Chapter One

Entrance and Enrollment Conditions

Article 1) Requirements for entering the Doctor of Dental Surgery Program are as follows:

1-1 Having complete physical and mental health.

Amendment: Paying the tuition does not exempt graduate students of the D.D.S. Program from performing other specific legal obligations.

Article 2) Education in the D.D.S. Program is a credit-based system.

Article 3) In a credit-based system, the value of each subject is assessed by its credit hours, and passing or failing in a subject is confined only to that subject.

Article 4) Each credit of a subject is the amount or measure of a subject that consists of 17 hours of theoretical lessons, 51 hours in workshops, 68 hours of internship, 34 hours of practical lessons (or laboratory), and 51 hours of apprenticeship during a semester or a summer course.

Article 5) The D.D.S. Program consists of the stages below:

Stage 1: General subjects, basic sciences and 10 credits from specialized dentistry subjects

Stage2: Specialized dentistry subjects

Article 6) Each academic year consists of two semesters and, if necessary, a summer course. Observing the substance of Article 4, each semester consists of 17 academic weeks and the summer course is equal to 6 academic weeks.

Amendment: The period of examinations at the end of each semester or summer course is excluded from the mentioned 17 and 6 academic weeks.

Article 7) In the clinical stage, each semester consists of the several clinical education parts. The number of the parts of the clinical stage during each semester, with consideration towards the necessary amount of time for the teaching of each stage, is ascertained by the educational council of the school.

Article 8) All universities and faculties of medical sciences are obliged to carry out the curriculum and lesson titles approved by Medical Sciences High Council of Planning.

Amendment: The order of the academic subjects while observing the prerequisites, teaching methodology, evaluation of students’ based on modern educational methods, with regard to the conditions and resources of faculties, reordering of lesson titles, presenting new materials in one subject and choosing new resources, are the responsibility of universities and medical faculties. It is obvious that resources for the Basic Sciences Comprehensive Examination will be ascertained by the corresponding ministry.

Article 9) At the end of the first stage, the Basic Sciences Comprehensive Examination takes place. Passing this exam is the requirement for entering the next stage.

Amendment 1: The requirement for participating in the Basic Sciences Comprehensive Examination is passing all subjects in stage one and acquiring a minimum GPA of 12. However, in cases when a student has, in maximum, 5 credits remaining, (including theoretical or practical, general or specialized, failed subjects or those never taken) he or she can participate in the Basic Sciences Comprehensive Examination and, if passed, he or she can take the remaining credits in the next stage. It is clear that the marks of those remaining credits will be calculated in total average of stage two.

Amendment 2: If at the time of registration for the Basic Sciences Comprehensive Examination, the marks for the subjects the student has taken have not yet been announced, the student can conditionally participate in the examination. If after announcing the marks, the student failed those subjects and did not meet the requirements for sitting the Basic Sciences Comprehensive Examination (as in Amendment 1), the result of that comprehensive examination will be considered null and void, and the aforementioned exam will not be counted in the number of times participation is allowed. The student, until acquiring passing scores in the failed subjects and meeting the requirements for participating in the comprehensive examination, will not be allowed, even conditionally, to sit the next exam.

Article 10) Participation in the Basic Sciences Comprehensive Examination is allowed three times. If the student fails to acquire a passing grade in the exam, he or she will be barred from continuing education in the D.D.S. Program.

Amendment 1: Unjustified absence in the Basic Sciences Comprehensive Examination will be considered as one participation.

Amendment 2: Students barred from continuing education in the program of dentistry due to failing the Basic Sciences Comprehensive Examination, can, according to the instructions of changing majors by students in the M.D., D.D.S. and Pharm.D. programs (approved by 22nd meeting of Medical Sciences High Council of Planning in 2003), change his or her major to a continuous or non-continuous Bachelor’s degree or a two-year postgraduate certificate course.

Article 11) The credits of comprehensive dentistry treatment (internship) will be rendered in the last year of the D.D.S. program.

