Author: Harbel College

Harbel, Lower
Margibi County
Republic of Liberia
ADMISSIONS & ACADEMIC POLICES
2018/2019

ADMISSIONS POLICES
The Office of Enrolment Management is responsible for overall recruitment and enrolment of students as well as the management of students records, including the analyses of student grades.
ADMISSIONS REQUIREMENTS
Admission to HARCO is a privilege rendered to high school students who show a record of superior performance. The admission process relies partly on records of the results of the West African Examination Council (WAEC), Placement Exams, and letters of recommendation.
Student who graduate with Division I and II scores in the WEAC are automatically eligible for admission at HARCO. Candidates in Division III are required to sit for the placement Exam prior to registration.
Application forms for enrollment may be obtained from the Office of the Admissions on the Harbel Multilateral High School in Harbel, Lower Margibi County or Lango Lippaye High School, Kakata. Harbel College is located in Harbel City, Lower Margibi County. Persons who write and pass the College Entrance and Placement Examinations must submit the following required documents:
Application Form
WAEC Certificate
High School Diploma
High School Transcript (sent directly from your last school in an sealed envelope)
Three Letters of Recommendations (from Last School Attended, Community Leader/Employer and Religious Leader)
A recent medical certificate from a recognized health institution (not valid for more than six months)
Career Objective/Letter of Intent
Passport Size Photo
One green hanging folder and one yellow file
NB: All letters of recommendation MUST be sealed with signature of the recommender across the seal. Any letter with unsealed or broken seal will not be accepted. We require all applicants to Harbel College to exhibit high level of integrity and honest in presenting their document for admissions as we will admit and student with falsified documents!
Upon receipt of the required documents, the Admissions Committee will scrutinize all document to determine eligibility for admissions. When all requirements for admissions are met, including a successful pass in the HARCO Placement Exam, the Dean of Enrollment Management/Registrar will issue a formal letter of acceptance enrolling you as student of Harbel College.

REGISTRATION PROCEDURES
Timelines for Application: All applications and required materials are due into the Office of Admissions not later than January 28, 2016, for the first semester term and August 28, 2016 for the second semester term. High school seniors should apply for admission at least four to six months prior to the beginning of the semester in which they intend to enroll. High school graduates are urged to apply at least six months prior to enrollment. International students are urged to apply at least six months prior to enrollment.
OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR
The registrar office is responsible for registration and accurate and confidential maintenance of student records; ensures that analyses and distribution of students grades; ensures that transcripts are released only written request signed by that student; ensures that transcripts are issued only to a student whose record indicates that there is no financial obligation to the College.
REGISTRATION PROCEDURES
All students are required to register in person on the dates specified in the academic calendar. Registration materials may be pickup at a location designated by the Registrar and should be returned to the Office of the Registrar when completed.
Once accepted, the Office of the Registrar will assist students with the registration process. To register at HARCO, a student must observe the following simple steps:
Submit a signed note of intent confirming that you will enroll at HARCO, indicating the semester in which you desire to enroll;
Complete new student compulsory orientation program;
Pick up registration packet containing a Registration Form, Billing Form, Bank payment slip, Master schedule, Student Code of conduct Form and Student Profile Form from the Office the Registrar.
Proceed to the your academic advisor who will assist you to fill out your courses and obtain his/her signature;
Proceed to the Finance Department for billing, if you are a scholarship student or financial aid recipient, be prepared to present a copy of your award letter from the donor;
Proceed to the designated bank to make required payment;
Take payment slip to HARCO Cashier to obtain an official HARCO receipt;
Proceed to the Registrar’s Office to have your name placed on the appropriate class rosters and your Registration Form stamped “REGISTRATION COMPLETED”.
NOTE: Students are not registered until they have settled all accounts with the Finance Office and turned in the Registration form with all necessary signatures.

