Transfer credit

on-campus, walking, class

Transfer credit is crucial to studying abroad. Make sure you are familiar with how it works.

Transfer credits can take up to 16 weeks to process. You should allow sufficient time to meet important deadlines that may affect you — such as application for graduation, registration in courses that require prerequisites that you took on exchange, or entry to a major/honours program.

Need help navigating transfer credit? Follow the videos below:

Process overview

  1. Log into the transfer credit portal to begin a course evaluation request. You can track the progress of the evaluation here.
  2. Review the courses within the portal.
  3. If the course has not already been evaluated, submit a new request form for evaluation.
  4. An advisor will review your request and forward it for evaluation to the individual departments.
  5. When the evaluation is complete, the results will automatically be entered on your account in the transfer credit portal.
  6. Once your transcript from your host university is sent to Go Global, it will be forwarded to Enrolment Services. At this point, the results will be added to your academic record in Workday.
  7. View your transfer credit in Workday. Learn how with our step-by-step tutorial.

Transfer Credit Portal

Articulation requests are sent by Go Global to departmental articulators on the last Friday of every month. Transfer credit portals need to be submitted by the last Thursday of each month to be included, otherwise a one-month delay can be expected until the next round of requests are sent.

In addition to the above, you should be aware of the following suggested timelines:

Submission date: Expect results by: To:
February 28 May 31 Meet the course registration deadline for following Winter session.
April 30 August 30 Meet the November graduation deadline. Edit your fall schedule if needed.

UBC awards credits according to the credit ratio found on the partner page, not by the number of courses taken. This ratio can vary greatly between universities and countries so it is important you know what your credit ratio is.

Exchange students will be charged tuition for 15 credits per term while they are abroad. It is up to the student if they wish to take less, but they will still be charged the same amount and will have to make up those credits at some other point. It is also important to abide by the partner institutions course load policy as well as their visa/study permit regulations. Students can transfer back a maximum of 18 UBC credits per term.

Some faculties require students to receive pre-approval for their intended exchange courses. This process should be completed after you are accepted into the Go Global program but before you begin your exchange. If you would like to seek out approvals on your own before your registration date at the partner school, please follow the process provided for pre-approvals during Pre-Departure.

If you would like Go Global to obtain course approvals for you, submit your course package, including new courses, in the Transfer Credit Portal once your courses at the partner school are confirmed.

After your submissions have been evaluated by your faculty, they will contact you regarding the courses for which you have received conditional pre-approval. Pre-approval is conditional until Go Global receives your transcript and can confirm with your faculty that you have successfully completed your exchange courses.

If you change your course selection after you have arrived at your host university, contact your faculty advisor as soon as possible with information on your additional courses.

Applied Science and Human Kinetics

Due to the degree structure, students in these disciplines must obtain pre-approval for their exchange courses. A full course outline is required for evaluation. If this is not available before your exchange, you will be required to submit it once on exchange. In this case, pre-approval will not be possible.

Arts and Social Sciences

If you are seeking credit for a specific course (e.g. ANTH 343), it is recommended you obtain pre-approval prior to your exchange. If you are unsure if you will get credit for an upper- or lower-level course, it is recommended that you have the course pre-approved. Do not be three credits short of graduation because you did not complete this step.

Sciences

If you are seeking credit for a specific course (e.g. BIOL 366), it is recommended you obtain pre-approval prior to your exchange. If you are unsure if you will get credit for an upper- or lower-level course, it is recommended that you have the course pre-approved. Do not be three credits short of graduation because you did not complete this step.

Management

Management students must complete online course submissions prior to leaving on exchange; you must arrange to meet with the Management advisor to go over your courses. If your courses change upon arrival, contact the advisor by email to approve any new courses.

Note that, due to the volume of requests, Management articulations can take 4-8 weeks from the time of submission. It is highly recommended that you submit your articulation requests early.

Graduate Studies

The Faculty of Graduate Studies transfer credit policy of 12-credit (40%) restriction applies to students in UBC-approved exchange agreements. To ensure that the courses you take during exchange will be transferable toward your UBC graduate degree, review the student exchange agreements policy.

Faculty articulators

If you have questions about meeting your degree requirements or wish to discuss exchange courses, the advisors identified for your faculty/department are familiar with UBCO degree structures and Go Global and will be happy to assist you as much as they can.

  • Make sure you know which courses you still need to take to graduate. This will help you determine which courses you should take abroad.
  • Tip: Studying abroad is a good time to fulfill your electives. Faculty- and department-level courses specific courses (e.g. ANTH 435) are most easily fulfilled at UBC, whereas more flexible requirements (e.g. “Upper-level Anthropology” or “Coursework in any discipline”) are generally easily fulfilled while abroad.

The following programs require that you approve your courses prior to leaving on exchange:

  • Management
  • Health & Exercise Sciences
  • Engineering
  • Science

Course pre-approval is also highly recommended for Arts/Fine Arts if you have a specific credit or year-level needed (e.g. “third year” at a partner institution does not always mean “upper level” at UBC).

They will:

  • Review partner university courses.
  • Look at your UBC degree requirements.
  • Approve courses after you have been matched to a partner university, not before you’ve applied to Go Global.

They will not:

  • Review an extensive list of courses. Aim to have six to seven courses articulated, per term abroad.
  • Approve courses immediately. Allow time for approvals.

When meeting with an articulator, come with the following information:

  1. As much information as you can find for each course you plan to take (course description, URL, etc.).
  2. Credit equivalency for your partner university.
    • Credit equivalency is found on the partner page (e.g. six ANU credit points is equal to four UBCO credits).
  3. Length of your exchange (e.g. one term, full year, etc.).

To find the e-mail address for articulators listed in pdf files above, please search for them in the UBC Directory.

UBC Directory