Amendment: The location of internship, in order to due to acquiring skills and a comprehensive viewpoint toward patient, and performing relative treatments, can be educational wards and medical centers under supervision, in a manner that at least one school member from all departments are present in a ward or center at the same time.

Chapter Two

Credits and Academic Duration

Article 12) The minimum required number of credits for graduating in the D.D.S. Program is according to the academic plan for that program, approved by the Medical Sciences High Council of Planning.

Article 13) Students, in each semester of academic stages of the D.D.S. Program, must take at least 12 and at most 20 credits.

Amendment 1: In the last semester in each academic stage, the student does not necessarily have to observe the 12-credit minimum rule.

Amendment 2: If a student acquires a minimum total average of 17 in a semester, he or she can, with the agreement of the supervisor and the school, take a maximum of 24 credits in the next semester.

Amendment 3: In semesters for which students have a maximum of 24 remaining credits to finish an academic stage, they can take that entire number provided that they have not been in probationary status the previous semester.

Amendment 4: In summer courses, students are not allowed to take more than 6 credits.

Article 14) The maximum duration for the D.D.S. Program is a total of 9 years, the first 3.5 years of which is allocated to the first stage and the next 5.5 years to the second stage.

Amendment 1: If students fail to acquire a passing score in the Basic Sciences Comprehensive Examination during the 3.5 years, they will be barred from continuing education in the program of dentistry, and, according to the directions in Amendment 2 of Article 10, they can change their major to a continuous or non-continuous Bachelor’s degree or a two-year certificate course.

Amendment 2: For students who are unable to finish the second academic stage in 5.5 years from beginning of this stage, with the approval of the university’s educational council and provided that the allowed time for the students’ education is not over, the academic period can be renewed for a maximum of 12 months.

Chapter Three

Attendance

Article 15) The presence of students is necessary in all class sessions and failing to attend a class will be counted absence.

Article 16) Students’ hours of absence must not exceed 4/17 of theoretical lessons, 2/17 of practical lesson and laboratory sessions, and 1/10 of training, internship and workshop. Otherwise, the score for those lessons would be zero and the students must retake the subject.

Amendment: The absence limit in Article 16 will be permissible if it is justified by presenting documented evidence and the discernment of the professor. Confronting the absence (justified or not) is the responsibility of the professor and is bound to the confirmation of the school.

Article 17) If the absences of a student in a subject exceed the limits in Article 16 and are recognized as justified, that subject will be deleted. In such cases, observing the minimum of 12 credits limitation in a semester is not necessary, but that semester will be counted as a full semester in the student’s academic years.

Article 18) Unjustified absence in a subject’s final exam is considered as acquiring a score of zero in that exam. A justified absence leads to the deletion of the subject, and the student must retake that subject. Determining the whether the absence on a final exam session was justified or not is the responsibility of the educational council of the university.

Chapter Four

Addition and Deletion

Article 19) In each semester of all stages in the D.D.S. Program, in a window of less than two weeks from the beginning of the semester, students can delete two taken subjects, add two new subjects, or substitute two taken ones by two other subjects, provided that their credits do not exceed the limit in Article 13.

Amendment 1: Absence in class sessions of the first two weeks is not allowed for reasons of addition/deletion, and absence during this time will be counted in the maximum absence limit (mentioned in Article 16) and the contents of the mentioned article will be implemented.

Amendment 2: Addition and deletion in summer courses is not allowed.

Article 20) In cases of emergency, upon the recommendation of the department and the confirmation of the school’s Vice-Dean for Education, students can delete only a single theoretical subject 5 weeks prior to the end of the semester, provided that firstly, they have not exceeded the absence limit for that subject according to Article 16, and secondly, the number of their remaining credits do not go below 12.

Article 21) The deletion of all credits in a semester prior to the start of the final examinations is allowed if and only if, based on the opinion of the educational council, the student is incapable of continuing the semester. In that case, that semester would count as a semester of academic leave for the student. Counting such a semester in the academic years of a student, or not regarding it as one, is the responsibility of the educational council of the university.

