Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University
Academic Information
  1. Chapter 1: Academic Calendar & Progression

2. Academic Progression and Graduation

Share on:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LINE
お気に入り

2-1.Academic Progression

Course length refers to the period of time required to complete a course’s curriculum. At APU, this is four years for undergraduate courses. The maximum term of enrollment refers to the maximum period of time a student can remain enrolled at APU, which is eight years for undergraduate courses.

At APU, the academic year is split into the Spring Semester (April 1 – September 20) and the Fall Semester (September 21 – March 31 following year). In addition, students can enroll at APU from April or September each year.

APU uses two methods to express a student’s academic year: year level and semester level. Year level is counted by how many years a student has been enrolled at APU, whereas semester level is based on how many semesters a student has been enrolled for.

Students become first-year students upon enrollment and progress to the next year and semester level based on how long they have been enrolled at APU, regardless of how many credits they have completed.

Students who have not completed their graduation requirements by the end of their 4th year (8th semester) will become 5th-year students, then 6th-year students, and so on. However, students cannot remain enrolled at APU for longer than eight years (sixteen semesters). It is not possible to repeat a year either.

The following tables demonstrate the relationship between year level and semester level.

Students who Enroll in Spring

Semester Spring Fall Spring Fall Spring Fall Spring Fall
Year Level 1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year 4th Year
Semester Level. 1st
Semester
Student
2nd
Semester
Student
3rd
Semester
Student
4th
Semester
Student
5th
Semester
Student
6th
Semester
Student
7th
Semester
Student
8th
Semester
Student

Students who Enroll in Fall

Semester Fall Spring Fall Spring Fall Spring Fall Spring
Year Level 1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year 4th Year
Semester Level. 1st
Semester
Student
2nd
Semester
Student
3rd
Semester
Student
4th
Semester
Student
5th
Semester
Student
6th
Semester
Student
7th
Semester
Student
8th
Semester
Student

2-2.Graduation

Students must fulfill all of the following requirements to graduate from APU’s undergraduate colleges. Students who have already fulfilled these requirements cannot remain enrolled at APU.

Requirement 1: Be enrolled at APU for at least four years

However, this requirement is different for the following students:

  • Accelerated Graduation Program Students: Be enrolled for at least three years
  • 2nd-Year Transfer Students: Be enrolled for at least three years
  • 3rd-Year Transfer Students: Be enrolled for at least two years

Requirement 2: Complete all the credits required to graduate

Students must complete a total of at least 124 credits and fulfil all the credit requirements specified by their respective curriculum to graduate. For more details, please check the pages for your college and curriculum.

PAGE TOP

Please enter search keywords