Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in Buildings

Clause (1): Scientific Degrees Cairo University Council grants, based on the recommendation of the Faculty of Engineering Council the following:

− Postgraduate Diploma
− Master of Science (M. Sc.) in Engineering.
− Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D.) in Engineering.

Clause (2): Designation of the Scientific Degrees

1.     Postgraduate diploma aims at enhancing the scientific capabilities in specialized applied areas of engineering through studying advanced applied and practical courses and participating in work teams to prepare applied projects.

2.     Master of Science in Engineering aims at developing research capabilities and scientific thinking in a specific branch/scope/topic chosen by the student within the framework of the Faculty Research Plan. This is achieved by utilizing state-of-the-art technology and techniques in studying a number of advanced academic courses and carrying out an academic/applied research that is developed into a comprehensive scientific Thesis.

3.     Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering aims at developing independent thinking and capabilities for innovation and development, thus reaching a new contribution to science in the branch/scope/topic chosen by the student, using specialized scientific approaches. This is achieved by sound scientific research skills – developed during the M. Sc. Program – and carrying out theoretical/applied scientific research presented in a comprehensive scientific Dissertation.

Clause (3): Study System The study system follows the credit hour system. Students are admitted in accordance with the rules stipulated in Clause (5). The grades are computed as outlined in Clause (8).

Clause (4): Registration and Commencement of Semester Dates a-The Academic Year is divided into two semesters as follows: − First Main Semester: starts on the fourth week of September and lasts for 15 weeks. − Second Main Semester: starts on the third week of February and lasts for 15 weeks.

- Registration commences three weeks prior to the start of the semester, provided that students fulfills all requirements and pays the registration fees.

Clause (5): Admission General Rules

a-The applicant must have a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering at a school of engineering in an Egyptian University or an equivalent institute approved by the Supreme Council of Universities in Egypt.

b- The applicant shall complete all the documents required by the Graduate Studies Administration of the Faculty of Engineering.

c-The applicant shall fulfill any requirements of the Program to which he/she is applying.

d- Male applicants shall declare their military service status, whether they are discharged or postponed (for at least two years). Teaching assistants are exempted from this condition.

e-Acceptance of the applicant's Employer.

f-Regular payment of fees each semester.

Clause (6): Admission and Registration Rules

 a-Obtaining the acceptance of the Responsible Department and completing the forms prepared by the Graduate Studies Administration.

b- The Responsible Department may request additional conditions that are deemed necessary for admission, such as an oral or written admission exam, or limiting the number of admitted students based on the capacity of the Faculty or Department.

c-Students may register for up to 12 credit hours for the first or second semester provided that he/she is a part-time student.

d- Students may register for more than 12 credit hours for the first or second semester provided that he/she is a full-time student.

e-The maximum number of credit hours for the first or second semester is 18 hours.

f-The available courses in each semester depend on the number of registered students and the specialized faculty members, and are also determined by the Responsible Department Council.

Clause (7): Terms of Changes and Termination

a-Student may add/drop courses during the first two weeks of the semester.

b- Student may drop a course (without refund of fees) during the first eight weeks of the semester, and the transcript shall show (w) for withdrawal.

c-Student who didn't attain the minimum grade required in any course may repeat it. The course shall be repeated only once both in attendance and examination after paying the necessary fees.

d- If the student withdraws from any courses after two weeks of study, the transcript shall show (w). He/she has to repeat compulsory courses only.

Clause (8): Grading System

a-The grade point for each credit hour and their correspondence are based on letter grades as follows:

b- Upon request, the student is issued a certificate in Arabic or English listing the courses he/she registered and the corresponding grades.

c-  The grading of the qualifying courses required for the M.Sc. in Engineering Mathematics and Physics shall follow the regulations of the undergraduate courses.

Clause (9): Grade Point Average (GPA)

 a-Student is not considered to have successfully completed any course unless he/she achieves a grade C as a minimum.

 b- Student is not considered to have successfully completed the requirements of the Postgraduate Diploma unless he/she achieves a minimum GPA of 2.0.

c-M.Sc. and Ph.D. students must achieve a minimum of 2.7 in each course. They are allowed to repeat any course once in accordance with Clause 9-i, or may choose another course to substitute this one unless the course is compulsory.

d- Courses that are completed at another university and found equivalent to courses in the program are not included in computing the GPA, and only courses taught at the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University are used in computing the GPA.

 e-Points are calculated for each course by multiplying the number of credit hours by the grade point.

