Transfer credit

Credits taken abroad may be transferred in one of three ways:

1. Unassigned faculty credit with year level (e.g., ARTS 3rd)
2. Unassigned department credit with year level (e.g., POLI 3rd)
   • Note that unassigned credit can also carry approvals towards breadth/distribution/etc. requirements
3. Specific course credit (e.g., PSYO 310)

You can suggest or request certain transfer credits, but the faculty or department reviewing your courses will determine how the credits transfer. For reference, you can view transferred courses from previous Go Global students through our course search tool.

Since many partner universities do not grant the same number of credits per course as UBC, a credit equivalency formula exists for each partner university.

Use the partner university search tool to search by university. View the equivalency formula under the “Academic Planning” and then “Course equivalency Formula” section of each partner page. This formula calculates the equivalent UBC credits from coursework taken abroad.

The maximum number of credits you can earn on a winter session term exchange is 18 UBC credits per term. This may vary by faculty, so check with your faculty’s academic advising office. The ability to take the equivalent of 18 UBC credits is also dependent upon course registration rules at your partner university. For the summer session, the maximum credits vary by summer program.

The minimum number of credits you need to be enrolled in are determined by your host institution. You also need to maintain minimum enrolment requirements for immigration purposes and student loans or scholarship eligibility, where applicable.

Unfortunately, not all courses meet the academic standard of UBC. If a course falls within the following categories and does not include any academic coursework, you may not be able to receive transfer credit for it:

• Physical education courses/ sports / activities (e.g., Kung Fu)
• Research or internship programs
• Field trips and sightseeing
• English language learning courses where English is not the partner university’s language of instruction
• Non-credit courses (e.g., Continuing Studies or Extended Learning)
• Courses without assessment (e.g., exams, papers, grades, etc.)

Ultimately, the faculty or department evaluating each course will determine if a course can be granted transfer credits.

This is up to you! Select courses open to Go Global students at the partner university that you are interested in and meet any prerequisites for. Make the most of your Go Global study program by selecting courses that may fulfill your academic requirements for your degree and/or are in topics not available at UBC.

Students often take upper-level academic courses during their exchange (e.g., courses that are equivalent to 300- and 400-level UBC courses), but lower-level academic courses can be taken as well.

Browse the course schedules at the partner university to see courses offered by using the partner university search tool, navigating to your partner university, and clicking “Partner Course Information” under the “Course availability and restrictions” section. You can also search the already evaluated courses that previous Go Global students have taken and transferred back using the course search tool.

Don’t see the course you want to take or transfer? Don’t worry, new ones are added all the time as students, including you, take new courses at our partner universities.

A course is likely a lower-level course if:

1. It does not have any prerequisites.
2. It is an “Introduction to” course.
3. It covers the subject at a very broad level without going into detail in a particular topic.

Courses in the last year of a three-year degree program will often transfer as upper-level UBC credit. Ultimately, the faculty or department evaluating each course will determine the year level.

You are welcome to do programs independently of Go Global, but it’s unlikely you’ll be able to transfer credit for coursework you complete. This includes programs at partner schools that Go Global has not offered that session.

When students apply for Go Global programs, we secure faculty approvals during the application review process that allow you to transfer credit. While students can apply to some programs directly without going through Go Global, they would need prior permission from their home faculty to transfer credit back to UBC. Independents are also ineligible for student services and funding opportunities related to Go Global programs.

If you’re considering applying to programs as an independent, please reach out to the Academic Advising office to discuss next steps for a Letter of Permission.

To minimize the time it takes to process your transfer credits complete the following steps:

1. Review the tutorial video above.
2. Log into the Transfer Credit Portal with your CWL.
3. Update the information in your student profile.
4. Then enter in your partner university details to begin a new package which will contain your requested courses for transfer credit.
5. Search and add courses that have already been transferred to your draft package (e.g. already exist in the database of evaluated courses), OR submit new course requests (more information below).
   • If a course has been approved towards UBC Vancouver but not UBC Okanagan, then a new instance of the course must be submitted so it can be approved for transfer back to UBC Okanagan.
6. Once you have added all of your course requests, submit your transfer credit package by the deadline for course review.

If you are taking a course at your partner university that has previously been transferred by other UBC Okanagan students, you can add this existing course to your package. In most cases, you don’t need to add any additional information.

