MSDA Admission Requirements

Bachelor’s degree earned in a discipline appropriate for the prospective graduate degree, with a minimum cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale or its established equivalent.

Prospective MSDA student is required to fulfill any one of the following requirements for admission as given below:

1. A minimum score of 550 out of 677 on Institutional Test of English as Foreign Language (TOEFL-ITP), 79 for IBT; 213 for CBT.
2. A minimum score of 6.0 on International English Language Testing System (IELTS - Academic).
3. A minimum score of 1400 in EmSAT Achieve English (Emirates Standardized Test).
4. Any other equivalent test standardized nationally, or internationally, recognized and approved by the MOE.

Table -3 English Proficiency Score Range for Direct Entry to Graduate Program

NOTE:

1. A native speaker who has completed his / her undergraduate education in an English-medium institution may not be required to provide certification in English Language Proficiency
2. Institutional TOEFL / IELTS score only from recognized testing centers or AMIDEAST is acceptable.
3. Requirements are applied regardless of educational system or country where student is coming from.
4. The English proficiency qualifying result should be submitted within 1 week of the commencement of the program
5. Transfer student need to have English proficiency eligibility upon registration failing which they will have to undergo the preparatory courses as given in above table-3
6. If a student joins graduate program immediately upon completion of the SUC undergraduate program, the English proficiency scores obtained at the time of admission to undergraduate program can be accepted for admission to the graduate program provided he meets requirements given in above table-3. Otherwise the student has to submit a new IELTS / TOEFL / EMSAT score as per requirement.

Prospective student is required to pass the personal interview set by the institution. The applicant is evaluated based on the desire and ability to learn, verbal communication, career goal clarity, general knowledge, subject knowledge and overall personality.

Candidates seeking admission in the MSDA Program of SUC and are short of meeting CGPA or English language proficiency criteria are categorized in the following table and such cases will be considered under conditional admission.

Case-BA: Candidates having CGPA ≥ 3.0 on 4.0 scale not meeting English Proficiency requirement.

Case-BB: Candidates having CGPA between 2.5 to 2.99.

Case-BC: Candidates having CGPA between 2.0 TO 2.49.

Candidates seeking admission in the MSDA Program of SUC and are short of meeting CGPA or English language proficiency criteria are categorized in the following table and such cases considered under conditional admission.

Case NA: Candidates having CGPA ≥ 3.0 on 4.0 scale

Case NB: Candidates having CGPA between 2.5 to 2.99

Case NC: Candidates having CGPA between 2.0 to 2.49

A candidate seeking admission to the MSDA program with a Bachelor’s Degree (3 years and above) obtained from a non-computing discipline is required to undergo a bridging program composed of seven MQP courses. In case a candidate has already completed any of the MQP courses in the Bachelor degree, he/she may be exempted from such courses provided they submit an official transcript for evaluation at the time of. However, the decision for the exemption will be made jointly by the Dean and VC upon carefully reviewing the course contents as per SUC TOC policy.

The following are the courses required to complete the MSDA Qualifying (Bridging) Program (MQP) to establish the required knowledge for a student before enrolling into the MSDA program.

All these courses are equivalent to three credit hours at the Undergraduate level. These credits cannot be used for replacing any of the MSDA level courses as these will be treated as non-credit bearing courses and are only for the purpose of completing MQP and no transcript shall be issued. Most of these courses are offered at the Undergraduate level enabling the aspirants to pick up any of these courses during the regular semesters of the BSIT/BSCS program or opt for MQP schedule.

1. TOC will be granted to courses with a grade C at the Undergraduate level with overall CGPA above 2
2. Fill up the MSDA Qualifying (Bridging) Program TOC application form in SUC
3. Submit the following TOC Admission entry requirement documents:
   1. The official transcript from accredited institutions
   2. Detailed syllabi (Credit Value, Level, detailed course content, learning outcomes/objective and indicative learning resources)
   3. Processing fee of AED 525/- (non-refundable) must be paid for evaluation
4. Undergraduate Students from streams other than Computing Sciences and Information Technology must complete all seven courses of Foundation bridging program (MSDA Qualifying Program – MQP). Transfer of credits can be granted for up to maximum 5 courses out of 7 courses of the MSDA Qualifying Program as per MQP TOC policy.

Non-IT/Non-Computing graduates who have completed MQP Program from an MOE approved institution will have to undergo a challenge exam at SUC.

Students taking challenge exam must fulfill the following conditions:

1. Achieve minimum ‘B’ grade in all seven MQP courses challenge exam to qualify and join the MSDA program without undergoing MQP.
2. Pay the applicable challenge exam fees for each course
3. Pass the challenge exam in the first attempt. There will be no second attempt provided.
4. If the student fails to appear for the challenge exam on the scheduled date, the student can take the challenge exam on a new date after paying the exam fees again.
5. If the Student fails to clear challenge exam, he/she has to undergo MQP by paying the applicable fee for MQP.