f-The points sum is calculated at any stage by adding the points of all completed courses.

g- The GPA for any stage is the result of dividing the points sum by the total number of completed credit hours.

h- If the student achieves in any course a grade less than C for the Postgraduate Diploma or B- for the M.Sc. or Ph.D., this course shall not be considered among the credit hours required to fulfill the degree requirements.

i-Student may repeat the courses that were completed with a grade less or equal to C+ in order to improve his/her GPA or fulfill the degree requirements. The course shall be repeated both in attendance and examination, and the most recent grade shall be considered with a maximum of B when computing the GPA.

j-  If a student fails twice, he/she may re-register in a new specialization/program as a fresh student.

Clause (10): Tuition Fees Tuition fees shall be in accordance with the guidelines of the Supreme Council of Universities in Egypt.

Clause (11): Academic Advising Each Department shall appoint an Academic Advisor at the beginning of the qualifying/preliminary stage. The Advisor shall continue for the duration of the Postgraduate Diploma, and is replaced by the Thesis Advisor(s) for M.Sc. students and Dissertation Advisor(s) for Ph.D. students.

Figure (1): Schematic diagram of the general plan for postgraduate studies.

Clause (13): Registration Suspension Registration suspension shall be in accordance with the requirements of the Graduate Studies Council for Cairo University and shall be performed prior to the current registration expiry and shall not be valid for earlier periods. The Faculty Council may approve the suspension of a student based on the suggestion of the Responsible Department for the following cases:

a-  Medical/health conditions provided that the applicant submits medical certificates approved from the Medical Department of the University.

b- Accompanying a spouse in travel provided that the applicant establishes proof of acceptance of travel from the employer of the spouse.

c-  Military conscription and providing evidence to that effect.

d- Childcare leaves provided that the applicant submits the child’s birth certificate or acceptance of the Employer if the applicant is employed.

e-Training Fellowships and Official Missions that require travel of the student and are assigned by his/her employer.

f-  The maximum suspension duration is four semesters throughout the registration period as a graduate student. This period may be exceeded upon approval of the University based on the recommendations of the Faculty Council.

g- No registration suspension may take place while the student is studying the courses for M.Sc. or Ph.D.

Clause (14): Registration Cancellation

Registration is cancelled in the following situations:

a-Student has used up all chances to repeat the courses.

b- Student is found guilty of cheating.

c-The advisor submits a report stating that the student is not seriously pursuing his/her research.

d- For M.Sc. and Ph.D. students, submission of a report by the Thesis Evaluation Committee stating that the Thesis is not up to the standard for granting the degree.

e-  Student submits a written request for cancellation and it is approved by the University Vice President for Graduate Studies.

Clause (15): Residency Requirements (for foreign students)
All foreign students must provide evidence that they have been granted a minimum stay in Egypt of two academic years.

Clause (16): Attendance
A student is ineligible to sit for exam in any course unless he/she attends at least 75% of the lectures. This procedure shall be based on a report from the course instructor to the Responsible Department, approved by the Graduate Studies Committee and the Faculty Council.

Clause (17): Courses Coding
Each course is identified by three letters indicating the Department in charge of/ responsible for teaching the course as shown in Table (1). The three letters are followed by the three-digit course number indicating the course level (500, 600 or 700) and the course number.

Table (1): Codes for various departments

Clause (18): Courses

a-All graduate courses are offered for one full semester (15 weeks). This regulation defines the courses, the corresponding credit hours, and the Department responsible for teaching each course.

b- Graduate courses are divided into:

-    Level 500 courses are of an applied nature and are offered mainly to Postgraduate Diploma students.

-    Level 600 courses are academic in nature and are offered to M.Sc. and Ph.D. students. Departments may also offer level 700 courses, targeting mainly Ph.D. students.

Clause (19): Credit Hours

a-Each credit hour corresponds to 50 contact minutes weekly for the entire semester duration (15 weeks).

b- 20% of the grade is allocated for semester work. This percentage may be increased to 30% if a written exam is held within the semester. The percentage of semester work may be modified upon request of the instructor and approval of the Department Council, Graduate Studies Committee, and Faculty Council prior to semester commencement as long as it ranges between 20% and 50%. c-The written final exam of the project course or other applied courses as stated in the responsible department course list may be substituted by an oral exam. In these courses, the percentage of the semester work as defined in Clause 19-b may be modified.

