Quality assurance, academic standards, and institutional controls

The purpose of education is to serve the public interest through extending knowledge and understanding and fostering critical thinking and expression in staff and students, and then in society more widely. Academic freedom is essential to the achieving these goals.

• Freedom in teaching and discussion
• Freedom in carrying out research without commercial or political interference 
• Freedom to disseminate and publish one's research findings 
• Freedom from institutional censorship, including the right to express one's opinion publicly about the institution or the education system in which one works 
• Freedom to participate in professional and representative academic bodies, including trade unions

SMC staff have the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, opinion, expression, association and assembly. Staff must not be hindered or impeded in exercising their civil rights as citizens, including the right to contribute to social change through free expression of opinion on matters of public interest.

Academic freedom implies the development of open, democratic and collegial forms of institutional governance. SMC academic and academic-related staff hold the key role in determining the curriculum, assessment standards and research priorities. Academic freedom also mandates that academic and academic-related staff have the right to elect representatives to academic bodies, as well inclusion on governing bodies.

Academic and academic-related staff shall therefore be free to criticize and publish without fear for their jobs. Academic freedom is dependent upon proper employment conditions for higher and further education staff. Security of employment in the profession constitutes one of the major procedural safeguards of academic freedom and against arbitrary decisions by managements and funders.

Rights and responsibilities pertaining to Academic Freedom shall be contractually provided and ensured within any relevant work contract at SMC.

SMC welcomes qualified applicants with no discrimination towards their gender, age, cultural, ethnic, religious and racial backgrounds. Distance learning candidates are admitted on a continuous basis. Students from all over the world shall be admitted to SMC programmes under one of three categories:

• Degree Seeking (Full Admit): The student is fully admitted in a specified program of study. Admission at SMC sets minimum criteria which have been designed to identify applicants who have sound academic potential and who show creativity, critical thinking, social and moral values, evidence of English language proficiency and strong motivation.
• Admit With Conditions: This status is usually granted when the applicant has not met all requirements for Full Admit status. The student is allowed to enroll for a limited number of courses during which any outstanding requirements must be met as specified in the letter of admission. Failure to meet requirements may result in suspension from the program.
• Non-Degree Seeking: Students who pursue graduate study with no intention of obtaining a degree and include students pursuing courses for certification, licensure or professional development. Students seeking non-degree status must submit an application for admission and submit an official transcript indicating completion of a baccalaureate degree. Non-degree seeking students may later apply for admission to a degree program. Acceptance will be based upon meeting all admission requirements. In order to be applied towards the degree, credits earned as a non-degree student must meet the requirements of the department in which the student plans to pursue graduate studies.

Bachelor Program Admission Criteria

• High School diploma or equivalent (e.g. Secondary School leaving Certificate, Matriculation Certificate, Matura, Abitur, International Baccalaureate)
• Quality personal statement

Applicants in possession of qualifications that give access to universities in their home country are likely to be accepted provided that their qualifications can be assessed to be of comparable standard to those required by the SMC and related academic regulations. Each application shall be carefully evaluated on a per-case basis.

Master Program Admission Criteria

• Undergraduate degree from an internationally recognized academic institution
• GPA Requirement from their bachelor program from an accredited institution: minimum of 3.0
• Minimum of 3 years work experience in middle management or higher
• High quality personal essay

Doctorate Program Admission Criteria

• Graduate degree from an internationally recognized academic institution
• Minimum of 4 years work experience in an executive/ leadership/ managerial position involving independent decision-making
• GPA Requirement in their master program from an accredited institution: minimum of 3.0
• Scholarly personal essay

Proficiency in English

The below minimum criteria apply to all academic programs at SMC.

TOEFL score of 550 points or higher (or 213 on the computer based test) for non-native speakers, or equivalent. Applicants who have completed a minimum of 2 years in a full time academic institution in an English-speaking environment are exempted. The personal statement will also be an assessment of English proficiency.

Additional Criteria

Admission at SMC sets minimum criteria which have been designed to identify applicants who have sound academic potential and who show creativity, critical thinking, social and moral values, evidence of English language proficiency and strong motivation. Next to meeting the respective program criteria, the admission process can further take the following criteria into consideration:

• Academic background of the student in terms of class ranks, merits, etc.
• Quality of the educational institution attended
• Social and voluntary work
• Work experience and position
• General conduct
• Recommendations from the school/employer
• Overall assessment of ability to integrate in SMC
• Ability to work in teams
• Possible contribution to the enhancement of the values and reputation of SMC

Preference is given to those applicants who satisfy the maximum number of these criteria. In the case that applicants do not meet the admission criteria discussed earlier, SMC Administration might recommend courses or alternative paths for qualification enhancement.

Overview

All SMC Programs are provided entirely online in a synchronous cohort mode and can be followed from anywhere in the world.

Our Degree Programs are targeted at working professionals. Consequently, the curricula, sequence, and calendar have been meticulously crafted to provide utmost flexibility. They can be followed either part-time or full-time.

