Student Behavior
YCMES reminds all students that they are guests in Yemen. Respect and awareness of the local culture and environment is a necessity at all times, and international students should also remember that they are acting as an unofficial ambassador for their country, that their actions will affect Yemeni impressions of their country or region. The YCMES behavioral requirements and dress codes are therefore not meant to restrict individual rights but rather help students pleasantly and safely adjust to life in a more conservative country. This will preserve the good reputation held by the Yemen College of Middle Eastern Studies and its students.
Dress Code
Yemen is a conservative country with Islamic customs. We do not require that our students dress as Yemeni Muslims but we do require that they dress in a manner acceptable to their environs. Please observe the following rules during your studies in Yemen and do not:
- Wear trousers or shirts that reveal your midriff
- Wear blouses or dresses with short sleeves revealing the arms (women). Tank tops are unacceptable.
- Wear short skirts that fall above the ankles.
- Wear tight or low cut blouses.
- Wear any transparent clothing.
- Wear shorts in public (both men and women).
- Wear camouflage patterns or clothing suggestive of military or police.
Those students who choose to wear the local dress, in particular female students, should remember that while in such dress they will be held to a stricter standard of compliance with normative Yemeni behavior.
Students who violate the YCMES dress code will be given two warnings, the first verbal, the second written. If the violations persist past the two initial warnings then a meeting with the Student Affairs Office will be required. The outcome of this meeting will determine how the school will proceed with regards to the student in question. Continued and flagrant disregard for the dress code after meeting with the Student Affairs Office can be considered grounds for expulsion without refund of tuition.
Drug Policy
YCMES has a zero-tolerance policy regarding illegal drugs on school property. Students found to have drugs in their possession will be eligible for immediate expulsion without refund of tuition. In addition, public drunkenness is unacceptable. Walking in the street perceivably intoxicated is grounds for imprisonment according to Yemeni law. If one is imprisoned for public intoxication, YCMES cannot intervene in the legal process to have you released. Violations of the YCMES drug polices and the severity of penalty will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Incidents in violation of the drug policy may be considered grounds for expulsion from the YCMES program without refund of tuition.
Involvement in Prohibited Activities
YCMES students reside in Yemen on a student visa. A student visa restricts the holder from seeking employment and becoming involved in anti-government, military, religious, or clandestine activities. For the purpose of ensuring the safety and legal status of our students, involvement in such activities is prohibited. In addition, students are prohibited from volunteer work without prior approval by YCMES.
Examples of prohibited activities include (but are not limited to):
- Involvement with the activities of Yemen’s various political parties.
- Monitoring of, or inquiry into, military operations in Yemen.
- Proselytizing (including passing out religious literature, “witnessing,” etc.).
- Participation in religious organizations with anti-government, revolutionary or terrorist affiliation.
- Participation in demonstrations, sit-ins, riots and/or protests against the government.
- Seeking any kind of paid or unpaid employment without the express permission of the YCMES administration.
Participation in prohibited activities can be considered cause for immediate removal from the program without refund of tuition.
Discrimination & Sexual Harassment
YCMES is open to all qualified individuals regardless of race, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, or other quality in which discrimination is prohibited by US and EU laws. As such, the College is committed to maintaining an environment in which all staff and students feel comfortable working, and discrimination and sexual harassment cannot be tolerated.
Discrimination
Any instance in which a value distinction between people on the basis of class or category is made is considered discrimination. Examples of such categories include race, religion, sex, gender, disability, ethnicity, employment circumstances, sexual orientation and age.
Direct discrimination involves treating someone less favorably because of a real or perceived attribute (eg. sex, age, race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, disability). Indirect discrimination involves creating conditions that eliminate or limit a particular group within the student and faculty bodies without reasonable justification. It also includes creating a hostile environment for a person or group of people by using stereotypes or epithets or making derogatory remarks about that group of people, even if these remarks are not directed at a specific individual.
Discrimination can be considered grounds for expulsion without refund from YCMES programmes or termination of employment with YCMES with the incident permanently noted in the employee’s file.
Sexual Harassment
Sexual Harassment is defined as any unwelcome or unsolicited sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, comments of a sexual nature, or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual manner. This includes situations where submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment or academic standing, where submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for decisions affecting that individual’s employment or academic standing, or where such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work or academic performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment (a “hostile sexualized environment”). Hostile sexualized environments are environments where sexually explicit graffiti, sexually degrading posters and objects and so on are found, and/or where people make sexual jokes, say obscenities, or view internet pornography. None of these behaviors or objects need necessarily be directed at anyone in particular in order to create a hostile sexualized environment
Sexual harassment can be considered grounds for expulsion without refund from YCMES programmes or termination of employment with the YCMES with the incident permanently noted in the employee’s file.
Reporting cases of sexual Harassment & Discrimination
Any student, faculty member or staff member who feels that they have experienced sexual harassment or discrimination from either a faculty or staff member or student is encouraged to contact the Associate Dean and/or the Committee for Student Affairs. This committee, which is comprised of staff members, faculty, and a student representative, will make an inquest into the situation or event and respond according to the findings of that inquest.