Clause (20): Scientific Content of Courses The Faculty Council shall approve the technical content of all graduate courses as defined by the Responsible Department or the Steering Committee managing the Interdisciplinary Diploma or M.Sc. Degree.

Clause (21): Re-registration If the registration of any student is cancelled for any of the reasons specified in clauses 14, 30, 39 or 52, the Faculty Council may approve re-registration based on the recommendations of the Graduate Studies Committee. The student shall apply at the dates specified in Clause (4) following the general rules specified in Clause (5) and the special conditions for registration for each degree. The student may be exempted – based on the approval of the Responsible Department Council – from some of the courses he/she attended if he/she achieved a grade B– and not more than 5 years have passed since he/she had achieved the grade in these courses.

Clause (23): Scientific Theses and Dissertations After the student completes the Thesis and gets it signed by the Main Advisor, he/she submits two copies of the Thesis to the Responsible Department and a date for a general lecture on the subject of the Thesis (Seminar) is set. After the Seminar, the Thesis Main Advisor presents the following to the Department Council, in preparation to submission to the Faculty Council:

a-  A report indicating that the Thesis is ready for evaluation, indicating the Thesis title in both Arabic and English.

b- A request for the Thesis Evaluation Committee, including the names of five candidates, one of them the Thesis Advisor (or Advisors, counted as one vote).

c-  Four copies of the Thesis written in accordance with the rules and formatting for writing theses are submitted to the Thesis Evaluation Committee.

After the necessary modifications are done and the Thesis is accepted by the Thesis Evaluation Committee, the student submits to the Graduate Studies Administration the following: five copies of the Thesis approved by the Thesis Advisors as well as the Thesis Evaluation Committee and the Department Chair; a CD containing a soft copy of the Thesis and forms; and five hard copies of the summary in Arabic and English, approved by the Thesis Main Advisor; in addition to a data sheet signed by the student and advisors.

Clause (24): Theses Evaluation Committee

a-  Upon the recommendation of the Department Council, the Faculty Council forms an Evaluation Committee for the Thesis/Dissertation consisting of three faculty members; one of them is the Advisor(s) with one vote, and two other examiners who are Professors or Associate Professors in Egyptian or foreign universities or experts in similar scientific experience provided that at least one of them is not a member of the staff of the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University. The Evaluation Committee is chaired by the most senior member. If a new member is added to the Thesis supervision, the Evaluation Committee shall not be formed unless six months have elapsed since the date of addition of the new advisor, provided that the student has not exceeded the maximum period allowed for the Thesis preparation. The University Vice President for Graduate Studies and Research approves the Evaluation Committee after the approval of the Faculty Council. A Thesis shall not be defended or reviewed before at least 15 days has passed from the date the Committee was officially approved by the university. Approval of the Evaluation Committee is an implicit approval of a 6-month extension for the Thesis. This six month duration is the period of validity of the Evaluation Committee.

b- Members of the Evaluation Committee appointed by the Department Council must have sufficient experience in the specific area of research and have scientific publications in the same area.

c-  In the Evaluation Committee for a M.Sc. Thesis, at least one of the examiners shall not be a member of the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University staff.

d- In the Evaluation Committee for a Ph. D. Dissertation, at least one of the examiners shall not be a member of the Cairo University staff.

e-A faculty member shall not participate in an Evaluation Committee for a student who is related to him/her up to the fourth level.

f-  Upon the request of the Thesis Main Advisor, the Responsible Department Chair and Vice Dean for Graduate Studies and Research approve the date of the defense.

g- The defense may take place in the presence of two members of the Evaluation Committee provided that the Thesis Advisor is one of them. In case one of the Committee members is not a resident of Egypt, it is sufficient to receive a report from him/her stating his/her assessment of the Thesis.

h- Each member of the Evaluation Committee shall submit a Thesis report, in addition to a group report using the standard forms prepared by the Graduate Studies for Thesis evaluation..The Thesis defense conclusion and all reports are presented to the Responsible Department Council, then to the Graduate Studies Committee, then to the Faculty Council prior to submission to the University Council.

i-  The Evaluation Committee shall come to one of two conclusions:

1. Thesis acceptance.

2. Thesis total rejection.

The Thesis may be completed by the student according to what the committee deems necessary and he/she is granted an extension of not more than six months after the date of the defense provided that the student has not exceeded the maximum period allowed for the Thesis. In such a case, the student is re-examined and a new group report is submitted to the Responsible Department Council with the outcome of the Thesis review and discussions.