Advice and Guidelines
Information about university education
Is it possible to enroll in two different specialties at the same time?
Years ago, this was legal and there were no restrictions. For example, we could find someone studying medicine while concurrently studying French or English, until a decision was issued on November 3, 2011, prohibiting studying in two different specialties at the same time.
The application of this law began with the 2012 Baccalaureate in many universities, where a mandatory document was added to the university registration file (an honorary pledge not to register with a second Baccalaureate). However, the added document was not generalized in all universities at that time.
In the 2013 Baccalaureate, the use of the honorary pledge expanded to other universities, while only a few universities did not add the pledge despite applying the law.
What to do to register with the new Baccalaureate without violating the law?
If you don't like the specialty you were directed to with your first Baccalaureate and you obtained a better average in the second Baccalaureate, you can switch to the specialty you want. All you have to do is withdraw your first Baccalaureate and permanently abandon the first specialty (academic leave is not enough). After that, you can register with the second Baccalaureate normally and study in the new specialty.
When can one study two specialties?
After obtaining a university degree, you cannot study another specialty until 5 years have passed. After 5 years, you have the option to either register with a new Baccalaureate or register with the old Baccalaureate, according to the admission averages of the year you obtained the Baccalaureate degree.
How can the university discover studying two specialties, and what are the potential penalties?
The truth is that some students managed to register in two different specialties even after the 2012 Baccalaureate, either due to ignorance of the law or the universities' negligence in verifying student registrations.
Discovering the matter when the two specialties are in the same university is easy because it is done automatically, whereas in two different universities, it is difficult to verify it before the student obtains the degree in one of the specialties, but non-discovery is not guaranteed.
If the matter is discovered before the start of classes, the legal penalty is the cancellation of registration in the second specialty. If the discovery is delayed, the penalty may vary from one university to another, and usually, it involves either making the student choose between the two specialties or canceling their registration in both as a penalty, especially if they submitted the honorary pledge upon registration.
There are rumors about prohibiting successful Baccalaureate candidates from registering as independent candidates. How true is this?
There is no truth to this. You can always register for the Baccalaureate as an independent candidate. The only thing prohibited is studying two specialties at the same time.