ACADEMIC POLICES
The Division are:
0-36 Credits Freshman
37-72 Credits Sophomore
73-108 Credits Junior
109-and beyond Senior
HARBEL COLLEGE GRADING SYSTEM:
Each course hours taking at HARCO is assigned a credit value in semester. A semester hour is defined as fifty (50) minutes of lecture, recitation and approximately two hours per week practical or laboratory work throughout the semester. The HARCO Grading system uses the latter grade with equivalent credit points for the evaluation of academic performance. The numerical value of each latter grade with credit points is as follows:
NUMBERICAL VALUE LETTER GRADE INDEX NUMBER
90-100 A (Excellent) 4.0
80-89 B (Good) 3.0
70-79 C (Average) 2.0
60-69 D (Poor) 1.0
Below 60 F (Failure) 0.0

Definition of Grades and Academic Implications
Grades of F, I, AB, NG, and some cases D are considered deficiencies that affect your academic status at HARCO. Your failure to remove these deficiencies in a timely fashion, which is within two semesters from the semester any of them as obtained, could lead to the following: Academic Probation, suspension or expulsion.
An “F” grade represents failure. There is no e-examination privilege. A student who makes an “F” must repeat the course to remove the “F” grade.
A “D” grade indicates an unsatisfactory pass and can only be removed by repeating the course. As a general rule, HARCO has adopted the following policies regarding “D” grades:
No “D” will be allow in 101 through 202 for any candidate for graduation;
No “D” will be allow in Major/Minor areas of concentration.
To be eligible for graduation, a senior will be allowed only 2 “D” in any area other than his/her major/minor and English101 through 02.
An “I” grade means incomplete and indicates that a student has completed a substantial part of the course with passing grade but has not been able to complete the course for legitimate reasons. An “I” grade can be removed by an extra course assignment, followed by a supplementary examination. However, if not removed within two academic year, the “I” grade turns into “F”.
An “AB” grade indicates that a student was absent from the final exams. An “AB” grade shall be regarded as an “F” grade, if not removed by passing supplementary exam before proceeding further with the course.
A “DR” grade indicates that a student has accumulated an excess number of absences allowed. To remove a “DR” grade, a student must repeat the course.
Ng- no grade- A student might have registered but fails to drop or show up for the course. To remove a “DR” grade a student must repeat the course.
OFFICIAL WITHDRAWAL (W)
A student in good academic standing who withdraws from the College at least two weeks before final exams shall receive no credits or charged with failure for courses taken during the semester. Official Withdrawal forms may be obtained from the Office of the Registrar and shall be approved in writing by the Dean of the College concerned and other appropriate College authorities.

CHANGES IN REGISTRATION:
Changes in registration after the registration period require that documentations be kept in the Office of the Registrar. All changes in registration require the signature of the student; a signed approval of the student’s academic advisor and must be reported to the Office of the Registrar. A student will be given a grade of “F” in any course for which he/she registers but fails to complete satisfactorily or drop in accordance with the “Add” and “Drop” procedures. A courses is considered “dropped” when a drop form is completed and signed by the approving signatures and returned to the Office of the Registrar.
AUDITING OF COURSES:
Regularly enrolled students may audit courses for which they have not registered, provided they obtain the instructor’s permission. No grades for auditors are reported to the Registrar’ Office and no official record is kept for work done.
STUDENT’S STATUS:
A student’s status shall be determined by the number of credits per semester. A full time student is one who registers for 15 credits or more credit hours and a part time student is one who registers for less than 15 credit hours per semester. The exception to this rule is for a graduating senior who needs less than 15 credit hours to graduate.
CLASS STANDING:
Undergraduate students are designated as freshman, sophomore, junior or senior. The designation of a student’s class standing is determined by the number of credit hours completed at HARCO.
The day form is filed in the Registrar’s Office is the official date for the withdrawal. Any withdrawal from the College without processing the required withdrawal form counts as failure. No student is permitted to withdraw from College during the final four (4) weeks of the semester except for death or serious illness or injury in the student’s immediate family or serious illness or injury of the student.
GRADE POINT AVERAGE (GPA)
Quality of work is determined by a credit system and is measured by the ratio of the number of credits earned to the number of semester hours carries at HARCO. Credit hours are calculated from the number of hours a course carries in a week. Example: a class that meets three (3) per week will carry three (3) credit hours; a class that meets four times a week carries four (4) credit hours; a class that meets one time a week carries one (1) credit hour, and so forth.
To calculate your grade point average (GPA), you divide the total point earned during the semester by the total credit hours and go two (2) decimal place to the right. Example:
COURSE SEMESTER HOURS GRADE POINTS
Engl 101 3 A 12
Math 101 3 B 9
Bio 101 4 C 8
PE 101 1 D 1
Total Points: 11 30
Grade point Average (GPA) = 30 divided by 11= 2.72

