At ECLA, all official information is communicated to students through their ECLA email accounts and the internal Google Calendar, weekly schedules on the ECLA website and the Cafeteria screen. Students are therefore expected to check their email accounts daily and to consult weekly schedules on the website, the Google Calendar or the Cafeteria.

Academy Year

Project Year

BA in Value Studies

International Summer University

State of the World Week

Studio Component

All students are automatically registered in the programme core courses.

Registration for concentration seminars, core electives, reading groups, elective and language courses is carried out electronically in the second half of August (for the autumn term courses) and in week 8 of the autumn and winter terms for the following term courses. During the registration period, students are asked to submit their course preferences:

1^st and 2^nd year BA students submit their concentration seminar and elective preferences (numbering electives listed in the order of preference) together with any language course they would like to take. In addition, 2^nd year BA students submit core elective preferences.

AY students submit their elective preferences (numbering electives listed in the order of preference) together with any language course they would like to take.

4^th year BA and PY students submit their elective preferences (numbering electives listed in the order of preference) and reading group preferences together with any language course they would like to take.

Late Registration

Drop/Add Procedures

Work Overload/Underload

Life in the classroom should always be intellectually uncompromising and stimulating, and it is the responsibility of all participants - not just the lecturer or seminar leader - to make sure that this is the case. Most of ECLA's teaching formats are based on conversation, and all of the teaching formats are based on active learning and joint effort. Punctual attendance, a willingness to prepare carefully for class, and active participation in discussion are essential.

Lateness, lack of preparation and non-participation means wasting the time of peers and teachers and demonstrates unacceptable disrespect for the intellectual community that it is ECLA's purpose to foster. Students are expected to pursue their studies thoughtfully, with diligence and academic seriousness. Participation is, therefore, also a matter of quality, not quantity: speaking for the sake of it and monopolizing the discussion are not productive modes of participation.

The aim of each seminar is to achieve fruitful and frank dialogue about important questions vis-à-vis shared objects of attention. Issues discussed in ECLA classrooms may well divide people and ECLA emphasises the value of the intense debate that often emerges. However, the discussion should remain at all times academic, rigorous, and respectful. Everyone should recognize that without patient and attentive listening there is no dialogue.

The absence policy at ECLA is designed to support its pedagogical ideal of awarding a large percentage of final credit for active participation in class while allowing the students to monitor their own participation rates.

Students are required to attend all scheduled lectures, seminars, tutorials, and related curricular events. ECLA does not offer examinations. Regular and punctual attendance is therefore one of the requirements for continued enrolment in the academic programme. Students are responsible for all work missed including work missed due to medical leave or leave of absence.

Students should pay careful attention to the percentage of their participation in individual courses, as well as in the overall programme to maintain their enrolment status.

Absences may be categorized as:

• unexcused absences
• absences due to medical reasons
• leave of absence

Late Arrival

Absence from Individual Courses

Absences Overall

Absence from Tutorials

Absence or Non-completion of Written Work Due to Medical Reasons

Leave of Absence

Essay Submission

Feedback

Late essays that are up to 24 hours late will be downgraded one full grade (from B+ to C+, for example). Essays that are more than 24 hours late will also be downgraded one full grade and cannot receive a higher grade than C. Instructors are not obliged to accept essays that are more than 72 hours late.

ECLA relies on a centralized electronic submission system for submission of written work. If, for any reason, the electronic submission system appears not to be working students are required to send their essays directly by email to their seminar leaders, and also to send a prompt warning to ECLA's Network Administrator informing of the problem.

IMPORTANT: Only where both of these requirements have been met will the grade be open to complaint and adjudication.

Complete academic integrity is essential to the success of ECLA programmes. Failure to observe it makes meaningful interaction between student and instructor impossible and is therefore entirely unacceptable.

Each student's work is the product of his or her own effort. Any form of plagiarism is a serious violation of the code of academic honesty. 

In general, plagiarism means offering the words, ideas or arguments of another person as one's own work without appropriate attribution, by quotation, reference or footnote.

Plagiarism occurs when the words of another are reproduced without acknowledgment or when the ideas or arguments of another are paraphrased in such a way as to lead the reader to believe that they originated with the writer. Faculty members are requested to be definite and explicit about what constitutes plagiarism in the writing of papers.  