1. Computing Sciences and Information Technology Graduates

A candidate seeking admission to the MSDA program with a recognized Bachelor’s degree in Computing Science or Information Technology discipline and a minimum cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 2.0 to 2.49 on a 4.0 scale or its established equivalent, should register for 9 credit graduate level remedial courses given below. These remedial courses are not for credit within the degree program. The student must achieve a minimum CGPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, or its established equivalent within first semester in the following remedial courses in order to progress to the graduate program or be subject to dismissal.

2. Non-Computing Sciences and Non-Information Technology Graduates

A candidate seeking admission to the MSDA program with a recognized Bachelor’s degree in Non-Computing Science or Non-Information Technology discipline and a minimum cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 2.0 to 2.49 on a 4.0 scale or its established equivalent, should complete the MSDA qualifying program to qualify for conditional admission to MSDA program and then register for nine credit graduate level remedial courses from the courses listed below. These remedial courses are not for credit within the degree program. The student must achieve a minimum CGPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, or its established equivalent within first semester in the following remedial courses in order to progress to the graduate program or be subject to dismissal.

3. MSDA Remedial courses offered at SUC

The list of remedial courses are as follows:

The TOC committee consists of the above mentioned members to facilitate the TOC students receiving appropriate mapping with the existing courses of SUC as per the requirements given below.

1. To review mapping of the course and TOC Application.
2. To review and approve TOC Application.
3. To issue the final TOC approval letter to students.

SUC accepts students who are transferring from a federal or licensed institution in the UAE or a foreign institution of higher learning based outside the UAE and accredited in its home country.

A maximum of six credit hours can be accepted as transfer into the MSDA Program of SUC provided these credit hours are adequate to meet the requirements for Transfer of credits (TOC) procedures. All the courses in the curriculum are protected except the following courses that can be replaced by accepting TOC from any accredited MSDA-level program:

Transfer of credit is granted under the following conditions:

1. Applicants seeking transfer to a MSDA program offered at SUC must meet the direct entry requirements for admission to MSDA program
2. Applicants seeking Transfer admission cannot be conditionally admitted under any circumstances
3. The course contents mentioned in the Course Syllabus of the previous institution should match to a minimum of 75% of the SUC Syllabus of the corresponding course.
4. The student must attend a minimum of 75% of the credit hours of their study plan at SUC.
5. The credit hours completed must be equivalent to or higher than the corresponding courses offered at SUC.
6. Must have passed the course with a minimum of ‘B’ grade or equivalent and overall CGPA of 3.0 on a scale of 4.0
7. Transfer of credits cannot not be awarded to the Thesis, Capstone courses and protected courses.
8. Once TOC is granted and the graduation plan is signed by the student, the student cannot challenge the TOC decision during the progression of course.
9. Students of SUC may be permitted to pursue courses at any other Higher Education Institution only in extreme circumstances with prior approval from Administration and VC.
10. SUC does not credit twice for substantially the same course taken at two different institutions.
11. The grades of transferred courses will not be included while calculating the student’s Grade Point Average (GPA).
12. TOC processing fee is non-refundable (as per applicable fee structure)
13. Once the acceptable transfer of credits is decided, the student is informed about the applicable fee based on the courses accepted for transfer of credits and the student can then proceed for registration.

Transfer admission students must submit following documents:

1. The official transcript from accredited institutions.
2. Detailed syllabi (Credit Value, Level, detailed course content, learning outcomes/objective and indicative learning resources).
3. An official letter from the previous institution.
4. All documents mentioned in the admission requirements.
5. Applicable processing fee (non-refundable) must be paid for evaluation.
6. Once a student will change his/her concentration, he/she must reapply for the TOC with applicable fee.

SUC will accept transfer of credits only from the Institutions, which fulfills any of the following criteria:

1. Accredited by the Ministry of Education, UAE
2. Accredited by the Central or Regional accreditation bodies in the United States of America
3. Accredited by the UGC Grants Commission of India
4. Accredited by the HEC Grants Commission of Pakistan
5. Approved by the Quality Assurance Agency in Education, U.K.
6. Accredited/recognized by the Ministry of Higher Education for all other countries from where the student is seeking admission

Note:

1. For transfer from one program to another within SUC, the TOC application must be resubmitted. However, the fee structure for the respective program to which the student is transferred shall be applicable.
2. In case the student was granted any scholarship / fee waiver, the percentage of scholarship / fee waiver shall remain same. However, the amount of discount shall be calculated based on the new fee structure applicable for the specific school.

SUC admits People of determination after a due process of understanding the learning abilities and the approaches of teaching to them is clearly understood. SUC facilitates the special needs student by allocating extra time to help them learn without sacrificing the syllabus and the rigor required in it.

Upon meeting the admission requirements, the candidates shall be interviewed by the concerned teaching faculty members under the guidance of a committee, which shall be formed as and when required and the outcomes of the interview are recorded and communicated to the candidate and the Vice Chancellor for necessary actions.

The interview shall be focused on:

1. To understand the nature of shortcomings.
2. To understand the learning abilities, assessment modes, additional time required for completion.
3. To understand the learning abilities through computer.
4. To understand their skill levels in assessing.