Some exceptions to the rule are: Supplementary Examinations Grade “AB”: A student who is absent from n exam due to illness will be eligible to take the supplementary examination (s). The student must submit a medical export which may require endorsement by a medical officer designated by the College. Grade “I”: A student, who has not completed the full course of study for genuine reasons, may take the supplementary exam at the discretion of the head of the students' department and a copy of such supplementary exam be filed to the Registrar’s Office for verification before the is mark on the grade report sheet. Consideration will be given to a student who has shown, through extra work, real effort to catch up in his/her studies.
Academic Probation:
A student is placed on academic probation if his/her semester grades point average (GPA) drops below 2.00at any time. A student placed on academic probation may remain at the College provided his/her cumulative grade point average (CGPA) is 2.00 or above. However, a probation student is limited to the number of credits or course load he/she can take along with loss of many other privileges such as the following:
He/she is not eligible to hold student leadership office;
He/she cannot participate in official College athletic events;
He/she is ineligible for College sponsored scholarship or financial aid, among others.
Academic Suspension: A student who remains on probation for more than one semester is automatically suspended for one full semester.
Academic Expulsion: A student suspended twice for poor academic performance is automatically dropped from HARCO; He/she is not eligible for readmission to the College.
COURSE LOAD:
Readmitted and probation students, NOT MORE THAN 12 CREDITS HOURS
New and old students with GPA between 2.00 to 2.99, NOT MOR THAN 15 CREDITS HOURS
Students with GPA between GPA 3.00 to 3.74, 18 credits hours;
(Credits may be taken from World History, African History or Liberian History, to include service learning)
Students with GPA 3.75, 19 credits hours. A written permission of the student’s Dean is required to carry more than 20 credits hours at any time.

HONORS AND DEAN’S LIST
The Honors or Dean’s list containing the name of students who have achieved high academic performance is issued each semester by the Office of the Registrar. To be eligible, a student must complete a minimum of 15 credits hours with grades not less than “C”, and with no “NG”. ‘DR”, or “I” grade and obtain the following CGPA:
Honor’s Roll (Honors)……………………………………. 3.00-3.49
Dean's List (High Honors)…………………………….. 3.50-3.99
President’s List (Highest Honors)…………………… 4.00
An Honor Roll student must have received his semester reports. Any change of grade form processed after this period or after the list is placed up, bars the students from being placed on the Honor Roll for that semester, even though he/she might have earned the required grade point average.
GRADUATION – SPECIAL HONORS
Special Honors upon graduation shall awarded as follows:
A student who obtains a cumulative grade point average between 3.250 and 3.499 shall graduate with CUM LAUDE:
A student who obtains a cumulative grade point average between 3.750 and 4.000 shall graduate with SUMMA CUM LUADE.
UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE REQUIEMENTS
General Education Requirements (GE)
Harbel College, as a member of the Association of Liberia institutions of higher learning, is committed to the principle that college students regardless of their field of study or professional goal must be grounded in the liberal arts. Therefore, the academic program prescribed for the freshman and sophomore year aim to provide broad foundation that complements and support specialized training. In addition, Individuals College and or major departments will require certain number of credits for graduation. Check with your department head for departments and or major requirements.
The General Education Requirements for Undergraduate Degree Program at HARCO are as follow:
SUBJECTS SEMESTER CREDITS
English Language 9
(Credits may be taken from English 101&102 (Composition I & II),
Natural Sciences
(Include General Bio 101, 102, Chem.101, 102 or Physics 101, 102)
Mathematics
(Credits may be taken from College Algebra I & II, or Principles of Math I & II)
Social Sciences