Amendment: Deletion of all subjects in a summer course before the start of the examinations is allowed with the approval of the educational council of the university.

Chapter Five

Assessment of Students’ Academic Progress

Article 22) Assessment of students’ progress in each subject is based upon class attendance and participation, undertaking educational tasks and the results of mid-term and final exams. Professors are the assessment authority in each subject.

Amendment: Holding final written exams at the end of each semester is obligatory for all theoretical and workshop subjects.

Article 23) Assessment of students’ academic progress in clinical stages is done by considering the following items:

23-1 Observing Islamic moral behavior and students’ codes of conduct, and appropriate relationship with patients, clients and the staff of the ward

23-2 Regular and full-time attendance in the clinic and related classes

23-3 Attention and sense of responsibility in undertaking assigned tasks in accordance with the clinic’s regulations, such as preparing and completing patients’ files

23-4 Improving skills and enjoying learning in the clinical stage

23-5 Attending exams of practical subjects and acquiring the required score

Article 24) The results of the assessment of students’ academic progress are determined based on the contents of Articles 22 and 23 and presented in numbers. The score of each student will be provided as a number in the range of 0-20.

Article 25) The minimum passing score is 10 for general subjects and basic sciences and 12 for specialized subjects in the D.D.S. program.

Amendment 1: Students who fail to acquire the minimum passing score in a subject are obliged to retake that subject at the earliest opportunity. However, all the scores including those from passed or failed subjects will be recorded in the students’ academic record and are calculated in their final total average.

Amendment 2: Each theoretical, practical, workshop, internship and apprenticeship subject has an independent score, but for a subject that is a mixture of two educational states (such as theoretical-workshop subjects or theoretical-practical ones) and is considered as a single subject, the minimum score of each part is 10 and the overall score of that subject is the average of the two parts with consideration to their multipliers. Failure to acquire the subject’s minimum final score based on the contents of Article 25, and failure to acquire the minimum score of 10 in each part of the subject results in repeating both parts of the subject.

Article 26) Professor(s) of each subject or part of a subject are obligated to report the final scores of student within 10 days after the final exam date to the school via their corresponding department.

Amendment: After the announcement of the scores by the school’s educational department, students can submit their objections in written form within 3 days after the announcement date for due consideration.

Article 27) Each semester, the educational department of the school is obliged to submit the students’ scores to the main educational department of the university within at most 2 weeks following the last final exam day after considering students’ objections and rectifying any possible mistakes.

Amendment: Scores cannot be changed after being delivered to the main Educational Department of the university.

Article 28) At the end of each academic semester, the average scores of students in that semester, and the average of all of their scores until the end of that semester, is calculated and, at the end of each stage of the D.D.S. Program, the total average of all the students’ scores are calculated and recorded in the academic records.

Amendment 1: For calculating the average of scores, the number of credits of each subject or part of a subject is multiplied by the score of subject or part and the sum is divided by the total number of credits the student has taken, including those passed or failed.

Amendment 2: The summer course is not regarded as a semester. The scores that the students acquire in the summer course are calculated in the total average of the related stages and the total average of the program.

Article 29) Students’ average of scores in each of the semesters of the first and second stages of the D.D.S. Program must not be less than 12. Otherwise, the enrolment of student’s with such scores will be in a state of probation next semester.

Amendment 1:  In cases when the credits delivered by the university are less than 12, that semester will not be counted in academic years of the student. However, in case of acquiring a lower than minimum required GPA, that semester will be regarded to be in a state of probation. In each stage of the D.D.S. Program, in cases when a student’s number of credits is below 12 due to the student’s own problems or because of the student being in the last semester, that semester will be counted in the student’s academic years and, also, a lower than 12 average will put the semester in a state of probation.

Amendment 2: The school is obliged to report, in writing, the probationary enrolment of students to them, and keep a copy of that report in the students’ files. Nevertheless, failure on the part of university to warn the student or the student’s claim of being unaware of this status does not impede execution of regulations.