- Informal Process: Though not required in a sexual harassment or discrimination case, the complainant is encouraged to first inform the respondent through verbal and/or written communication about the inappropriate behavior. This may be accompanied or followed by a report to a higher administrator, such as a dean.
- Formal Process: If a complaint cannot be resolved through the informal process or the complainant feels uncomfortable pursuing such a course of action, a formal written complaint must be submitted, initiating the formal complaint process for sexual harassment or discrimination.
- Written complaints should clearly document all incidents and details that the complainant has incurred. This should include dates, words, locations, and persons involved (and if any witnesses were present). This statement, signed and dated, is to be submitted to the investigating officer, the Associate Dean, unless he is the respondent. In this case, the complaint should be submitted to the President of the college.
- The Associate Dean will investigate the complaint, interviewing the complainant and respondent as well as any other involved parties. The respondent is provided a summary of the complaint, and allowed to submit his response.
- If no working solution can be obtained at this point, the case is then referred to the Committee for Student Affairs. This committee is made up of administrative workers, faculty members, and a student representative. The committee will review all documents and consult with the Associate Dean. Additional, independent interviews with all parties involved may be requested. After thorough investigation into the alleged sexual harassment or discrimination, the committee shall decide on a disciplinary or corrective action, if necessary, in consultation of college policy.
- If the decision is not satisfactory or believed to be biased by either party, the complainant and/or the respondent, then a formal hearing may be held. This hearing must be requested within two weeks from the declaration of the resolution. During this hearing, all parties may be brought in for testimony, exhibition of evidence for the panel, as well as any arguments concerning the allegations of sexual harassment or discrimination.
- The Committee on Student Affairs may then decide to affirm the original decision, reduce or increase the original sanction, or overturn the original decision.
Academic Policies
YCMES is a fully-accredited and high-quality academic institution whose credit hours are accepted by most universities in North America and Europe. Students are therefore expected to be hardworking and honest in their studies, and are asked to pay close attention to the following policies.
Attendance
Students are expected to attend all sessions, including mandatory lectures and outings, of the courses in which they are registered, and to be on time. Any absence, regardless of the reason, prevents the student from receiving the full benefit of the course. To be excused, an absence must be reported in advance of the class to be missed, and an acceptable excuse must be provided to the instructor. Unless arrangements are made prior to the absence, missed tests cannot be made up. In the case of an emergency absence for which prior notification is not possible, a written letter to the instructor detailing the reason for the absence should be submitted in a timely manner. Illness-related absences of three or more classes require a doctor’s note, and repeated, unexcused absence or excessive absence of any kind, as determined by the YCMES administration, constitutes grounds for failure of the course and/or expulsion from the program without refund of tuition.
Academic Dishonesty
Academic dishonesty or academic misconduct is any type of cheating that occurs in relation to a formal academic exercise. It can include:
- Plagiarism: The assumption or reproduction of ideas or words or statements, in whole or in part, of another person without due acknowledgment.
- Self-Plagiarism: The submission of the same work for academic credit more than once without permission.
- Fabrication:The falsification of data, information, or citations in any formal academic exercise.
- Deception: Providing false information to an instructor concerning a formal academic exercise, for example giving a false excuse for missing a deadline or falsely claiming to have submitted work.
- Cheating: Any attempt to give or obtain assistance in a formal academic exercise without due acknowledgment.
- Sabotage: Preventing others from completing their work.
Cases of academic dishonesty and appropriate punishments are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Incidents of academic dishonesty can lead to failure of a course and/or expulsion from the YCMES program without refund of tuition.
Academic Standing
Students are expected to maintain good academic standing during their studies with YCMES, which means maintaining a cumulative GPA and term GPA of 2.5 or higher and passing all of their courses.
- Academic Warning: When a student’s term GPA is lower than 2.5 but their cumulative GPA remains higher than 2.5, that student will receive an Academic Warning. Academic warnings are not recorded on a student’s transcript.
- Academic Probation: When a student’s cumulative GPA drops below 2.5, that student is placed on academic probation. Academic Probationary status is recorded on a student’s transcript. A student placed on academic probation must recover their academic standing (achieve a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher) at the end of the term following their probationary status or receive academic disqualification.>
- Academic Disqualification: When a student’s cumulative GPA is less than 2.5 and that student has already been placed on academic probation and not recovered good standing at the conclusion of their probationary period (one term), then that student is academically disqualified. The student is removed from the program and not allowed to re-enroll in future YCMES programs without reinstatement by the YCMES administration. Tuition will not be refunded in the case of Academic Disqualification.
Student Visas
All students who are studying at the Yemen College of Middle Eastern Studies are required to obtain a Yemeni student visa. YCMES follows all visa regulations set forth by the Yemeni Immigration Office and as a result cannot teach students on a tourist visa. YCMES acts as a sponsoring institution for students to study and live in Yemen, and will remain so only for the duration of a student’s study and stay with YCMES. At the end of a student’s study at YCMES, or if a student terminates their studies prematurely, the student visa will be cancelled through an exit visa issued by YCMES administration. A student will then be required to depart the country and may only return on a tourist visa. As a sponsoring institution, YCMES reserves the right to nullify the student visa of any student expelled from its programs for breaking student policies and/or other actions deemed appropriate by YCMES.