(Credits taken from Geo, Sociology, Psychology or Social Science Research)
History and Culture
ICT (Introduction to Information Technology)
Environmental Education
Physical Education
Liberian or Foreign language
(Include French Conversation, Intermediate French or Bassa Literacy)
Humanities and the arts
(Credits may be taken from Philosophy, religion, drama/theatre, music/choir).
Total GE Required).
Academic Advising
In addition to administrative services (e.g. processing a change in major) and other academic support services, this office also provides academic advising for students, regardless of major. The staff of this init works closely with academic advisors across campus to assist academically successful students and leaders, increasing the retention rate of freshman and sophomores, and assisting student choose an appropriate major in a timely fashion.
Our staff assist new and readmitted students in:
Adjusting to College life
Developing academic, major and career planning goals
Encouraging students to develop an appreciation for diversity in community
Encouraging students to develop the mine set to always follow instruction and avoid short cuts
Advising, Course planning and enrollment
Providing assistance in developing study skills, time management, training in the use of HARCO technologies, etc.
SCHOLARSHIP AND FINANCIAL AID POLICIES
The funding for college education has been a major challenge for many college students. But for the serious college student, funding for education can come from many sources and take a variety of forms: personal savings, family resources, scholarship, tuition assistance or work study grants, among others. Work study recipients are typically assigned as library assistance, residence assistance, and lab assistance or in other non-sensitive areas of the College. It is the philosophy of HARCO that no student should be denied the privilege of college education due to lack of funding.
HARCO financial aid
The primary purpose of financial aid is to provide assistance through a variety of scholarships, student employment or grants to degree candidates who demonstrate genuine financial needs. Need is the difference between the cost of attending HARCO and the amount of resources available to the student. In order to attract outstanding students to the College, a portion of the institutional resources is designated for those who present a record of academic excellence and profile of outstanding leadership qualities.
To be considered for financial aid, a student must submit financial aid application along with application for admissions, complete the test for financial aid need: be accepted into a degree program and registered for at least 15 credits hours and not be on academic or disciplinary probation. (See deadline for submitting application and related documents).
Designated and Merit-Based Scholarships
A limited number of funds will be establish through contributions from well-meaning individuals, companies, families or groups to enable qualified students to pursue their college education. Many of these scholarships will have eligibility requirements that should be observed when making an application. EXAMPLE: Dr. Syrulwa Somah, (President of HARCO), Scholarship: to be awarded to a female student majoring in Occupational Safety & Health. This scholarship covers tuition and fees and $100 USD for books and supplies. To maintain this scholarship the recipient must carry at least 15 Credits and maintain at least a 3.00 each semester.