Faculty members who suspect that a student has plagiarized academic work should first confront the student directly and, if their suspicion is confirmed, notify the Academic Administration of the College for adjudication.

A committee consisting of the faculty member in whose class the plagiarism occurred, two additional faculty members, and the Academic Administration will meet to determine the seriousness of the violation and its consequences.

Plagiarism may result in immediate dismissal from the programme.

Grading

Faculty evaluation of student performance is based both on students' written work and their active participation in all aspects of the course. This includes preparation for, and attendance of, all lectures, seminars and tutorials, and active, productive participation in class discussions. The course syllabus and criteria for academic work will be reviewed with students during the first class of each course.

ECLA's teaching formats enable both faculty and a student to review and evaluate the student's ongoing performance in each course. For this purpose, partial grades in each course are communicated to a student at different times during a term.

Individual faculty members are responsible for communicating the following grades to the students in their courses:

Essay grades are communicated to a student during the tutorial in which the essay is discussed.

Seminar grades in electives and reading groups are communicated in writing to students twice during term: at the end of week 5 (mid-term) and at the end of week 10 (final seminar grade for the course). Seminar grades in the AY/BA 1^st year cores course are communicated in writing to the students at the end of each rotation by the relevant seminar leader.

Final course grades are communicated to a student by the College Registrar through grade reports distributed to students at the beginning of the following term unless a student requests to receive his or her grade report at an earlier date. Students wishing to receive their grade reports electronically should consult the College Registrar for further information.

Grading System

ECLA Credits

Bennington College Credits

An official transcript is the complete listing of all courses a student has taken, the credits and grades earned for those courses, and the student's overall programme GPA. Credits and grades earned for the non-programme courses (e.g., language courses) are not calculated in the overall programme GPA, but listed separately. The transcript key on the back side of each official transcript page contains information on the academic programmes, ECLA grading and credit systems.

Official transcripts can be obtained from the Registrar's Office. Students wishing to receive an Official Transcript should fill out the Transcript Request Form, available for download from the ECLA website or at the Registrar's Office. Only forms bearing the student's handwritten signatures will be processed. Students may submit their requests by post, fax, or in person. Emailed requests will be only considered if the applicable form is signed by the student in handwriting and attached to the email in an image format (PDF, JPEG, BMP, etc.).

ECLA issues first 3 transcript copies free of charge. BA students are exempt from payment. Regular processing time for transcript requests is five working days, which does not include the time required for the international mailing of transcripts. During peak periods (e.g., end of term, registration, etc.) the time required to process official transcript requests may be longer, so students should consult the College Registrar as soon as possible.

Transcripts will not be issued for students who have outstanding debts to ECLA.

ECLA students who have successfully completed one of ECLA's academic programmes may also apply for Bennington College transcripts. For more information consult the College Registrar. Students should allow at least four to six weeks for processing and mailing as this is an inter-institutional transcript request.

The College Registrar provides students with several different forms of student status verification:

Students may request the above verifications by filling out and submitting the Enrolment/Programme Completion Verification Form to the Registrar. Only forms bearing the student's handwritten signatures will be processed. Students may submit their requests by post, fax, or in person. Emailed requests will be only considered if the applicable form is signed by the student in handwriting and attached to the email in an image format (PDF, JPEG, BMP, etc.).

Generally, processing time for Student Status Verifications is three to five working days. Students should be aware that during peak periods (e.g., end of term, registration, etc.) the time required to process requests may be longer, and are advised to consult the Registrar for notice of the processing time. Student Status Verifications are issued free of charge.

Student feedback on courses is vital information for ECLA in evaluating the success of courses and in reviewing its academic programmes.

Before the end of each term, students are requested to fill out and submit course evaluations for core, elective and (where applicable) language courses. The Registrar sends an evaluation pack to the students per email. Students are asked to reflect on and evaluate individual teaching performances and key aspects of course design and delivery.  The deadline for returning completed evaluations is generally five to seven days after the evaluation forms are sent. 

Official transcripts will not be issued to students who have failed to return their evaluations.