Article 30) In each academic stage of the dentistry program, students enrolling in a probationary state are not allowed to choose more than 14 credits, even if they are in their last semester.

Amendment: In special cases (limitation in the maximum number of academic years), in the last academic semester of each academic stage of the dentistry program, rendering credits more than the allowed limit to students subject to Article 30, considering their remaining credits and academic records, is the responsibility of the of educational council of the university. In any case, this number must not exceed 20.

Article 31) Students who are in a state of probation for 3 consecutive terms or 4 intermittent ones will be barred from continuing education, and, if the average of their total passed credits is at least 10, they can change their major, based on the instructions in Amendment 2, Article 10, into a continuous or non-continuous Bachelor’s degree or a two-year postgraduate certificate course.

Article 32) Students’ total average must not be below 12 at the end of the first educational stage and below 14 at the end of the second one in the dentistry program. A student who has acquired a lower average in each stage and his or her allowed duration of education has not ended, can retake the subjects or parts of subjects in which he or she has acquired a score below 12 or 14. Otherwise, they will not be allowed to enter the next educational stage or graduate. It is clear that the marks of the repeated subjects, along with those of subjects, are recorded in the students’ academic records and are calculated in their total average.

Amendment 1: If students, in order to compensate for their total average in each stage of the D.D.S. Program, repeat subjects or parts of subjects in which they have received a lower than 12 or 14 average, and fail the repeated subject, if their total average for that stage reaches the required passing score after the calculation of all passed, failed, and repeated subjects, their previous pass will be the measure of action, and they continue onto the next stage. If their total average for that stage does not reach the required minimum, they will fail that subject or part of subject, and though they have previously acquired a passing score, they must repeat that subject or the part of the subject.

Amendment 2: A student who is unable to or does not want to use the opportunity in the aforementioned article, or despite using it is unable to compensate his or her total average, can change their major into a continuous or non-continuous Bachelor’s degree or a two-year postgraduate certificate course, according to Article 10, Amendment 2.

Amendment 3: Requirements for taking the comprehensive treatment credits include observing the prerequisite regulations of the D.D.S. Program, and acquiring a total average (excluding the scores from the first stage) of 12.

Chapter Six

Academic Leave of Absence and Withdrawal

Article 33) Students, after one academic semester and during the first and second stages of the dentistry education, can take a leave of absence for a maximum of two semesters, consecutive or intermittent, both of which will be counted in their academic years.

Amendment 1: Agreement with the leave of absence of the student in the first semester of education is the responsibility of the educational council of the university.

Amendment 2: The duration of a student’s academic leave of absence is calculated in the maximum allowed duration of education in each stage.

Article 34) The request for academic leave of absence, in written form, must be handed in to the Educational Department of the university by the student, at least two weeks before the enrolment of each semester.

Amendment 1: If the request for academic leave is not submitted in the specified time, the decision will be the responsibility of the educational council of the university.

Amendment 2: After receiving the decision of the corresponding school, the Educational Department of the university must announce its agreement or disagreement to the student’s request in written form, before the end of the enrolment period.

Amendment 3: Consequences of academic leave are the responsibility of the student.

Article 35) Students, whose medical certifications and justified medical reasons have been approved by the medical council and the educational council of the university, can take a leave of absence for a maximum of one semester which will not be calculated in their academic years.

Article 36) If a student wants to resign from continuing education, he or she must submit a request, in person, to the Educational Department of the university. In that case, the student is allowed to withdraw his or her demand only once and at least a month before the end of that current semester. After the end of this period, the order of resignation will be issued and the student is not allowed to continue education in that major.

Amendment: If students who have withdrawn from education want to receive their academic records, they must comply with all legal obligations of their academic period.

Chapter Seven

Change of Major

Article 37) Students, provided that they have the following conditions and the corresponding universities’ agreements, can change their major into another:

37-Clause 1 The education of the student in the previous major must not be barred in terms of academic regulations.

