FAQ
1. Practical information
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No. It is not possible to make an appointment with a member of the Board of Examiners. Your request (by electronic form) can be send via email to: BoardofExaminers-CEG@tudelft.nl. If you need to discuss personal problems contact your academic counsellor. However, for short questions, it is possible to visit the online consultation hour of the Board of Examiners, every Wednesday, 12.30-13.30 hrs via Zoom.
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There is not a physical location where you can visit the Board of Examiners, as the Board is composed of department representatives of the faculty. The Board of Examiners can be contacted via e-mail: BoardofExaminers-CEG@tudelft.nl.
Note: a request can only be put forward by using the appropriate electronic form. However, for short questions, it is possible to visit the online consultation hour of the Board of Examiners, every Wednesday, 12.30-13.30 hrs via Zoom. -
The Board of Examiners ensures that the degree programmes adhere to their Teaching and Examination Rules (TER, or “OER” in Dutch). The Board oversees examinations within the study programmes and determines whether students have acquired the required level of knowledge and skills for the awarding of the degree. Furthermore, the Board needs to undertake the tasks laid down in the different TERs, such as deciding on exemptions, extra resits, award cum laude etc. Another important task of the Board of Examiners is the internal and external quality assurance of the study programmes. The Board of Examiners is an independent body within the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences.
You can contact the Academic Counsellors with personal and study related questions or issues that might have impact on your academic success. -
The examination meeting is a final – virtual – meeting where the Study Programme Officer (SPA-CiTG) proposes you for graduation and the Board of Examiners will check whether you have fulfilled all the degree requirements. Thus, it is determined whether or not you have passed for the degree programme and are eligible for the diploma. Afterwards, you will be notified of the outcome by the Study Programme Officer. The individual request meeting is the meeting where the request that you have put forward to the Board of Examiners will be discussed.
2. Requests to the Board of Examiners
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The Board of Examiners receives requests that are related to your study programme and the way you are studying. This ranges from an exemption for a course, an extra resit, taking exams in a different way, to permission to deviate from the study programme for particular reasons. You can also submit a request for approval of self-composed minor, which you can send to: free-minor-ceg@tudelft.nl.
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You can only put in a request to the Board of Examiners by using the electronic form that you can download on this student portal website. Make sure to use the right form for your particular requests as there are several categories. Forms are submitted by e-mail to the e-mail address on the form.
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Individual requests are discussed in the monthly meetings of which the dates are announced on the student portal of the Board of Examiners. Make sure to send in your request 15 working days prior to the meeting.
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Your request has to be received 15 working days prior to the meeting. Please see the meeting dates announced on this student portal website.
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You can find this information in the Rules and Guidelines of the Board of Examiners of your degree programme. The Board of Examiners will render a decision with respect to a request within 40 working days after the request is received or, if the request is submitted during an academic holiday or within a period of three weeks prior to an academic holiday, within 40 working days after the end of that holiday. Stating the reasons, the Board of Examiners may postpone taking a decision for a maximum period of 10 working days. The requester will be informed in writing of any postponement before the end of the period referred to in the first paragraph. Please note that the Board has monthly meetings, so you will only be notified after the meeting took place. In general, you can expect to receive the decision within 2 or 3 weeks after the meeting date.
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Yes, every request to the Board of Examiners has to be discussed with your academic counsellor first. You can find the contact details of the academic counsellors on this website. The academic counsellor can help determine whether or not you can put forward the request with a certain rate of success or that a different solution might be more suitable. Moreover, the Board of Examiners takes the advice of your academic counsellor into account during the determination of the decision on your request.
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It is not always necessary to make a request to the Board of Examiners if you have not passed an exam. For instance, if you can do a resit with the help of a good study plan. Always discuss your circumstances and problem(s) with your academic counsellor. The counsellor can advise you on whether a request might be successful or not.
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It is possible to request an exemption for a course if you have already gained this knowledge prior to your study at TU Delft. You can make such a request by discussing the exemption with the lecturer of the course you are requesting exemption for. The lecturer will check if the content of the course you have followed earlier is comparable to the content of the course you are requesting exemption for. The lecturer has to confirm his/her findings on the exemption form with a signature, after which you can send the PDF form to the Board of Examiners via email.
3. Complaints, objections and appeals
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Complaint:
A complaint can be about TU Delft, a particular faculty or a staff member. You can also have a complaint about the content, assessment or tests of a particular course.