Harbel College Academic Misconduct and Academic Integrity Policy
Academic misconduct is defined as any activity that tends to undermine the academic integrity of the institution. The college may discipline a student for academic misconduct. Academic misconduct may involve human, hard copy, or electronic resources. The faculty member may take into account the seriousness of the violation in assessing a penalty for acts of academic misconduct. The faculty member must report all cases of academic misconduct to the Dean of students. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to, the following:
1. Cheating is considered to be an attempt to use or provide unauthorized assistance, materials, information, or study aids in any form and in any academic exercise or environment.
a. A student must not use external assistance, which includes assistance from another person, on any “in-class” or “take-home” examination, unless the professor specifically has authorized external assistance.
b. A student must not use another person as a substitute in the taking of an examination or quiz, nor allow other persons to conduct research or to prepare work, without advance authorization from the professor to whom the work is being submitted.
c. A student must not use materials from a commercial term submit documents, files of papers prepared by other persons, or submit documents found on the Internet.
d. A student must not collaborate with other persons on a particular project and submit a copy of a written report that is represented explicitly or implicitly as the student individual work.
e. A student must not use any unauthorized assistance in a laboratory at a computer terminal, or on fieldwork.
f. A student must not steal examinations or other course materials, including but not limited tom physical copies and photographic or electronic images.
g. A student must not submit substantial portions of the same academic work for credit more than once without permission of the professor or program to whom the work is being submitted.
h. A student must not, without authorization alter a grade or score in any way, nor alter answers on a returned exam or assignment for credit.
i. A student must not attempt to bribe teachers for exam or assignment grades, a course grade or a change in grade.
j. A student must not assist others or cover for others in an attempt to commit academic cheating.
2. Fabrication is when a student falsifies or invents any information or data in an academic exercise including, but not limited to, records or reports, laboratory results and citations to the sources of information.
3. Plagiarism is defined as presenting someone else’s work, including the work of other students as one’s own. Any ideas or materials taken from another source for either written or oral use must be fully acknowledged, unless the information is common knowledge. What is considered “common knowledge” may differ from course to course.
a. A student must not adopt or reproduce ideas, opinions, theories, formulas, graphics, or pictures of another person without acknowledgment.
b. A student must give credit to the originality of others and acknowledge indebtedness whenever:
i. Directly quoting another person’s actual words, whether oral or written;
ii. Using another person’s ideas, opinions, or theories;
iii. Paraphrasing the words, ideas, opinions, or theories of others, whether oral, or written;
iv. Borrowing facts, statistics, or illustrative material; or
v. Offering materials assembled or collected by others in the form of projects or collections without acknowledgment.
4. Interference is when a student steals changes, destroys, or impedes another student’s work, or when a student unjustly attempts, through a bribe, a promise of favors or threats, to affect any student’s grade or the evaluation of academic performance. Impeding another student’s work includes, but is not limited to, the theft, defacement, or mutilation of resources so as to deprive others of the information they contain.
5. Facilitating Academic Dishonesty is when a student intentionally or knowingly helps or attempts to help another student to commit an act of academic misconduct, nor allow another student to use his or her work or resources to commit an act of misconduct.
6. Other Academic Offenses include, but are not limited to, assisting others or covering for others in their attempts to commit academic offenses, stealing books from the library or taking them without checking them out, and skipping exams without good reason.
Penalties for academic misconduct are outlined in Appendix A, pages 17-18.
Academic Integrity Policy
Faculty and students at HARCO will be held to high standards in regards to moral scholarship. It is the desire of the HARCO faculty and administration that every student develop moral values of integrity, honesty and transparency in their academics.
“In everything set an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us” Titus 2:7).
Academic infidelities include but are not limited to the following:
· Cheating
· Fabrication
· Plagiarism (please see under Appendix A, pages 19-20, for clues on how to identify plagiarism)
· Interference
· facilitating academic dishonesty
Any of the above academic infidelities should be reported to the Dean of students and will go on the student’s permanent record.
Faculty Procedures on Academic Infidelities
1. In any case of academic infidelities, a professor is required to notify the Dean of students. Such notice is not optional.
2. Within 14 hours, the professor is required to submit written documentation to the Dean of students:
a. In the case of copied assignments, the faculty should make a copy of the assignments and turn the original in to the Dean of students. The faculty should clearly mark the identical material.
b. In the case of plagiarism, the faculty should make a copy of the assignment and turn the original in to the Dean of students. The faculty should document the plagiarism as much as possible-print out websites, highlight copied texts, etc.
c. In the case of any other academic infidelity, the faculty should submit any evidence along with a written statement about the offense.
3. The Dean of students will then meet with the student (s) to discuss the case, the consequences, and counsel and pray with the student (s). If it has been determined that the student (s) has been involved in academic infidelity the Dean of students will place a copy of the findings in the student’s file and administer the appropriate discipline.
4. If the student is not satisfied with the fairness of the decision by the Dean of students, she/he may appeal to the Faculty Board. The decision of the Faculty Board is final and is not subject to any other appeal.