37-Clause 2 The student must have passed a minimum of 1/6 and a maximum of 1/3 of all credits of the program.

37-Clause 3 Considering the maximum allowed time of education, the student must be able to pass subject credits of the new major in due time.

Amendment 1: Change of major for students who have been barred from continuing education in the D.D.S. program will be based on the directions in Article 10, Amendment 2.

Amendment 2: With the exception of those to whom Amendment 1 of this Article applies, students can change their major only once during their studies.

Article 38) Changing majors is only possible in the same educational level. Otherwise, by observing the regulations of Article 37, changing majors is only possible from a higher educational level to a lower one.

Article 39) If an agreement to a request of change of major is issued, students have to register and take credits in their new major. After enrolment, they cannot return to their previous major.

Amendment: Failure to register in the new major in due time will be considered as a withdrawal from change of major, and the student will not be allowed to change majors until the end of the program.

Article 40) Students are bound to the educational regulations of the previous major prior to enrolment in the new one.

Article 41) Passed subjects in the previous major will be checked, by the department, and replaced by equivalent subjects. Only those subjects that have at least an 80% content similarity, and in which the student has acquired a score of at least 12, will be accepted.

Amendment 1: Accepted subjects will be recorded in the academic records of students, and these scores will be calculated in their total average. However, scores of rejected subjects will remain in the students’ academic records without being calculated in their total average. If the total average of rejected subjects are below 12, based on the decision of the educational council of the university, they will altogether be considered as a semester with the state of probation and will be recorded in the students’ academic records in his or her new major.

Amendment 2: If the number of rejected subjects does not let students pass the required credits in the new major in the allowed educational duration, their request of change of major will be denied.

Article 42) A student who wants to change his or her major must submit his or her documents at least 6 weeks prior to the beginning of the semester to the Educational Department of the university.

Article 43) If during their education, students encounter a health problem or have an accident, and the medical council of the university decides that they cannot continue education in general dentistry or are unable to benefit from its usages in the future, they do not have permission to continue education in the D.D.S. Program, and, by observing other related regulations, they can change their major to another major with the closest similarity in terms of the required entrance exam score. In this case, students are exempt from observing the regulations of Article 37 (with the exception of Article 37, Clause 1).

Amendment: In cases when students encounter mental and behavior disorders or deficiency in health or mutilation, in a way that they are unable to continue education in any of the majors of the elated department, they can change their major to a major in another exam group which, in terms of the required entrance exam score, has the closest similarity to that of their previous exam group. This is only possible with the decision of the medical council and confirmation of the educational council of the university, and the agreement of the target university.

Chapter Eight

Thesis

Article 44) The thesis is a part of D.D.S. Program in which students are obliged to carry out research in a field related to their major under the supervision of supervisors.

Article 45) Students of the D.D.S. Program, after passing 120 subject credits of the D.D.S. Program, must choose the credit of Thesis 1 and register the topic of their thesis within a year.

Article 46) Supervisors are chosen based upon students’ suggestions and the approval of the corresponding department and the research council of the school.

Amendment 1: The academic position of supervisors must at least be assistant professor. In special cases, with the approval of the research council of the university, instructors can be chosen from school members.

Amendment 2: In special cases and with the approval of the research council of the school, in order to carry out interdisciplinary research, students can have more than one supervisor.

Article 47) If necessary, with the suggestion of the supervisor and after the approval of the research council of the university, a member of the school or a renowned specialist or researcher will be determined as supervisor.

Amendment: The maximum limit for the number of theses in the D.D.S. Program that are simultaneously supervised by each supervisor is attained by using this formula: Divide the number of freshman in each year by the number of all school members of the school, multiplied by 4. In faculties where the number of school members is high, and by using the aforementioned formula, the maximum number of each member is low, each member of school, based to his or her academic position and the approval of the research council of the school, will be able to simultaneously supervise at most 3 theses.

Article 48) Choosing the topic of the thesis must be under the supervision of the supervisor.