Objection:
You can make an objection if you do not agree with a decision of the Executive Board of TU Delft. This includes decisions that have been taken about enrolment and de-enrolment, the payment or restitution of tuition fees and financial support (Graduation Assistance Regulations; RAS).
Appeal:
Appeals can be made against decisions based on Article 7.61 of the Higher Education and Research Act. Appeals are lodged administratively with the Examination Appeals Board (CBE). This includes decisions made by examiners or Boards of Examiners, as well as decisions concerning binding recommendations on the continuation of studies, exemptions, university admissions tests (colloquium doctum), and admissions to Master programmes (for students who have previously studied abroad).
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If you have already discussed this situation with your lecturer, and you did not come to an understanding, you are entitled to appeal against this to the Examination Appeals Board, in accordance with the provisions of Article 7.61 of the Higher Education and Research Act (WHW). Any appeal must be lodged within six weeks after registration of the grade. These six weeks provide plenty of time to investigate whether you can come to an understanding with the lecturer, before lodging the appeal. The academic counsellors can advise you about the steps you can take. They can also act as intermediate.
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If you have a complaint about TU Delft, or a particular faculty or staff member(s), it is important that you first attempt to resolve the problem with that staff member(s) or department directly. You should explain your complaint and ask for a response. If you are unable to resolve the matter in this way, contact your academic counsellor first.
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If you disagree with a decision made by the Executive Board on the basis of the Higher Education and Research Act, you can object to that decision by submitting a letter of objection within a period of six weeks of that decision. This period starts on the day after the decision has been sent to you. Refer to the link given above to see what information your objection should include.
Your objection may refer to decisions that have been taken about enrolment and de-enrolment, the payment or restitution of tuition fees and financial support (Graduation Assistance Regulations; RAS), for example. It excludes decisions taken on the grounds of Article 7.61 of the Higher Education and Research Act (see under 3e). -
If you wish to appeal against decisions based on Article 7.61 of the Higher Education and Research Act, you can lodge an administrative appeal with the Examination Appeals Board (CBE). This includes decisions made by examiners or Boards of Examiners, as well as decisions concerning binding recommendations on the continuation of studies, exemptions, university admissions tests (colloquium doctum), and admissions to Master’s programmes (for students who have previously studied abroad). You must submit a letter of appeal within a period of six weeks of the decision (which you have received by email). The period begins on the day after the decision has been sent to you. Refer to the link given above to see what information your appeal should include.
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No. Meetings of the Board of Examiners are not public. You will also probably understand that more investigation into the complaint is necessary, before the complaint can be discussed with the Board of Examiners. You can therefore submit your complaint via BoardofExaminers-CEG@tudelft.nl to the Board of Examiners.
4. Graduation BSc
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No, unless there are severe special circumstances that justify a request. In order to register for the BSc thesis you need to have obtained all first year credits and 80 additional ECTS 2nd and 3rd year courses (140 EC total) according to the information in the study guide. These credits may include credits obtained during the minor, even if your minor subject was not study programme related. The BSc thesis is considered a final representation of everything that you have learned during your Bachelor study and is therefore usually carried out when you are near the end of your Bachelor. To participate in the Bachelor thesis project, you will understand that enough knowledge has to be gained in order to finish your project according to the academic standards of the Bachelor diploma. As you already have capacity for 30 EC that still have to be obtained, the Board of Examiners is of the opinion that this rule already offers flexibility for students in their study planning. Therefore, students can only put in a request for an exception to this rule if there are severe special circumstances at play. Examples of these circumstances are (psychological) illness, disability or severe family circumstances. Having already arranged your plans to study abroad are not considered severe special circumstances.
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The predicate Cum Laude will be determined according the Rules and Guidelines of the Board of Examiners for the academic year that you are graduating. For the Rules and Guidelines of your program, look at this student portal website.
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Fill in the request form on the Bachelor forms page.
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Information will be sent to you by e-mail by os-citg@tudelft.nl. First, please check your spam/junk e-mail folder. Evidence suggests that often this the problem. If you have checked your e-mail thoroughly, only then contact the secretary with your inquiry.
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You can find more information in Articles 14 and 30 of the Rules and Guidelines of the Board of Examiners concerning the rounding off of marks as well as the criteria for Cum Laude. Note that if you are able to let MyTUDelft calculate the grade point average, (for example through the app) this is not accurate. The app uses a general calculation in which different weights and rules are not taken into account.
For Cum Laude a weighted average of a whole mark is determined by the Board of Examiners. In practice, a weighted average of 7.95 will be rounded to an 8. An average of 7.94 will be rounded to a 7.9.