Our cohorts follow a schedule in relation to intakes and course availability. Students choose if they start a course at a given intake or if they choose to skip it and wait for a later intake of that very course. “Year” for a student is always relative and relates to the starting date for every student individually.

New Intakes start every two months, with the exception of July (summer break).

Standard Schedule

• Intake Frequency: bi-monthly (except July)
• Intake Dates: 1st or 2nd week of the Intake month
• Live Classes: twice per week for each course
• Live Classes Starting Times: between 6pm and 7pm

Details are published in the main calendar of the Learning System.

Variable Schedule

• online discussions
• submission dates
• Q & A sessions

These are relative to each course and may adapt at the discretion of the lecturer.

Respect of Others

Interacting and communicating within an international community may require additional efforts in understanding other people’s cultures and opinions. Part of the learning process will be to improve and enable these skills. We urge you to avoid foul language or other forms of expression that might be considered as offensive in your communication within the SMC environment and abroad.

Professionalism

The process of studying may often be extensive and challenging. It will require a lot of effort and consistency, which will lead to sustained excellence in academic performance. Inadequate academic results will however be sanctioned. Do not hesitate to contact us if you feel that problems of this type may occur; we are there to help you develop your skills and to encourage you to excel in your performance. 

Academic Honesty

Acts of plagiarism (copying other peoples’ work and presenting it as one’s own), impersonation (presenting false identity), assigning other people to conduct your academic work and output, and consulting unauthorized sources during exams, will all be considered as acts of serious academic misconduct. Evidence of misconduct with a criminal nature, e.g. hacking the systems and databases of SMC will result in immediate prosecution. Please refer to the “Academic Dishonesty” section in the “Welcome Course” or at the end of this document for further information.

Academic Misconduct and Dishonesty is defined as an act of obtaining or attempting to present academic work through fraudulent or deceptive means in order to obtain credit for this work. Academic dishonesty and misconduct includes but is not limited to:

Cheating

Failure to observe the expressed procedures of an academic exercise, including but not limited to: 

• Unauthorized use of commercial “research” services 
• Providing information to others without instructor’s permission or allowing the opportunity for others to obtain information that provides the recipient with an advantage on an exam or assignment 
• Unauthorized communicating with fellow students during a quiz or exam 
• Copying material from other student’s quiz or exam 
• Permitting another student to copy from a quiz or exam 
• Permitting another person to take a quiz, exam, or similar evaluation in lieu of the enrolled student 
• Using unauthorized materials, information, or study aids (e.g., textbook, notes, data, images, formula list, dictionary, calculator, etc.) in any academic exercise or exam 
• Unauthorized collaboration in providing or requesting assistance, such as sharing information on an academic exercise or exam through cell phones and texting 
• Unauthorized use of another person’s data in completing a computer or lab exercise 
• Using computer and word processing systems to gain access to, alter and/or use unauthorized information 
• Altering a graded exam or assignment and requesting that it be re-graded – submission of altered work after grading shall be considered academically dishonest, including but not limited to changing answers after an exam or assignment has been returned or submitting another’s exam as one’s own to gain credit

Fabrication

Falsification or invention of any information in an academic exercise, including but not limited to: 

• Fabricating or altering data to support research 
• Presenting results from research that was not performed 
• Crediting source material that was not directly used for research 
• Falsification, alteration or misrepresentation of official or unofficial records or documents including but not limited to academic transcripts academic documentation, letters of recommendation, and admissions applications or related documents

Plagiarism

The presentation of another’s words, images or ideas as if they were the student’s own, including but not limited to: 

• Stealing the written, oral, artistic, or original works or efforts of others and presenting them as one’s own 
• The submission of material, whether in part or whole, authored by another person or source (e.g., the internet, book, journal, etc.), whether that material is paraphrased, translated or copied in verbatim or near-verbatim form without properly acknowledging the source (it is the student’s responsibility to cite all sources) 
• The submission of material edited, in part or whole, by another person that results in the loss of the student’s original voice or ideas (i.e. while an editor or tutor may advise a student, the final submitted material must be the work of the student, not that of the editor or tutor) 
• Translating all or any part of material from another language and presenting it as if it were the student’s own original work 
• Unauthorized transfer and use of another person’s computer file as the student’s own 
• Unauthorized use of another person’s data in completing a computer exercise 

All members and student members shall refrain from all forms of harassment, prejudice and unfair discrimination whether on the grounds of sex, race, ethnic or national origin, religion, color, class, caring responsibilities, marital status, sexuality, disability, age or other status or personal characteristic.

SMC encourages individuals who are aware of misconduct to make good faith disclosures using the procedures provided in this policy, or in the case of discrimination or harassment based on age, colour, creed, disability, gender identity, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or any other basis protected by national or EU law.

Students have the right to withdraw from the program any time without reason. Students are not obliged to finish their studies however they are obliged to pay outstanding tuition payments in accordance with the SMC Student Contract and Standard Terms and Conditions. These foresee that no student will be obliged to continue to pay tuition as part of an installment plan. Past tuition payments cannot be refunded. SMC needs to be informed in writing on your decision to withdraw.