Chapter One: Faculty Mission & Objectives

Article 1: The mission of the Faculty is to:

Provide all enrolled students with the educational and knowledge achievement;

Prepare the students on the higher education and professional levels;

Provide the students with the scientific, methodological and technical expertise to assume the leadership responsibility in the legal professions in order to achieve justice in both public and private sectors;

Contribute to the comprehensive and integrated development of the Lebanese society;

Strengthen national unity;

Enhance the cultural openness;

Expand the scientific and cultural cooperation on the international level.

Article 2: In addition to the statements of Article 1, the Faculty aims to achieve the following objectives:

Cooperating and consulting with public and private administrations, institutions and bodies, in order for the teaching to become compatible with the actual needs of the labor market and the development of those needs, and to secure employment opportunities for graduates.

Conducting theoretical and field research related to the study of the legal, political and administrative problems of society, and encouraging members of the Teaching Staff and postgraduate students to carry out these researches and publish them.

Holding seminars and scientific conferences on community issues in the fields of specialization of the Faculty, and participating in conferences held by other parties in Lebanon and abroad.

Providing scientific consultations and field studies for public and private administrations and institutions, in accordance with the applicable regulations.

Providing training courses for public and private sectors in the fields of the Faculty specializations, to contribute to the development of incubators that enhance the legal aspect of startups.

Chapter Two: Diplomas, Specializations & Departments

Article 3: The Faculty includes:

The following specializations:

- Law

- Political and Administrative Sciences

- The following centers:

- Center of Lebanese Legal, Administrative and Political Studies

- Center of Computerized Legal Information

- Center of Academic and Research Cooperation

Article 4: The Faculty grants the students a:

- Bachelor Degree in Law:

- Bachelor degree in Political and Administrative Sciences

- Professional or Research Master Degree in Law

- Professional or Research Master in Political and Administrative Sciences

Article 5: The Research Master’s Degree includes the following tracks:

Law:

Private Law

Public Law

Criminal Law

Business Law

National and International Business Law (in cooperation with Aix-Marseille University)

Political and Administrative Sciences:

International Relations

Political and Administrative Sciences

Article 6: The research master curriculum includes a study in the field of specialization, which is finalized with a thesis prepared by the student and equal to 20 credits.

In order for the student to register the thesis subject in Semester 4, he/she must have completed at least seventy-five credits.

Article 7: The professional Master’s Degree includes the following tracks:

Law:

Conflict and Arbitration and Alternatives for Conflict Resolution (in cooperation with Pantheon-Assas Paris 2 University)

Legal and Diplomatic Professions

- Public Law

- Private Law

Political and Administrative Sciences:

Planning and Public Management

International Organizations

Article 8: The University Council may propose to create new research or professional specializations or cancel some of them on the recommendation of the Faculty Council.

Article 9: Students from the Law specialization can be admitted to prepare the professional Master's degree in “International Organizations” or “Planning and Public Management”.

Students from the Political and Administrative Sciences can be admitted to prepare the professional Master's degree in “Legal and Diplomatic Professions”.

Article 10: The professional master curriculum includes a field study or internship in the field of specialization of at least eight weeks (minimum of 250 working hours), which is finalized with a thesis prepared by the student and equal to 15 credits.

Article 11: The Faculty shall determine, by agreement with the institution concerned with the internship, the content thereof and the duties of the advisor and person in charge of the process in the institution.

Article 12: The University President shall appoint a Committee to discuss the student thesis on the proposal of the Dean.

Article 13: The student may transfer from one specialization or track to another. The transfer is subject to the approval of the student academic file by the Faculty Council and the availability of places in the target specialization or track. The student shall apply for transfer at least (3) three weeks before the start of the semester. In case of approval, the student shall keep the courses and credits that he/she had previously obtained if they are adopted in the new specialization.

Article 14: A student who has completed a bachelor or master’s degree in one of the adopted specializations or tracks, may register in a second specialization or track, to obtain a second bachelor or master’s degree.

The Faculty Council shall determine the admission conditions and required courses for each case, in accordance with the Faculty statutes and the required degree.

Article 15: Each branch of the Faculty is composed of the following academic departments (departments are created on the branch level):

Department of Private Law

Department of Public Law

Department of Political and Administrative Sciences

Department of International Relations

Article 16: New academic departments may be created by a decision of the University Council on the recommendation of the Faculty Council based on the proposal of the Branch Councils, if any.