5. Graduation MSc
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The procedure for graduation is described in the Rules and Guidelines of the Board of Examiners of your degree programme (year of graduation). You can apply for your MSc degree no later than 20 days prior to your graduation date. For MSc studies you will find a step by step overview on the Master forms page. The AES/CIE/TIL-0 form explains how to go about this process. CME students are referred to the CME 2000, graduation thesis guideline.
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You can find this information in the (Annex of the) Teaching and Examination Regulations of your degree programme (cohort).
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You are allowed to present your final thesis if you have successfully completed all other obligations of your degree programme. Before the assessment can take place, a so-called green light meeting will take place first. All obligations, such as receiving last course results, have to be fulfilled at least 5 working days prior to your graduation date. Consult the Rules and Guidelines of the Board of Examiners of your degree programme (year of graduation).
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You can find information about the composition of the graduation committee in the Rules and Guidelines of the Board of Examiners of your degree programme (make sure to consult the right Rules -> year of graduation).
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The predicate Cum Laude will be determined according to the Rules and Guidelines of the Board of Examiners for the academic year that you are graduating. Consult the Rules and Guidelines of the Board of Examiners of your degree programme (year of graduation).
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As of academic year 2019-2020 the CEG faculty follows the decision of the TU Delft Executive Board about the confidentiality of the thesis. TU Delft is a member of 4TU. Within 4TU there is a commitment towards open access. The intention of 4TU is to make all master thesis reports publicly available online. Therefore a confidentiality agreement can only be made if this required according to the following criteria:
- There is a risk that the online master thesis will obstruct future peer reviewed publications; or
- When external parties involved in the master thesis request a confidentiality period with valid and reasonable arguments for the protection or use of the research results that are discussed in the master thesis report.
The confidentiality period can be a maximum period of two years. In the assessment form of the thesis, the university and the student will agree upon whether the thesis will be made available through open access and if so, whether confidentiality applies and the period of confidentiality.
However, a longer period of an additional 3 years can be agreed upon, based on certain substantiated grounds. Approval for any extensions of the confidentiality of the master thesis will have to be obtained from the vice rector of education.
The CEG faculty expresses a strong wish for the final report to be uploaded in the TU Delft repository (with embargo period), to stimulate the commitment towards open access.
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You can find more information in Articles 14 and 31 of the Rules and Guidelines of the Board of Examiners concerning the rounding off of marks as well as the criteria for Cum Laude. Note that if you are able to let MyTUDelft calculate the grade point average, (for example through the app) this is not accurate. The app uses a general calculation in which different weights and rules are not taken into account.
For Cum Laude a weighted average of a whole mark is determined by the Board of Examiners. In practice, a weighted average of 7.95 will be rounded to an 8. An average of 7.94 will be rounded to a 7.9.
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Students will receive their diploma directly after their presentation.
There is a common misconception that when you receive your diploma directly after your presentation, you would have officially been graduated. That is not the case. The diploma is handed out for ceremonial purposes, but a student is only officially a TU Delft graduate after the Board of Examiners has declared the student graduated in the monthly examination meeting. Only after this meeting, students receive the diploma supplement and are registered as graduated at DUO.
For further questions, please contact OS-CiTG@tudelft.nl.
6. Teaching and Examination Regulations and Rules and Guidelines of the Board of Examiners (TER/R&G)
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As laid down in the Dutch Higher Education and Research Act (Wet op het Hoger Onderwijs-WHW), every degree programme has two regulations:
- The Teaching and Examination Regulations (TER) ex article 7.13 WHW, to be determined by the Dean;
- The Rules and Guidelines (R&G) ex article 7.12b WHW, to be determined by the Board of Examiners.
The TER deals with subjects as programme content, enumeration of courses and different forms of testing, study load per course, enumeration of master programmes, sequence of courses, learning goals of the programme, admission criteria, connection bachelor/master programme, pre-master programmes, etc. Please note: your reference is the TER of your cohort. The R&G deals for example with rules on registration for examinations and tests, order during the examinations, fraud and guidelines for examiners. You will find the rules and regulations for the current academic year on this student portal website. For previous years check the archive.
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The relevant TER for you is the TER for the academic year that you have started your BSc or MSc programme. The Rules and Guidelines of the Board of Examiners is a yearly document of which the current version is always the version to use. For example, for Cum Laude, the Rules and Guidelines document of the year that you will graduate is relevant.