Keep all of your syllabi and materials, even if the course already exists in our database. Course evaluations are reviewed every five years, and you may be asked to provide an updated syllabus to your faculty designate, listed above.

For any new course, you will need to provide detailed course information. The new course request form requires the following information:

• Course number (subject code & course code) & title at the partner university
• Instructor name & contact info
• Credit hours at the partner university
• Info about the degree structure at the partner university (e.g. 4-year undergraduate degree)
• Course description
• Prerequisites
• Description of assignments & grading breakdown
• Schedule of topics
• Reading list
• Copy of the syllabus
• What UBC credits you are requesting (what you think this course should transfer as)

• Refer to your partner university’s website
• Contact your course instructor (email, visit them during office hours, etc.).
• If they do not provide you with all the required information, compile the information yourself into a course outline format using the sample syllabus provided above
• If the course information is not in English, you will need to contact the relevant professor or department at your partner university to request an English version, or provide a rough translation to upload together with the original course syllabi

For any course(s) that you have added after submitting your package, please first e-mail your Go Global advisor to inform them that you need to add more courses to your course package. Your Go Global Advisor will then revert your course package to a stage that allows you to add more courses to it. Please note it may take longer for any added courses to be evaluated. Contact Go Global when adding any new courses separate from your original package.

For any course(s) that you have dropped, please email your Go Global Advisor and indicate which course(s) you have dropped. Your Advisor will then update your course package accordingly.

Some partners automatically send transcripts to us, while several partners require action on students’ part in order to release transcripts. Plan ahead and find out from the partner university or contact Go Global before the end of your study program to see whether you need to take any action for your transcript to be sent.

Results from the Transfer Credit Portal are added to your academic record only after your final transcript from the partner university has been received.

Check with your partner institution about completing any administrative tasks that will allow your transcript to be released and ensure that all official transcripts are sent directly to UBC Go Global. Please see the section above on “How do I ensure the release of my partner university transcript?” for more information.

It can take up to 16 weeks for courses to be evaluated by your faculty and department. Final transcripts from partner institutions are usually available about 2-3 months after the program ends. Once your final transcript has been uploaded to your portal account, the transfer credit will be added to your UBC academic record. This may take up to 2-4 additional weeks.

Go Global Okanagan receives over 200 course evaluation requests with each consisting of between 5 to 10 courses and coordinates with faculties and departments to get them evaluated.

It takes time to distribute your courses to all the relevant faculties for individual review, evaluate courses, receive and upload your transcript, and apply credits to your academic record. Transfer credit is a complex process involving many people from different units including partner institutions, Go Global, various faculties and departments, and Enrolment Services.

The results of the evaluation will appear online on Workday, in the separate “Transfer Credit” section under Academics (learn how with this step-by-step tutorial). You can track the status of your transfer credits in the Transfer Credit Portal.

Please contact your Go Global Advisor if you have any questions.

The credits that you earned at the partner institution will appear in your Academic profile on Workday under the “Academic Progress” and “Transfer Credit” tabs.

Grades earned abroad do not affect your UBC GPA nor appear on your UBC transcript. However, they are still part of your permanent academic record which may affect your applications to graduate programs as well as present or future funding. We suggest requesting additional transcript(s) from the partner institution for personal use.

Contact the appropriate advisor in your department or faculty. For program requirements, contact your departmental advisor. Bring a copy of your course syllabus with you when you meet with or e-mail your advisor. At their discretion, an advisor may waive a program or faculty requirement if they feel it has been met abroad.

For faculty requirements, connect with your Go Global Advisor for further support.

If you do not agree with how your course(s) has been evaluated, you can make an appeal for re-evaluation by contacting the relevant articulator. If you are not sure who to contact, please connect with your Go Global Advisor.

It is important to provide specific information about why you think the courses should be evaluated differently and supporting documentation.

When Go Global receives your official transcript from the partner university, a scanned copy will be available for you to download from the Transfer Credit Portal. The original hard copy transcript will be sealed with your permanent record at Enrolment Services. If Go Global receives multiple copies, we will contact you to come pick up any additional copies.

To obtain a transcript for personal use (e.g. for graduate school applications), you will need to request this directly from the partner university. Plan ahead and  find out about transcript policies at the partner institution and order transcripts for personal use before you leave.

Some admissions offices will accept an electronic copy of your partner university transcript from the Go Global office. Please connect with Go Global if the program you are applying to has indicated their willingness to accept a transcript from our office.