Important General Information: Overseas Course Credit Evaluation

On-Campus Crediting. Courses that UO students take in UO-approved overseas study programs receive regular UO academic credit—credit that is, to varying degrees, applicable to UO degree requirements (at the very least, as elective credits). Courses taken overseas in UO-approved programs count as if taken at the UO campus, receive UO credits and grades, and apply to students’ GPA’s. Therefore, UO overseas programs qualify for UO financial aid coverage (subject to all federal, state and UO restrictions).

Academic Credit. All courses taken by UO students in UO-approved overseas study programs receive academic credit in an academic department of the UO. The UO has entered into bilateral and multilateral exchange and consortium agreements in good faith, indicating that the UO deems all such partners as academically sound and worthy of cooperation. As such, any of the courses offered by these partner institutions and taken by UO students count as UO courses for said students. The Foreign Study Programs Committee is responsible for academic oversight of these agreements.

Credit Equivalency History. Once a credit equivalency for a particular overseas program course is established, it remains established for a period of seven academic years, provided that the partner institution or organization continues to offer the course in the same format, covering the same range of topics, and at the same level of local crediting. Therefore, course credit evaluation sets an important precedent.

Departmental Exceptions to Equivalency History. Academic departments have the authority to set a credit equivalency for a particular course in one fashion, while also making exceptions to the rule for individual UO students. For example, a department may have set an equivalency for a course to receive upper-division credit that is not applicable to the departmental major, but then allow one particular student to apply the course to the major as an exception to policy. Such exceptions are made by individual departments, often by major or undergraduate advisers.

All Courses Credited. Even if a particular department’s course evaluator decides not to award credit for a particular course under that respective department’s course coding, credit will likely be granted by another academic department. Please remember that this will set a seven-year precedent.

Timeliness Is Crucial. Timeliness of the course credit evaluation process is crucial, since many students are preparing for graduation and need to know what additional requirements they will need to complete.

OIP Override Authority. Under extreme circumstances, the Office of the Registrar has given OIP has the authority to grant credit—including for major/minor applicability—when individual department’s credit evaluators do not respond to credit evaluation requests for over one month, and the student’s overseas transcript is otherwise ready for completion. Such crediting, however, applies only to the individual student and does not set an equivalency precedent.

Credit Evaluator Assignment. Generally, each academic department and program assigns one faculty member the task of evaluating overseas courses for crediting. In some cases, this role is part of the job description for undergraduate or graduate program director or major adviser.

Faculty Evaluators. Although departments typically do assign a faculty member to evaluate courses, any regular faculty member may “sign off” on credit evaluation, thereby establishing the seven-year equivalency precedent.

Changes in Designated Evaluator. It is the responsibility of the department head or program coordinator to notify the OIP when the assigned credit evaluator changes (i.e., during a sabbatical or other leave of the regular evaluator, or permanent changes). Contact Shun Yanagishita.

Degree Audit Updating. While the OIP’s representative to the Office of the Registrar enters final credit and grade information in students’ transcripts, and thereby prompts the Registrar to update degree audit reports for general education requirements, it is the responsibility of the department or program to update degree audit reports for major/minor credit completion. Departments/programs should note that students’ transcripts are updated constantly (i.e., not only at the end of each term) with information from overseas study terms.

Contact Hours. As a rule, the usual expectations of contact hours do not directly apply to the evaluation of overseas courses, since foreign universities conduct their teaching in ways that are highly variable and not (necessarily) related to the U.S. system. Instead, OIP uses standardized credit equivalency formulae like those used by the Office of Admissions to determine the equivalent number of transfer credits from the same institutions/systems.