vimal_bhatia2@yahoo.com (Vimal) wrote in message news:<b6fc6dda.0308280957.62444eaa@posting.google.com>...
> Rune, I have found a course on Financial Topics in Product Design
> (talks about profit/loss/cash-flow/budget etc) in my department.
> Sounds good, however I may not get paper for doing taking up this
> course!!

Over here, students that are presently enrolled at the university 
are admitted to take any course offered by the university, and to take 
an exam. Which means that you basically can take any number of courses 
you want, in addition to those you have signed up for as part of your 
degree, as long as you keep up with the regular program. 

Also, any person, out of university, who has a university degree has 
the right to take (almost) any course he or she likes, at his or her own 
time and expence, though for an administrative fee.

Upon taking an exam on such extracurricular courses, a grade is granted.
If you are a regular student taking an extra course, this grade will be
written with all the other grades, though tagged as "extracurricular, 
not part of the PhD degree" or something to that effect. Which, of course, 
is good since it shows a prospective employer that you have the capacity 
to take extra courses even in the turmoil of a PhD scholarship.
 
If you are not a full-time student, a letter is issued that states what 
course was taken, when, and the grade. Such a course may or may not form 
part of a degree program later, but usually the students at least want to 
put such courses on their CVs.

So, if you take an exam in this course, the grade will be written 
somewhere, either with your other grades or on a separate piece of paper. 
That's sufficient for you to state on your CV that you have taken this 
course, and that's what you want. 

Apart, of course, from the fact that you may learn something...

Rune