Article 49) The topic of the thesis must not be repetitious. This means that no thesis with similar topic, or a different topic with similar content, should have been carried out in the university in the past 5 years.

Amendment: In special cases and with the approval of the research council of the school, it is possible to write a thesis with similar topic and content for topic which may be in need of further research in a shorter duration than that mentioned above.

Article 50) Each and every student must choose a topic for a thesis.

Amendment: Choosing one topic by a group of students (maximum 3) is allowed with the approval of the supervisor and the research council of the school by observing the following conditions:

A: The volume and significance of the topic should fit the number of students.

B: The division of responsibility of the entire thesis must be in such a way that each student is able to carry out an independent section of the thesis.

Article 51) For registration of the topic of the thesis, the following stages must be undertaken:

A: Choosing the topic of thesis under the supervision of the supervisor

B: Checking the topic of the thesis in terms of being repetitious by the research council of the school

C: Approval of the suggested plan of the thesis in the corresponding department

D: Proposal of the suggested plan of the thesis by the department to the Office of Vice-Dean for Research for the thesis to be approved by the research council of the school

E: Announcing the approval of the research council of the school to the supervisor for the thesis to begin

Amendment: The time from the registration of the thesis topic and its defense session must not be less than a year

Article 52) Every thesis must include the following items:

A: Abstracts in Persian and English (significance and context, material and methodology, results and conclusion)

B: Introduction (reasons for significance of topic, general information in context of research, research goals)

C: Literature review

D: Methodology (research type, area and material of research, volume of sample and method of sampling, methods of data gathering, method of data analysis, different kinds of statistics tests and stages of preforming)

E: Results (using statistics tests, tables, diagrams and presenting results)

F: Discussion and conclusion(s) (analyzing results, comparing results with other studies, analyzing the reasons of the difference between research results and that of other studies, analyzing shortcomings and limitations of the study, final conclusion, presenting suggestions)

G: References

Article 53) Theses must be written in English, though it is necessary to write the abstract in Persian as well as English.

Article 54) The board of examiners which produce the final decision for theses consist of following members:

1. Supervisor(s)

2. Advisor (if any)

3. Representative of the Vice-Dean for Research

4. Representative of the Vice-Dean for Education in the corresponding department

5. A member of the school, researchers, specialists and experts chosen by the department

Amendment: The academic position of the supervisor and members of the school must at least be assistant professor. In special conditions, with the approval of the research council of the school, they can be instructors. For researchers, specialists and experts, having a Ph.D. is necessary.

Article 55) Evaluation of theses by the board of examiners is on a scale of 0 to 20, and based on their score, they are categorized into four grades:

  • Excellent: Theses with scores of 19-20
  • Very good: Theses with scores of 17-18.99
  • Good: Theses with scores of 14-16.99
  • Unacceptable: Theses with scores of below 14

Amendment: Theses can attain the excellent grade if published in reliable domestic or international scientific magazines in the form of essays or whose acceptance of publication is presented. It is obvious that presenting an essay or its acceptance of publication is necessary for all theses and must take place before the defense session and announcement of their final score.

Article 56) All students are obliged to defend their theses in the last semester, and failure to do so and acquire a passing score in the allowed duration of education, even if they have successfully passed all subject credits of the corresponding educational program, will result in the students being fired.

Article 57) The number of credits and scores of theses will be recorded in the last semester, and the students are exempted from observing the maximum allowed number of credits in the last semester.

Article 58) Graduation is the time when students pass all their subject credits, including their theses (whichever comes later).

Article 59) All rights related to theses are reserved by the university.

Article 60) A copy of the summary of each thesis must be sent to the Department of Research and Technology of the corresponding ministry for purposes of utilization and informing other centers.

Chapter Nine

Graduation

Article 61) Students who have successfully passed all subject credits and educational stages in general dentistry, and have successfully defended their theses based on the program approved in in this regulations manual, will be recognized as graduate students of general dentistry.