Article 17: A team of academic guidance shall be established in each branch of the Faculty by a decision of the Dean after approval of the Faculty Council, for a period of two renewable years.

The team consists of four members for each branch, where the number of students does not exceed thousand students. If needed, the number may be increased by an additional member per 250 students.

The members of the academic guidance teams are selected among the tenured and full-time contractual professors in the branch. If necessary, the part-time contractual professors may be recalled.

Chapter Three: Student Admission & Enrollment

Article 18: In order to enroll for the Bachelor Degree, the student shall be holder of the Lebanese Baccalaureate or its official equivalent. In addition, the candidates of the French Section shall be subject to a/an:

File study

Oral interview

Test in French language

Article 19: A student may be considered as administratively enrolled in the second academic year if he/she has obtained at least 36 credits, and in the third academic year if he/she has obtained at least 96 credits.

Article 20: The student admission conditions may be amended on the recommendation of the Faculty Council.

Article 21: The students enrolled in the Faculty for the first time shall be subject to a test in a foreign language conducted by the Office of Foreign Language Coordination at the Lebanese University in cooperation with the Faculty Council.

Article 22: The student receiving a score less than 10/20 in the foreign language test, shall be subject to pursue an intensive course in this language and sit for an exam at the end of the course and succeed as a prerequisite for the academic registration in the foreign language courses adopted in the Faculty curricula.

Article 23: The acceptance for enrollment in a master’s degree in Law and Political and Administrative Sciences shall be subject to:

First: Special conditions to approve students in the Master’s degree from the Lebanese University graduates:

Studying the student file by a committee appointed by the Dean on the proposal of the Faculty Council;

Holding a bachelor degree from the Lebanese University in Law or Political Sciences as per the new system, provided that some of the courses shall be subject to equivalency for the students holding a bachelor degree in Law or Political Sciences as per the old system;

Obtaining a GPA of 2.75/5 in the research master and adopting the BMD system (Article 22 of Decree 2225) in the three years of the bachelor degree;

Fulfilling some or all the following special conditions to transfer to semester 3, in accordance with the master’s specialization, on the recommendation of the Faculty Council:

File study

Oral interview

Test in a foreign language

Test in the specialization subject

Provided that a limited number of students are selected in each specialization upon the decision of the Faculty Council on the recommendation of the Branch Council.

Second: Special conditions to approve students in the Master’s degree from the private university graduates:

Holding a bachelor degree and its official equivalent in Law or Political Sciences from a recognized university;

Obtaining an average of not less than 70/100 in the bachelor degree or a GPA of 3.5/5 for the professional or research master;

Fulfilling other special conditions as per the master’s specialization;

Being subject to student assessment requirements;

Not exceeding 10% of the total of admitted students.

Article 24: Students enrolled in the professional master's degree in Law may register in Semester 3 of the research master's degree in Law and students registered in the professional master's degree in Political Sciences may register in Semester 3 of the research master's degree in Political Sciences under the following conditions:

Studying the student academic file by a committee appointed by the Dean on the proposal of the Faculty Council;

Completing all Master courses of Semesters 1 and 2 and obtaining an average of not less than 65/100 or a GPA of not less than 3.5/5;

Fulfilling other special conditions as per the master’s specialization on the recommendation of the Faculty Council and the approval of the University Council among which:

An oral interview

A test in a foreign language

A test in the specialization subject

Article 25: Students admitted for a bachelor of master’s degrees and who have studied in other faculties of the Lebanese University, may request the equivalence of some courses they have previously obtained.

This request is based on the equivalency system identifying the terms for recognition of credits received outside the Faculty and issued by the Faculty Dean on the recommendation of the Faculty Council. The number of credits that can be transferred shall not exceed (60) credits in the bachelor degree and (30) credits in the master’s degree.

Article 26: The Master's degree study period may not exceed four years from the date of the first administrative enrollment in the first semester, whether or not the student was enrolled academically.

Article 27: The student may register the thesis subject in Semester 4, provided that at least seventy-five credits have been completed, and that the student's discussion is accepted immediately after completion of the master's courses.

Chapter Four: Registration & Attendance

Article 28: The student shall complete his/her academic registration at least one week before the commencement of teaching in the semester, and shall use the accredited academic guidance professors for this purpose. The student has the right to reconsider his/her academic registration within two weeks at the latest from the commencement of teaching in the semester.

Article 29: In the academic registration, the student shall determine the courses in which he/she wishes to register under the compliance with the pre-requisite rule.

Article 30: A student may not enroll in courses whose total balance exceeds thirty credits per semester.