ECLA holds a graduation ceremony in June for AY and PY students who have studied at ECLA during that academic year. BA students can apply to receive AY certificates and participate in the ceremony. All other BA students are welcome to attend the AY and PY graduation ceremony and are asked to notify the College Registrar and the Residential Life Coordinator no later than a month prior to the graduation ceremony if they plan on attending.  

Graduating students are requested to fill out and return the Graduation Checklist to the College Registrar one month prior to the graduation ceremony. 

This form is intended primarily to ensure that the correct name appears on the student's graduation certificate. Students who fail to return this form to the College Registrar risk their names appearing incorrectly on their certificates. The Graduation Checklist may be obtained from the Registrar's Office or downloaded from the ECLA website.

Students are encouraged to submit their ECLA and Bennington transcript requests well in advance of the graduation ceremony, as the processing times take longer after graduation as this is a peak period for the Registrar's Offices at ECLA as well as at Bennington College.

Students with outstanding debts to ECLA will not receive their certificates during the graduation ceremony; but will receive an empty certificate case instead. Students are therefore strongly advised to check whether their student account is on hold for any reason: Has the tuition fee been paid in full? Do you have outstanding fees and fines? Have you returned all library books? Are there keys that you have yet to return? It is the students' responsibility to make sure their certificates do not get withheld!

All graduating students are encouraged to invite their family to the graduation ceremony. As the space permits only a limited number of guests, students can invite up to two immediate relatives. Other family members and friends may be eligible to attend the ceremony at a reduced cost. Students wishing to invite guests are advised to contact the Residential Life Coordinator for invitations and further information well in advance of the graduation ceremony.

Attending other academic programmes while studying at ECLA is generally permitted only where it has been approved by the Admissions Committee as one of the conditions of the student's enrolment at ECLA. Failure of the student to inform the Academic Administration of enrolment in other programmes may result in probation or dismissal.

Probationary status indicates that the student is in some way failing to fulfil the requirements for continued enrolment in one of ECLA's academic programmes. Typical reasons for probation include irresponsible attitude towards studies or otherwise unsatisfactory academic performance, and behaviour that is incompatible with the life of the community.

The student will be notified of his or her probationary status through a probationary letter. The probationary letter will outline the reasons for his or her probation and will make specific recommendations for the improvement of his or her academic standing.

Probationary status results automatically on the recommendation either of two faculty members or of the Residential Life Coordinator and one faculty member. Once a student has been placed on probation, a probationary committee will be formed.

The probationary committee will be made up of the faculty members in whose classes the student is enrolled at that time, the Academic Administration, and the Residential Life Coordinator. Should the original recommendation for probationary status come from faculty members other than those in whose classes the student is enrolled at that time, the probationary committee will be expanded to include such faculty members.

The probationary committee meets to discuss the student's status no later than 4 weeks after the initial decision to place the student on probation. In rare cases students may be kept on probation for more than one term. In no case may probationary status extend beyond two consecutive terms.

Students on probation retain probationary status until such time as a subsequent meeting of the probationary committee results either in the lifting of probation or a recommendation for dismissal.

Students should consider withdrawing from the academic programme when it is foreseeable that personal or medical conditions will prevent them from fulfilling all or some of the programme requirements.

Withdrawal forms are available in the Registrar's Office and must be submitted for approval to the Academic Administration. The effective date of withdrawal is the date on which the withdrawal form is received by the College.

When a request for withdrawal is approved, voluntary withdrawal will be indicated in the student's records. The student will not be subject to any academic penalty.

Students who have withdrawn from the College need to vacate their rooms and leave the Campus by Sunday 8pm of the week of withdrawal.

If, in the judgment of the ECLA faculty and administration, a student is not capable of fulfilling ECLA's academic or community requirements, the student may be asked to withdraw, or may be subject to dismissal, depending on the seriousness of non-compliance with those requirements.

Under most circumstances, a student who withdraws or is dismissed must leave the campus within 48 hours of the decision.

If a student is judged to be a threat to the community or commits a severe offence that in ECLA's judgment is sufficiently destructive to the community, that student is subject to immediate expulsion without prior warning. Students who are expelled under these circumstances must leave the campus immediately.

NOTE: In cases of dismissal and expulsion ECLA reserves the right to determine the status of any credits the student may have earned while at ECLA, as well as any fees or refunds.