General Catalog 2023-2024

Class Attendance and Student Leave of Absence

Regular class attendance and meeting the requirements established for courses offered by non-traditional modalities are considered by the University as essential elements of the educational process. For this reason, class attendance is required of every student registered in courses requiring their presence and in online education courses. Class attendance is defined as the presence of the student by means of an official communication with the professor, as has been determined, to carry out an academic activity related with the course. In the same manner, the fulfillment of requirements is compulsory for all courses offered by non-traditional modalities. Student participation in institutional activities will be considered a valid excuse for not attending class. Students are responsible for completing course requirements as stipulated in the course syllabus.

Students, who during the period established in the academic calendar, have never attended a course, will be dropped administratively. This includes courses offered by nontraditional modalities. The professor will identify in final grade in the electronic registry, the students who have never attended or participated in an activity academically related to the course. The annotation AW will be used to identify these students. For administrative purposes, these administrative drops will be considered the same as withdrawals requested by the student, as established in the Adjustments and the Reimbursements section. Inter American University requires its faculty to report the last day of attendance, or of any other course-related activity of students who stop attending class in each academic term. For this, the faculty must keep a record of class attendance of the students, or of their participation in the other activities of the course. The faculty will access the list of students in their courses in Inter Web and will assign UW to every student that has stopped attending class and will write the date of the student’s last day of attendance or his last academic activity of the course, without having withdrawn officially, see the section of Administrative Action Symbols, UW.

The last date of class attendance will be used to determine the applicable refund for students who stop attending class without officially withdrawing. This arrangement is established in harmony with University regulations.

Student Leave of Absence

The Inter American University of Puerto Rico recognizes that situations may arise that require a student to have to interrupt their studies. Normative Document E-0921-008 Standards for attending, evaluating and granting students' requests for leave of absence establishes the rules for attending, evaluating and determining under what circumstances the student can request and the University grant, a leave of absence. These rules apply to all students of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico.

For the purposes of the applicable regulations, “Leave of Absence” is a temporary interruption of a student's study program, for a specific period, in which the student is absent from academic activity. This, does not apply to a recess period decreed by the Institution.

The student who requires this license must follow the procedure established in the regulatory document indicated above. In the Leave of Absence request, the student must specify the reason that justifies his or her request. Among the causes that may justify a request for leave are, but are not limited to, illness for a limited period, family circumstances, being out of the country due to work, need to attend to an emergency matter, serious illness of the applicant, financial hardship or other cause or circumstance beyond your control. Leave and military discharge are not considered just cause for the purposes of this Leave of Absence and, therefore, are given different administrative treatment.

Before submitting the request for Leave of Absence, the student is required to meet with the Enrollment Manager or the designated person, to receive guidance on the effect of the Leave of Absence, on their financial aid, the consequences of not return once the License ends, if approved, and the effect on the Satisfactory Academic Progress Standard if not reinstated once the License ends.