Penalty for Academic Infidelity on an Assignment
1. Aside from documenting the offense on the student’s permanent record, the punishment for academic infidelity on assignment worth less than 10% of a student’s grade will be in accordance with the policy laid out by the professor I her/his syllabus.
2. For assignments that are worth 10% or more of the total semester grade, the following penalties are required by the HARCO administration:
a. On the first offense in a single course, the student will receive a zero on the assignment and will be required to meet with the Dean of Students.
b. On the second offense in the same course, the student will receive a failing grade in the course and will be required to meet with the Dean of Students.
c. If the second offense is committed in a different course, the student will receive a zero on the assignment, and will be required to meet with the Dean of Students, who will inform him or her of the following policy:
i. If three total offenses are recorded from among the entire student’s cumulatively counting all semesters, the student will be suspended for one semester.
ii. If a fourth offense is committed, the student will be expelled from the university.
Clues to Identify Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined as presenting someone else’s work, including the work of other students, as one’s own. Any ideas or materials taken from another source for either written or oral use must be fully acknowledged, unless the information is common knowledge. What is considered “common knowledge” may differ from course to course.
1. A student must not adopt or reproduce ideas, opinions, theories formulas, graphics, or pictures of another person without acknowledgment
2. Both an in-text citation directly after the cited material and a corresponding entry in the reference list are required for proper acknowledgment.
3. A student must credit to the originally of others and acknowledge indebtedness whenever:
a. Directly quoting another person’s actual words, whether oral or written;
b. Using another person’s ideas, opinions, or theories;
c. Paraphrasing the words, ideas, opinions, or theories of others, whether oral or written;
d. Borrowing facts, statistics, or illustrative material; or
e. Offering materials assembled or collected by others in the form of projects or collections without acknowledgment.
Some Clues That May Cause You to Suspect Plagiarism:
1. If writing becomes drastically and suddenly improved, then you have a reason to suspect plagiarism. Most of our students have a poor grammatical foundation, so if writing is free of grammar and spelling errors, you may have reason to suspect plagiarism. To confirm your suspicions, plug in a sentence from your student’s paper into a Google search bar and see what kind of results show up.
2. If there is a shift in font or font color, then you have a reason to suspect plagiarism. If text was copied from an online source and then pasted in a Word document, the text maintains its online formatting unless the student catches it and changes it. If there is a shift in font or font color, this is a pretty good indication that this portion of text was copied and pasted from an online source.
If quotation marks are vertical rather than angled, then you have a reason to suspect plagiarism. HTML quotation marks are formatted differently than Word quotation marks. HTML quotation marks that you find online are vertical; however, Word’s quotation marks are angled, the presence of vertical quotation marks in a student’s paper is a pretty good indication that portion was copy and pasted from an online source.
4. If Wikipedia superscripts are present in a student’s then you have a reason to suspect plagiarism, if text was copied from Wikipedia and pasted into a Word document, then the student may have forgotten to delete the superscripts referencing sources.
Some ways to check for plagiarism:
1. Copy and paste one of the most remarkable or unique sentences in your student’s paper into a Google search bar and see what results you get. You may need to try this with two or three different sentences before finding the results that you were looking for.
2. Check references, sometimes a student references the site or book but is dishonest as to how extensively the source was quoted. Oftentimes, the source is recorded on the reference sheet, but the student doesn’t place quotation marks around the quoted portions of text so that it appears like the student has written more of his/her paper than is actually accurate.
3. Check popular sites, some commonly quoted sites: Wikipedia, Theopedia, and Yahoo Answers.
Tuition and Fees Policy
Harbel College as a public institution of higher learning depends on fees paid by students to buttress government’s support to the college. Tuition and fees are paid in USD or its equivalent and all students are asked to adhered to the following tuition and fees payment plan:
50% of tuition plus all fees must be paid during Registration.
25% of tuition must be paid before the student is allowed to sit for Mid-Term Exams.
Balance 25% fees and tuition must be paid before the student can sit for the final Exams.
Student who comes to register after the registration period will be charge a late fees of US$5.00.
A fees of US$10.00 per course will be charge for late registration
Students are required to meet up with the 100% payment of tuition and fees prior to the final Exams.
All Remedial Education Program (REP) students are required to pay 60% of total fees during registration while the balances40% of fees be paid in two installment before Mid-term and Final Exams respectively.
Any student who damages the College’s property in cases of breakages fees will be made to pay-failure to pay, all academic reports will be withheld.

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Tuition & Fees Structure

Tuition & Fees	Liberian	International Student
Tuition Per Credit Hour	0	0US$15.00
Registration Fee Per Semester (For All Students)	US$10.00	US$10.00
Sports & Activities Fee Per Semester (For All Students)	US$10.00	US$10.00
E-Services (For All Students)	US$ 5.00	US$5.00
Medicals Per Semester (For All Students)	US$5.00	US$5.00
Library Fees Per Semester (For All Students)	US$5.00	US$5.00
Breakage Fees Per Annual (For All Students)	US$5.00	US$5.00
ID Card Fees Per Annual	US$10.00	US$10.00
P.E. T-shirt (New Students Only)	US$10.00	US$10.00
Science and Engineering Practical Lab & Field Trip/ Semester (Science Students Only)	US$20.00	US$20.00
Computer Lab / Semester (For All Students )	US$20.00	US$20.00
Computer Lab / Semester (For All Students Majoring IT)	US$25.00	US$25.00

NB: This policy is subject to change without prior notice.