Academic Credit

Study Abroad Courses

You are guaranteed to receive academic credit for all coursework taken on OU-approved study abroad programs. Your Academic Adviser can help you determine which courses make sense for you to take while abroad. Your Study Abroad Adviser will help you through the course equivalency and credit transfer process.

You must submit required documentation to receive credit.
Courses are equated by default to lower-division elective credit.
Upper-division electives, Gen Ed credit, and/or specific equivalencies to existing OU courses can be requested and are subject to approval. See below for the course approval flow chart.

How to Receive Credit

You can apply for course equivalencies before or after a study abroad program. We recommend applying before you go so you know how your courses will transfer back to OU. The deadline to apply for course equivalencies is one year after your program has ended.

All courses taken abroad will be posted to your OU transcript. Most OU courses taken abroad will show letter grades, see your Study Abroad Adviser for exceptions. For all other programs, passed courses will post as S (satisfactory) and failed courses will post as U (unsatisfactory).

You must be enrolled full-time on semester programs (12 hours for undergraduates). Summer programs do not have a minimum enrollment requirement, but some financial aid requires full-time enrollment for summer programs (6 hours for undergraduates).

Course Equivalency Process (Partner University & Partner Providers Only)

All study abroad coursework for Partner University and Partner Provider programs is automatically equated upon return as upper- or lower-division elective credit, as deemed appropriate by the OU Academic Records Office. The only exception is courses that were pre-equated prior to your departure.

Before requesting course equations, please check the existing course equations for your program on the program brochure under “Academics.” Course equations expire after three years, and the expiration date is listed in the Course Equivalency Table.

To request specific academic credit for courses taken abroad, you must follow the below procedures to guarantee official course equations. Please follow the instructions according to which type of credit you are seeking for your coursework.

Things to Consider

If you have the appropriate documentation, you can request course equations prior to studying abroad. If you cannot access the documentation that you will need (such as a syllabus), please contact your study abroad adviser.
If you are equating your courses ahead of time, you should still have a backup list of additional courses that you can take, in case your schedule does not work once you arrive or classes are cancelled.
You have up to one year after your return to the OU campus to finalize your course equations with the documentation you brought home.
If a course has an existing non-elective equation, you cannot change the existing equation or request a new one.
Please note that some course equations cannot be completed without the official transcript from your completed study abroad program. Transcripts usually begin to arrive 90 days after the completion of the program, though some programs may take longer to send transcripts. Your study abroad adviser will contact you once he/she has received your transcript, but please reach out to him/her if you need a copy of your transcript before Education Abroad has received it.
Study abroad advisers in Education Abroad are not academic advisers and cannot guarantee academic credit for any course, unless it has been pre-equated.
If you or your academic adviser have any questions on these processes, please contact your study abroad adviser or the Education Abroad Front Office.

Requesting Major- or Department-Specific Credit

Fill out this online form with your academic advisor or the appropriate adviser/faculty member from the department from which you wish to receive credit: https://lfforms.ou.edu/Forms/TransferCouseEval
Submit one form for each class, along with any course materials that you have (syllabi, exam/assignment information, textbook information, etc.).
Your academic adviser will either evaluate the credit or give the form and course materials to the professor most appropriate to evaluate that course for credit. This process can vary in length, and credit is not guaranteed. The course(s) must meet the standards and content of OU classes, as determined by the evaluator.

Requesting Language Credit

Request a copy of the transcript from your program from the Education Abroad Front Office in Farzaneh Hall, Room 144 or by emailing your study abroad adviser.
Submit your transcript to the appropriate Modern Lanugages adviser, along with any course materials that you have (syllabi, exam/assignment information, textbook information, etc.). This will most likely involve an in-person appointment with that language adviser to evaluate credit. If you are not sure who your language adviser is, please contact your study abroad adviser.
The language adviser will assign the appropriate language credit for the course(s) and inform Academic Records of the course equation(s) to be processed. This can take several weeks, and credit is not guaranteed. The course(s) must meet the standards and content of OU classes, as determined by the evaluator.

*Spanish and Japanese have separate processes. Please use the Spanish or Japanese Language Credit Approval Request Forms found on our Forms page.

*For languages not offered at OU (Korean, Czech, Dutch, etc.), the course(s) will post to your OU transcript as generic INTL or EAAP credit.

Requesting General Education Credit

The easiest way to get Gen Ed credit is to get your course equated to an OU course already on the approved General Education list. Otherwise, you will need to petition the Provost's Action Committee for General Education Oversight (PACGEO) when you return.

To petition the PACGEO committee, begin by filling out the top half of the General Education Evaluation Form (found on our Forms page).
Submit one form for each class to your academic adviser, along with any course materials that you have (syllabi, exam/assignment information, textbook information, etc.).
Your academic adviser will then submit your form and materials to the PACGEO committee for Gen Ed credit evaluation. This committee only meets one time each month, so the process can take several months to complete. Gen Ed credit is not guaranteed. The course(s) must meet the standards and content of OU classes, as determined by the PACGEO committee.
Once the form has been completed by the PACGEO committee, it is returned to the Education Abroad Front Office in Farzaneh Hall, Room 144 for processing.

Timeline for Credit Transfer for University Exchange and Affiliate Programs

We recommend talking to your Academic Advisor in Phase 2 to determine which courses are best to take while studying abroad.

Phase 3: You will complete the Study Abroad Course Plan to select preliminary courses. We also recommend starting the course equivalency process now.

Phase 4: You will complete the Enrollment Verification Form to confirm your final courses after enrollment. The form must be signed by a program official on-site. Before you leave, request your offical transcript be sent to Education Abroad.

Phase 5: Once your transcript arrives, we will notify you and Academic Records to post your courses and grades. Any courses not previously equated will post as lower-division electives. Once your courses have been posted, you have up to one year to complete the course equivalency process.