General Notes about College of Business Degree Requirements

• A minimum of 130 credit hours is required to graduate with one major.
• Course Load Per Semester: The Ministry of Education requires students to enrol in at least 12 credit hours to be considered full-time students. It also states that the normal load for the full-time student is 15-16 credit hours per semester. However, a student with a very good cumulative GPA can be allowed to enrol in 18 credit hours per semester, which is the maximum allowed. Furthermore, a student is not allowed to enrol in a course in another university if the course is offered at Alfaisal University in the same semester. Also, if a student has a grade of “F” in a course he/she cannot complete this course in another university, then transfer the grade to AU. 
• Students can repeat a maximum of four courses within the duration of his/her BBA degree at AU.
• All students must consult their respective advisor/s throughout their full study cycle with due approvals at specific milestones.
• The CoB strictly applies the policies listed under the “Student Affairs Deanship Policies and Procedures.” Please make sure to orient yourself with policies applicable to you.   
• Similarly, students and faculty are required to implement the CoB “Teaching Guidelines”.
• All courses are 3 credits unless stated otherwise.
• All students must follow their study plans. Any deviation from the study plan must be discussed and approved by the student’s Academic Supervisor to avoid delay in graduation. 
• Students must complete all BCC and MCC courses in the CoB. Exceptions can be made by a petition that needs to be approved by the Dean.
• The teaching schedule for the Freshman year of CoB students is presented in Figure 2 below. Students must enroll in these courses as they are pre-requisites for many business courses required in the second year and thereafter. Not doing so may result in delaying the graduation of the student beyond the end of the fourth year of study.

Figure 1: Timeline for completing the BBA degree

Figure 2: Schedule of courses for the freshman year

Adding a Double Major

The College of Business very good performing students are rewarded by given the opportunity of adding a minor or a second major. A student can add a second major to his/her main degree subject to the following conditions/requirements:

1. Students can add a double major only after successfully completing a minimum of 60 credit hours. Hence, the double major can be added if qualified) at the end of the 4th. semester.
2. The student’s cumulative GPA must be 3.3 or above at the time of adding the double major. Such students must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.3 or above until graduation. Those who fail to maintain the minimum required cumulative GPA will receive a minor in place of the additional major instead of a double major.
3. Students can add only one double major (or a minor but not both).
4. Students are free to choose any major/minor offered by the CoB (not any other AU college) as a double major or a minor, irrespective of their current major.
5. A double-major student is required to complete a minimum of 154 credit hours comprising of the following.
   1. a minimum of 130 Cr in the standard (first major) degree, plus; 
   2. additional 24 Cr comprising of the 8 Major Common Courses (MCCs) of the second major.
6. No double Counting. Courses common between the two majors will be counted only once. Such students will be required to complete replacement courses for the courses common between the two majors as approved by the COB.
7. A double-major student is required to do an internship in only one major. The Internship must be in the primary major selected by the student, which is the major a student started with.

Adding a Minor

Instead of adding a second major, students also have the opportunity of adding a minor subject to the following conditions/requirements.

1. Students can add a minor only after successfully completing a minimum of 60 credit hours.
2. The student’s cumulative GPA must be 3.0 or above at the time of adding the minor. Such students must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 until graduation to receive a minor; otherwise the minor will be cancelled.
3. A student can add only one minor. Double major students are not allowed to add a minor.
4. A minor comprises of five additional courses, equivalent to 15 credit hours. The minimum requirement for BBA with a minor is therefore 145 credit hours comprising of the following
   1.  a minimum of 130 Cr in the standard degree, plus
   2.  additional 15 Cr comprising of five additional courses listed under each minor offered by the College of Business below. 
   3. No double counting: Courses common between the major and the minor will be counted only once. Such students will be required to complete replacement courses for the courses common between the major and the minor as approved by the COB.

The college currently offers minors in 7 areas (accounting, business analytics, entrepreneurship and family business, finance, human resource management, marketing, and operations and project management). Please refer to the list of courses offered under each minor below.

Changing Major or Minor

A student can start his/her academic study (in the first semester) with or without declaring a major. Within the first three semesters, a student can change major/s as the curriculum (courses) are the same for all majors. However, by the end of the third semester (before the start of the fourth semester) each student must select a major (department). Once the major is selected a student can change the major a maximum of two times: the first at the end of the fourth semester, and the second at the end of the fifth semester. Thereafter a student may be allowed to change a major, but that may delay his/her graduation due to the possible deviation from the study plan of the selected major. 

In case of a double major or minor, a student can change it but must be aware of the impact on the completion of the degree. A later change may result in delaying the graduation by one or more semester/s. 
Change of a major or minor is allowed only after the completion of a semester and at least a week before the beginning of the succeeding semester. In all cases changing the major or minor requires the approval of the first (current) major academic advisor, the Undergraduate Business Program Vice Dean, and the Dean of CoB. 

Advising and the Assignment of an Academic Advisor (Supervisor)

Each student must have a supervisor at all times. Students in the first four semesters (Freshman and Sophomore years) are advised by the Vice Dean for Undergraduate Business Programs and Internships and his/her assistants (students’ counselors). However, thereafter (within the junior and senior years) each student must be assigned to a faculty member in his/her department. The student stays with this academic advisor until graduation (including the supervision of the Internship). An academic advisor can be changed only based on justifiable reasons. In this case, the student must petition such a change, and it must be approved by the Vice Dean of the Undergraduate Business Programs and Internship and the Dean.