Semmelweis University Organizational and Operational Regulations
– Part III. Student Standards –
Chapter III.2. Study and Examination Regulations

2. Interpretative Provisions

Article 2 [Interpretative Provisions]

(1) For the purposes of the Regulations,

1. Pre-degree certificate, (absolutorium or final certificate): A document certifying, without proof of qualification and the grades obtained, that a student completed both the study and examination requirements of the curriculum and the practice placements required, but it does not contain records of the final examination, the thesis, and a B2 language certificate specified in the program and outcome requirements. The pre-degree certificate does not qualify as a certificate of qualification or as tertiary vocational qualification.

2. Accredited clinical placement site, for the Faculty of General Medicine: those health service providers accredited by the Faculty of General Medicine, or by another university faculty providing the same training in Hungary, which provide a practical training site; or a foreign placement site accepted or accredited as a foreign clinical training site of Hungarian medical training; in accordance with the Faculty of General Medicine regulations;

3. Active semester: a semester in which a student’s legal status is not suspended

4. Transfer: the process in which a student with a student legal status at a tertiary education institution continues their studies at another institution; unless otherwise stipulated in these Regulations, the student may apply for admission from another tertiary education institution – except from those institutions included in the 87/2015 Government Regulation (IV.9) – that provides a degree of the same level as that offered by Semmelweis University. This process is only possible if the termination of the student legal status is not in process. Transfer within Semmelweis University can be requested between degree programs and faculties, and in line with legal restrictions, between training levels.

5. Registration: the student’s statement to continue their studies in the upcoming semester, recorded in the NEPTUN Tertiary Education Administration System (hereafter: NEPTUN). Registration takes place by logging in to NEPTUN, and by course registration in NEPTUN for the upcoming semester, which is based on prior information given by the faculties. Students taking part in a partial training abroad in the upcoming semester are also subject to the obligation to do this registration.

6. Enrollment: the establishment of a student legal status between an eligible student and Semmelweis University, through the authentication of the enrollment form. Those persons may establish a student legal status with the university who have been admitted or transferred to Semmelweis University. Student legal status is created through enrollment. Enrollment is accomplished by the student’s registration in the Student Information System (hereafter: NEPTUN) for which purpose an information bulletin is sent to the student in advance, and by signing an enrollment form printed out from NEPTUN. Upon enrollment, the student is required to register for their courses on the basis of the information bulletin given by the faculties.

7. CV course (i.e. Exam Only Course): An opportunity for course completion that does not qualify as a course registration, during which a course to be concluded an examination, which course has been registered by the student in a previous semester and in which the student has obtained a signature but has not completed it yet, can be completed in the given semester without the obligation to attend the contact lessons or to fulfill other study period requirements by using any unused examination opportunities remaining from the semester of the last registration of the original course.

8. Diploma work: an original paper which substitutes the thesis. It is mandatory for the completion of studies. Writing the diploma work can verify that the student met specific outcome requirements of the program;

9. Concurrent prerequisite: a course unit or a module of up to 15 credits which students shall complete, required by the curriculum with regard to certain subjects, concurrently or previously;

10. Prerequisite schedule: a set of pre-requisites for subjects included in the curriculum of the degree program;

11. Prerequisite: a course unit or a module of up to 15 credits that the curriculum requires to be completed before registration for a given subject;

12. Term grade: a grade of assessment acquired during the study period based on the results of partial performance assessments;

13. FM course (i.e. “exempt from” course): An opportunity for course completion that qualifies as a course re-registration, during which a course to be concluded by an examination, which course has been registered by the student in a previous semester and in which the student has obtained a signature but has not completed yet, can be completed in the given semester without the obligation to attend the contact lessons or to fulfill other term-time requirements by using the examination opportunities of the given semester according to the general rules of assessment of study requirements.

