Undergraduate Programs

The study in the Faculty of Engineering follows a ten-semester system:

•     Concentrating on the courses that must be completed in scheduled time and on the student’s ability to understand the courses and interact with his colleagues.

•     Taking into account the aptitude diversity among students. Students can adjust their pace and complete studies as per their capacity.

•      Giving the student self-confidence by selecting courses that suit his interests within the program constraints.

•      Variation of assessment methods, such as homework, quizzes, major exams, midterm, final test, projects, and various types of assignments.

•      Maintaining a strong relationship between students and instructors by appointing an academic advisor upon admission to an engineering department.

 

B.Sc. Degree - A General Outline

Following the introduction of the prep year in King Abdulaziz University, the Faculty of Engineering was required to readjust its curriculum to comply with this fundamental modification.  The updated curriculum presented in this Bulletin is the result of this readjustment.  It consists of 155 credit units similar to the previous curriculum in spite of the additional 14 credit units introduced in the prep year as follows:

 

1.      Two additional credit units have been allocated to the four English language courses (Now 6 credit units, formerly 4 in the previous curriculum)

2.      Twelve additional credit units allocated to the following four new courses:

 

 

In order to qualify for a B.Sc. degree in Engineering, a student must successfully complete 155 credit units with an overall GPA of 2.75 out of 5 or better while satisfying the curricular requirements of his program of specialization. Regular track students are also required to complete one summer training of 10 weeks in industry under the supervision of a faculty member.  This summer training and 6 credit units of the departmental electives are replaced by the coop training work program of 25 weeks for coop track students.  The typical study period is five years (10 semesters).

 

Study Plan Framework

The program of study for the Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering is designed to provide a strong background in Science, Mathematics, Islamic Studies and Humanities besides the Engineering courses. The main objective of the program is to develop the professional proficiency of high caliber associated with personal and cultural maturity of the students consistent with the Islamic values and the social ethics of the society.

Industrial training for students is an integral part of the graduation requirements. This is organized either as a short spell of summer training program with ten weeks duration (2 credit units) in the regular track or as a single long spell of training under the co-operative work program of 26 weeks duration (8 credit units) in the coop track (if applicable). The industrial training is supervised/evaluated jointly by the Faculty members as well as by the personnel assigned by the industrial organization.  The 8 credit units of the coop program replace the 2 credit units of the summer training and 6 credit units out of the departmental electives.The 155 credit units required for the B.Sc. degree in each Engineering Program in regular or coop track are distributed as indicated in following flowchart and tables illustrated in the figure.

 

 

• Study Plan Framework (Regular Track)  

 

• Study Plan Framework (Cooperative Track)  

 

University Requirements

The university requirements consist of the foundation year science track requirements and the general university requirements in Arabic language and Islamic studies as indicated in the following tables:

 

Foundation Year Requirements  

 

University Requirements Pertaining to Islamic Studies & Arabic Language  

 

Faculty Requirements

Faculty requirements consist of 14 courses of a total of 37 credit units distributed as shown in the following table.

 

Faculty of Engineering Compulsory Courses

 

 

Departmental Requirements (77 Credit Hours)

Each department has its own special requirements given in the respective section(s) of this bulletin. Students can refer to these sections for detailed course requirements.

 

Guide Lines for First 4 Semesters Applicable to All Engineering Programs

In addition to the common first foundation year, the second year of the curriculum covers a large part of the Faculty of Engineering requirements.  Students are required to complete all courses offered in this year so that they can apply for specialization during the second semester of second year and join their departments starting from the third year (fifth semester). The Faculty Council has developed a plan as a guideline for the first 4 semesters of study which is outlined in the following tables:

 

1^st Year (Foundation Year)

 

2^nd Year

 

Designations of Departments

Each course is given 3 numerals preceded by the code of the department offering this course. The following tables provide a key to these codes and numerals used in the bulletin.

 

Codes for Engineering Departments and Courses

 

 

Department Codes from other KAU Faculties*  

* The course description of courses offered by other faculties for the engineering students are given in the bulletin under a separate section after the course description of engineering faculty courses.

 

Course Numerals

Hundreds Numerals signify the level of course offering in the program.

            First level                                                          100

            Second level                                                      200

            Third level                                                         300

            Fourth level                                                       400

 

Tens Numerals:

Signify a specific specialization inside the Department.

 

Unit Numerals:

Signify the relative order of the course within a specialization.

 

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