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Information about marks and assessment in particular can be found in the Rules and Guidelines of the Board of Examiners of your degree programme. If the marks are rounded off to half and whole figures, three-tenths, four-tenths, eight-tenths and nine-tenths will be rounded up and one-tenth, two-tenths, six-tenths and seven-tenths will be rounded down.
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The validity of (partial) exams can be found in the TER of your cohort.
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In short: the Teaching and Examination Rules prevail over the study guide, which prevails over Brightspace.
7. Fraud
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By fraud is meant all cases in which you suggest that something is your own work (consciously or unconsciously, intentionally or unintentionally) when in fact that is not the case. For example: copying, committing plagiarism, handing in another students’ work as your own, piggybacking, working together in individual assignments and using fictitious research data. More information about fraud and the role of the Board of Examiners in this process can be found in the Rules and Guidelines of the Board of Examiners of your degree programme (year of graduation). TU Delft launched a site that explains fraud and gives you tips & tricks to prevent temptation. See here: www.tudelft.nl/studyfraud
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Yes, and you can too. Find more information:
- In the Exam regulations.
- In the Rules and Guidelines of the Board of Examiners (year of graduation).
- In the code of honour and code of ethics.
- At the Library TU Delft (copyright).
- Open course ware course on information literacy (plagiarism)
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This depends on which educational component fraud is committed. If supposed fraud is committed during an exam the invigilator and/or lecturer will report this to the Board of Examiners. If there is a case of supposed fraud with handing in an assignment or (thesis) report, the lecturer or the chair of your graduation committee will report this.
If fraud is proven, the Board of Examiners will undertake action towards the student, taking into account the proper legal process. -
After receiving a report of alleged fraud, the Board of Examiners will ask the student his/her written point of view on the accusation. Furthermore, the student will be invited for a hearing with a delegation of the Board of Examiners. They will determine if fraud has indeed been committed. If so, a sanction will be imposed. The possible sanctions are described in the Rules and Regulations of the Board of Examiners (year of graduation). Please note: in case fraud has been proven, 'no grade' will be the consequence as it is impossible to determine whether the fraudulous student masters the requested knowledge. You can find extensive information about the process of a fraud investigation for students here.
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No, you do not. However, be aware that this can be to your detriment. If you do not cooperate or explain your point of view on the situation, the Board of Examiners will make a decision based on the facts that are presented, without taking your point of view and any possible evidence from you into account.
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The Board of Examiners will take the proper legal process (such as innocent until proven guilty) into account. This means that you will be heard and that you will be able to put forward any evidence to support your point of view.
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As described in the Rules and Guidelines of the Board of Examiners (year of graduation), the BoE is entitled to investigate alleged fraud and impose sanctions when the suspicion proves to be valid.
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This is described in the Rules and Guidelines of the Board of Examiners (year of graduation). Depending on the gravity of the fraud and any possible repeated incidents, the Board of Examiners can impose the following sanctions:
a. reprimand;
b. exclusion from the examination or practical in question for a maximum period of one year;
c. exclusion from one or more examination periods for a maximum period of one year; or
d. a combination of the measures listed above.
In the event of serious fraud or repeated fraud, the Board of Examiners is entitled to propose to the Executive Board of TU Delft that the student’s enrolment on the degree programme be permanently terminated.
8. Study outside TU Delft
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This information can be found in the Rules and Regulations of the Board of Examiners (year of graduation). Final marks earned in another degree programme at TU Delft or another Dutch university will be adopted as they have been given, as a whole figure or half figure or as a decimal figure. The definition that the other degree programme attributes to those marks will also be adopted. However, for final marks earned abroad, the result will be a V (pass) of O (fail). Note that for non-EU universities a credit conversion is calculated. For exchange destinations, the Exchange office of the faculty has likely informed you already of the credit conversion. Also see the next question in this FAQ topic.
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The Board of Examiners has determined a credit conversion for destinations the exchange office has on offer. If your destination is not in this list, this means that a credit conversion has not (yet) been determined for this partner university. The Board of Examiners can only approve transcripts of a destination that offers either ECTS credits or credits for which there is a determined credit conversion. This means that there has to be an exchange agreement in place between CEG and your institution for the recognition of your results.