14. Individual study schedule: completion of subjects included in the student’s individual study schedule, in a way different from the general rules of order (including, in particular, the exemption from lessons or the possibility to make up for non-attendance at lessons, meeting study requirements in a different way or at a scheduled time);

15. End-term examination (or colloquium): assessment concluding a single course in the form of an examintaion. The material of the end-term examination of a multi-semester subject may include the material of any of the courses involved which is not completed by a cumulative assessment of study requirements;

16. Thesis consultant: an additional expert supporting the student in the preparation of the thesis, when needed;

17. Thesis supervisor: an expert guiding the student in the preparation of the thesis;

18. Optional course/subject: a course/subject required by the curriculum, for which students have an option to decide to register for, at the credit value defined in the model curriculum (for example: courses of specialization within a given program or courses of differentiated professional knowledge);

19. Compulsory course/subject: a course/subject which all students of a given specialization are required to complete;

20. Credit transfer: the acceptance of a course completed at another faculty or institution; the credit value and whether the course completion is substitutable with other course(s)or different from them shall be determined;

21. Credit Transfer Committee: a committee defined in another part of the Organizational and Operational Regulations which acts on students’ credit transfer issues at first instance;

22. Criterion requirement: a mandatory requirement specified in the program and outcome requirements, without attached credit value (e.g. completion of a practice placement period, language requirements);

23. Course: the completion of a subject in a given semester, a set of study sessions and assessment procedures with place(s), date(s), and instructor(s) specified;

24. Justified exceptional case: a circumstance beyond a student’s control, including in particular childbirth or various unexpected conditions, such as accident, serious illness, which prevents the student from fulfilling their obligations arising from their student legal status.

25. Course record book: a public document printed out from NEPTUN in a format certified by the Educational Authority, indivisibly stapled and authenticated by the Dean of the faculty. A printed course record book shall be created upon termination of student legal status. The numbered pages of the printed course record book are stitched together with a national-colored cord which shall be sealed with a circular label and signed as described above. Thus it shall be made indivisible and authenticated. The printed course record book contains all the data and records that are by law required to be included, in particular, but not exclusively, all the data concerning the student’s studies at the given level of education. The faculty maintains a record book if it does not meet the legal requirements for not needing to conduct record books.

26. Model curriculum: A subject registration order recommended on the basis of the prerequisite schedule, which includes the compulsory subjects prescribed in the curriculum and  part of the credit value which is to be obtained from optional and/elective subjects, and description of these subjects assigned to the given semester;

27. Module: a unit including several subjects from the curriculum of one program, where the units may be based on one another (e.g.: foundation module, professional core material module) or may be equivalents or substitutes of each other (specialization module);

28. Vice Dean for Educational Affairs: the Vice-Dean who assists the Dean’s work in the educational and academic tasks of the graduate programs, or, in the absence thereof, a Vice-Dean appointed by the Dean;

29. Simultaneous training: simultaneous participation in or eligibility for two or more training programs;

30. Inactive semester: the semester in which the student’s student legal status is suspended for one of the following reasons:

    1. the student has not registered,
    2. the student has stated that they do not wish to fulfill their student obligations in the given semester,
    3. the student has withdrawn their registration for the given semester before the deadline,
    4. the student has been prohibited from continuing their studies in the given semester as a disciplinary measure; and
    5. the given semester was subsequently pronounced as inactive.

31. Partial training: self-financed training for the acquisition of partial expertise without a dedicated admission procedure, which is designed primarily to meet the requirements of new sub-specializations, to prepare for the master’s program, and to acquire the knowledge (credits) required by law for practicing the profession;

32. Independent sub-specialization: the sub-specializations of the Medical Laboratory and Diagnostic Imaging tertiary vocational program, the Conductor bachelor’s program, the Health Care Manager bachelor’s program and the Medical Laboratory and Diagnostic Imaging bachelor’s program;

33. Thesis: a paper written as a completion of tertiary studies, prescribed by the program and outcome requirements. It verifies that the student has met certain outcome requirements of the training program. Its aim is furthermore to help the student, develop their ability to grasp the essentials of a given subject by means of an independent scientific study of any problem in the field of the discipline, to master the methods of library use and literature research and to formulate their opinion in a concise and clear manner. The term “thesis” also refers to “diploma work” unless otherwise stated;

34. Specialization director: an instructor appointed by the Senate on the recommendation of the Dean, after the opinion of the Faculty Council; or failing this, the Dean; an authorized person who is responsible for the content and training processes of the specialization training leading to an independent professional qualification within the program.