If the student has failed in or dropped previous courses, he/she is entitled to enroll in six additional credits (6), provided that he/she first enrolls in the failed courses and completes the enrollment in new courses.

Article 31: The students' attendance of the fundamental courses, practical courses and tutorials is subject to the following provisions:

The students’ attendance is mandatory in:

The fundamental courses of the research and professional Master’s degree;

The fundamental courses of the bachelor degree in the French Section of the Faculty;

The practical courses and/or tutorials of all bachelor and master’s degrees and in both specializations.

The student's attendance shall not be less than 70% of the hours allocated for each course.

The Faculty Council may amend the rules of attendance of students for the fundamental and applied courses.

A student who does not comply with the said provisions shall be denied entry to the final exam, in which he/she did not meet the attendance rate prescribed herein or in the decisions of the Faculty Council.

Article 32: The number of students shall not exceed 40 students in the classes of the practical courses.

Article 33: Any student shall obtain a zero if he/she sits for an exam in:

An elective course other than the one he/she enrolled in academically at the beginning of the semester;

A foreign course other than the language enrolled in academically at the beginning of the semester.

Chapter Five: Assessment & Examination

Article 34: The final score of each course for which the student sits for a written exam at the end of the semester, is divided between the continuous assessment score and the final exam score.

Article 35: In the continuous assessment, various evaluation methods are used such as written tests, preparation of reports and research, and tutorials, provided that the number of activities, subject of the continuous assessment, is not less than two per semester in each course.

Article 36: A continuous assessment score for each course consists of 30% from the final score in the bachelor and master’s degrees.

Article 37: The continuous assessment score is calculated based on the following:

The partial written test score and the student participation score in the courses that have practical courses or tutorials;

The score shall be divided as follows: 10% to evaluate the student's effort, participation and discussion in the practical courses or tutorials, and 20% for the partial written exam score. In courses that have no practical courses or tutorials, the continuous assessment score consists of 10% for research work and 20% for partial written test score of the final score.

Article 38: The teacher of the course will conduct the partial exam in the classroom under the supervision of the Branch Director.

Article 39: In the event that the student fails to sit for a partial exam in one or more courses for reasons of coercion or force majeure, the Faculty Dean may authorize the student to sit for this exam on the recommendation of the Branch Council.

Article 40: The student, who did not sit for the exam in the first and second sessions in the same course for reasons of coercion or force majeure, a re-sit exam may be held by a decision of the University President on the proposal of the Faculty Council.

Article 41: The student is considered to have passed in a course and therefore, shall obtain the credits assigned thereto, if he/she obtains a final score of at least 50/100 or a score below 50 and not less than 40. However, the student shall have completed the registration in all courses of the semester and obtained a GPA of not less than 55/100.

Article 42: If the student fails in one or more courses with the results of the first course exams, only the continuous assessment score of these courses is transferred to the second session. If the student fails to present the scores of the continuous assessment  for the exam at the first session, he/she is not entitled to present it at the second session and shall not benefit from the system of compensation between the semester courses.

Article 43: The late student is not entitled to enter the examination room if the delay exceeds a quarter of an hour. No student is allowed to leave the examination room before half the examination time has elapsed.

Article 44: The student has the right to submit an application to prove that there is no material error in a course score, within three days at most from the date of announcing the result of this course. The examining committee shall inspect the student exam under the supervision of the Branch Director and the head of the concerned department. If there is a material error, the score shall be amended by consensus of the attendees.

Article 45: If any student caught cheating or attempting to cheat, all the courses that he/she is entitled to submit in the examination shall be considered null and void, subject to the provisions of the laws in force.

Chapter Six: General Provisions

Article 46: The student may transfer from one university branch to another within the Faculty by a decision of the Dean, provided that he/she:

Applies for transfer within (15) days at most from the commencement of teaching in the semester;

Completes 50% at most of the credits required to obtain the target degree;

Obtains the approval of both directors of the branches concerned after reviewing the student's academic file;

Fulfilling special conditions related to the French Section.

Article 47: The curricula for the bachelor and master's degrees in Law and in Political Sciences shall be determined in accordance with attached tables (1) and (2).

These curricula shall be amended upon the proposal of the Faculty Council and the approval of the University Council.

Article 48: The implementation of these bylaws shall take into account the special provisions contained in agreements concluded with international academic bodies.

Article 49: These bylaws shall enter into force starting from the academic year 2015-2016 and shall be communicated as needed.