Overview credit conversion Faculty CEG:
University of Queensland Australia 2 units = 7,5 EC Queensland University of Technology Australia 12 credits = 7,5 EC Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Australia 12 units = 7,5 EC University of Melbourne Australia 12,5 MP = 7,5 EC (2 units = 0,6 EC) University of Technology Sydney Australia 1 credit = 1,25 EC University of New South Wales Australia 6 units = 7,5 EC (1 unit = 1,25 EC) University of Sydney Australia to be determined Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) Brazil 1 meet = 1 EC University of Toronto Canada 0,5 unit = 6 EC University of Waterloo Canada 0,5 unit = 6 EC University of British Columbia Canada 1 credit = 2 EC Dalian University of Technology China (PRC) 1 credit = 1,7 EC Tshinghua University China (PRC) BSc courses: 1 credit = 1,5 EC
MSc courses: 1 credit = 2 ECHong Kong Polytechnic China 1 credit = 1,8 EC Bandung Institute of Technology Indonesia BSc: 1 SKS = 1,67 EC
MSc: 1 SKS = 3,3 ECTechnion - Israel Institution of Technology Israel 1 credit = 1,5 EC Tohoku University Japan 1 credit = 1,9 EC Tokyo Institute of Technology Japan 1 credit = 1,6 EC University of Canterbury New-Zealand 1 credit = 0,5 EC Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic Russia 1 credit = 1 EC National University of Singapore Singapore 1MC = 1,5 EC University of Stellenbosch South Africa 2 credits = 1 EC Clarkson University USA 1 credit = 2 EC University of Texas at Austin USA 1 credit = 2 EC University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign USA 1 credit = 2 EC University of Maryland USA 1 credit = 2 EC New York University (Global E3) USA 1 credit = 2 EC University of Florida (Global E3) USA 1 credit = 2 EC
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The Board of Examiners will have to approve your official obtained transcript of records. Show your original hardcopy transcript of grades to the secretary of the Education and Student Administration at CEG (room. 2.71). If you did not receive a hardcopy transcript or if it is not possible to show a hard copy transcript, you can request the university to send your digital transcript directly per e-mail to BoardofExaminers-CEG@tudelft.nl. After approval of your results, these will be added in MyTUDelft by the Student Programme Administration CEG. Please allow a reasonable amount of time for the handling of your transcript. You may contact SPA in case your grades are not visible in Osiris after four weeks of your transcript being sent to SPA.
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Your obtained grade for Athens will automatically be processed by the Board of Examiners. Therefore, you do not have to deliver your transcript yourself to the Board of Examiners or the International Office of CEG. It can take a couple of weeks before you see your grade (a pass), as well as 2 EC registered in MyTUDelft. Do, however, send an e-mail to BoardofExaminers-CEG@tudelft.nl. if you will graduate very soon after receiving your Athens certificate. In that case you will need your grade registered as soon as possible in order to be able to fulfill the graduation requirements.
9. Double degree / double track
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A Double Degree is a combination of two different MSc programmes. You will therefore receive two diploma's, one for each MSc degree programme. The administrative procedure to request a double degree is more formal than for a double track and therefore takes up more time as different committees have to approve it. The Executive Board of TU Delft has determined a minimum amount of credits (60 unique EC for programme 1, 60 unique EC for programme 2, and 60 EC overlapping courses) for the Double Degree. Both Boards of Examiners of the degree programmes involved have to agree on your proposed programme.
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You request approval for a double degree at the very beginning of your studies. The application takes quite some time, which needs to be taken into account. Moreover, for you as a student it is important that you know exactly which courses you have to take throughout your study programme.
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By filling out the form for Double Degree that you can find on this student portal website. Always discuss your plans first with your MSc coordinator. The Board of Examiners requires approval of the MSc coordinator, before discussing your double degree application. Once you have all your documents complete, you can send your double Degree form to the appropriate Boards of Examiners. There is always one Board that will act as secretary for your request, which is the first one mentioned on the form.
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Please consult the Annex of the Teaching and Examination Regulations of your degree programme.
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You will receive two different diploma’s for both degrees. On the diploma supplements you can see which courses overlap in both programmes.
10. Other
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Always contact the lecturer involved to discuss the problem. The lecturer is able to correct your grade in MyTUDelft within a certain amount of time or otherwise will inform the administration that a change has to be made.
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It is advised to discuss this situation first with your academic counsellor. The counsellor may be able to intervene or guide you to the correct body for your type of situation, for example to the student counsellor or the student Ombudsman. In the student charter and the student web portal you can find more information.
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No, MOOCS can only be added as extracurricular courses (see annex of your Teaching and Examination Regulations)
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Make sure to read the Teaching and Examination Regulations of your degree programme. Moreover, check the TU Delft student portal, as well as the CEG student portal for more information.
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Please view this page for more information about electives courses.
Is your question not listed above? Have a look at the Frequently Asked Questions of the Academic Counsellors