formation of the students’ contingent in groups and classes.
3.1.1 Students exercise their right to choose academic courses/units of courses usually no later than the beginning of the spring semester, which precedes the academic year during which they are scheduled to study. Students are invited to make a choice of courses for the next academic year and thus form an individual curriculum.
3.1.2 For students studying in educational programs, in which students’ free choice is planned in the first academic year, the choice of courses is organized during the first two weeks of study.
3.2 Departments that provide teaching of elective courses/units of courses, submit to the educational and methodical department and branch scientific and methodical commissions of the University a list of courses offered for selection to students, work programs (syllabuses) and brief annotations of elective courses.
3.3 At the meetings of the branch scientific and methodical commissions of the University the blocks or the list of courses of free choice for students at all levels of higher education are approved.
3.4 Approved lists of elective courses/units of courses and annotations to these courses are posted on the official website of the University.
3.5 The procedure for choosing academic courses by students consists of the following stages:
3.5.1 The first stage is when the responsible employees of the deans' offices of the faculties acquaint the students with the procedure, time frames and features of enrollment and formation of groups for studying the courses of free choice at the University.
3.5.2 The second stage is to acquaint students with the lists of elective courses/units of courses offered both for the studied EP and for other educational programs (the annotations of courses/units of courses of students’ free choice as well as the portfolio of teachers of these courses are available on the official website of the University).
3.5.3 The third stage is to enroll students to study academic courses/units of courses. The choice of courses is made by personal voting in the electronic Pilot system of support of the educational process according to the procedure specified in paragraphs 2.6-2.7. Both individual courses of the curriculum and units of courses are subject to choice.
The student has the right to change their choice within a specified period. After the deadline, this option is blocked and learning groups are automatically formed in the Pilot system by successive iterations of the students’ distribution by groups according to their priorities and a certain limit on the minimum/maximum number of students in groups.
The courses chosen by the student are entered into the IC of the student, which is recorded in the student’s personal account in the Pilot system.
3.5.4 The fourth stage is to process the choice made by students, the formation of groups to study elective subjects. It’s carried out by the staff of the educational and analytical department, who is responsible for documenting the process of forming the students’ ICs.
3.5.5 The fifth stage is to compile class schedules by the dispatch service of the University.
3.5.6 In case of renewal, transfer of the student, admission to classes after the end of academic leave or enrollment for a degree with a reduced period of study upon written application of the student and with the consent of the graduating department of the educational program it is possible to re-enroll selected courses at the expense of actually studied courses from the cycle of free choice.
4. Estimations of the workload of departments and its distribution
After approval of the results of enrollment in elective courses, the volumes of the total workload, the planned workload of teachers are estimated and the staffing of departments is adjusted using the electronic support Pilot system of the educational process.
4.1 The Educational and Analytical Department staff form groups according to the students' choice and enter them into the Pilot system database.
4.2 The Educational and Analytical Department staff estimate the amount of the workload to ensure the organization of the educational process in each selected discipline.
4.3 Based on the estimation specified in paragraph 4.2, the head of the department and/or the responsible one of the department makes appropriate changes to the planned workload of teachers and the staffing of the department.
4.4 All calculations are submitted by the department to the educational-analytical and educational-methodical departments for adjustment of the staffing schedule of the teaching staff of the University and the class schedules.
4.5 The Educational and Analytical Department summarizes the staffing of the teaching staff of the University and submits the prepared documents to the Planning and Finance Department.
5. Final regulations
5.1 Regulations are approved by the Academic Council of the University and put into effect by the order of the University Rector.
5.2 Control over the implementation of the Regulations is exercised by the officials of the University within the limits of their powers established by the job descriptions.
5.3 Changes and additions to the Regulations are considered and approved by the Academic Council of the University and put into effect by the order of the University Rector.