35. Program director: an instructor appointed by the Senate, on the recommendation of the Dean, after the opinion of the Faculty Council; or failing this, the Dean; who is responsible for the content and entire training process of the given program. The term “program director” also refers to “specialization director” unless otherwise stated.

36. Seminar: a practical form of education organized for a small group of students (up to half of the students registered for a subject), where teaching is primarily in the form of verbal communication between the students and the instructor, which is interactive, allowing a detailed study of the topic, with the active participation of the students;

37. Comprehensive examination: an examination concluding a multi-semester subject or a combination of several subjects. In the latter case, the comprehensive examination may be passed at the earliest after obtaining the credits of the subjects covered by the comprehensive examination; 

38. Academic calendar: a document containing the schedule for a given academic year and the deadlines concerning the students and educational-research units;

39. Course group: those students together who have the same timetable for compulsory courses offered for their year;

40. Course registration: registration for a specific course in an announced subject. The registration is only possible if the prerequisites of the subject are met;

41. Course requirements: a document containing the student’s duties and the completion deadlines;

42. Establishment of a subject: the first approval of the course syllabus of a given subject;

43. Announcement of a subject: the announcement of the courses completing which students may complete a subject. The course(s) required for the completion of the compulsory or optional subject shall be announced in the semester stated in the model curriculum, by the educational-research unit responsible for the subject

44. Course syllabus: defines the knowledge and skills to be acquired in each subject;

45. Curriculum: defines the detailed educational and study requirements of a particular training and its detailed rules;

46. Registrar’sOffice: an organizational unit, regardless of its actual name, which manages the administration of students’ general academic affairs and study records, as set in the Organizational and Operational Regulations;

47. Studies and Examinations Committee: a committee, regardless of its name, established by the Senate in each faculty, which acts at first instance in the study and examination affairs of students at the given faculty;

48. Multi-semester subject: a set of courses, which are combined to form a thematic unit, and have names differing only in their serial number or in an additional description beside the general name of the subject. Furthermore, its subjects may differ in the requirements for their assessments;

49. Block Education: a course scheduling method, applied for the compulsory subjects of year 4, year 5 and year 6 studies in the Model Curriculum of the General Medicine Specialization and in the Model Curriculum for students participating in correspondence studies. The student attends the theoretical and practical lessons of only one compulsory subject in each section of the semester (i.e. block), which are held within the timeframe specified in the timetable determined by the course coordinator. The student may take the examination of each subject at the end of its block;

50. Post-deadline inactivation of a semester: when suspension of the student’s student legal status is authorized by the competent body, in particularly justified cases, upon the student’s request submitted after the de-registration deadline but before the last day of the training period of the semester in which the subject was taken up;

51. Visiting student legal status: the student may register as a visiting student to the subjects of their studies at another training program of the higher education institution at which they have an active student legal status or at another higher education institution. Recognition of the subject and the knowledge obtained shall be subject to the credit tranfer procedure of the faculty responsible for the program and it shall be counted accordingly into the fulfillment of the student’s study requirements;

52. Examination: a form of assessment to test the acquisition of specific knowledge, skills and experience assigned to a given subject or to certain subjects, which is combined with a cumulative assessment;

53. Examination course: CV-course or FM-course. An examination course is a non-scheduled course with no contact lessons;

54. Final examination: the examination and assessment of the knowledge and practical skills required to obtain a qualification in tertiary education; the candidate shall demonstrate to the Final Examination Board of the Faculty that they have acquired the knowledge required for the qualification and that they understand and are capable of applying the obtained information in context as well. Gaining the Pre-degree Certificate is a prerequisite for taking the final examination.

 

(2) When applying these regulations and if not stated otherwise
  1. “student” refers to visiting students as well as regular students,
  2. “program” refers to specializations leading to independent qualifications and to independent sub-specializaions,
  3. “self-funded student” also refers to students funding their own studies;
  4. “students on (partial) state-scholarships” also refers to students whose studies are funded by the state.