Transfer Credit Policies & Guidelines
Transfer Credit Policies & Guidelines (Semester)
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Overview
All study abroad courses are subject to faculty approval. OIE and faculty advisors review course syllabi every semester and summer to ensure that the courses you select qualify for elective, citation, secondary field, or concentration credit.
For a sense of the types of elective courses your peers have received credit for, review the courses listed here by country and program. Courses for all pre-approved SIT and IHP programs (with the exception of SIT language instruction courses), are also approved for elective credit.
To be eligible for credit, courses must fall within a liberal arts curriculum as defined by Harvard College. Here are examples of courses not eligible for transfer credit because they do not align with Harvard's curriculum or are not sufficiently rigorous.
General Guidelines
Credits toward your concentration (including joint and double), secondary field, language citation, divisional distribution, and/or electives may be earned through courses taken abroad.
General Education requirements cannot be fulfilled abroad.
You are expected to enroll in a full-time course load while studying abroad, as determined and approved by the study abroad program, the OIE, and consistent with College policies regarding full course loads. If you choose to underload while abroad, you are responsible for understanding the implications of doing so. Prior to studying abroad, you should discuss your study abroad course load and study plan with your Resident Dean and concentration advisor(s).
You must complete the Request for Course Approval forms in the OIE application portal, found via the Request Course Approval link under each program on the OIE list of semester or summer programs.
Departmental concentration, secondary field and/or language advisors will review each course taken abroad for approval. Courses for elective credit will be reviewed by the OIE in consultation with the Office of Undergraduate Education and/or faculty in the relevant academic department.
Study abroad course grades will not appear on your Harvard transcript and are not factored into your Harvard GPA. The name of the host institution and the number of credits you earned will appear on your Harvard transcript (example: “Granted 16.00 credits for work at Oxford University, St. Catherine’s College").
Credits earned from your study abroad experience count toward the total number of credits needed for graduation and (with approval) fulfillment of concentration and/or secondary field requirements.
Transfer Credit Policies
- You must earn a minimum grade of C- in order for a course to be eligible for transfer credit. Academic departments may have different minimum grade requirements, so please consult with the relevant department(s) if you are seeking concentration, secondary, or langauge credit for courses taken abroad.
- Courses taken pass/fail are not eligible for transfer credit unless there is no other grading basis for the course.
- You may earn up to 16 credits per semester abroad, and up to 8 credits per summer study abroad. You may not earn more than 32 credits from study abroad toward your Harvard degree (Harvard Summer School programs do not count towards this maximum). Academic departments may have their own policies regarding how many concentration/secondary/languge citation requirements may be fulfilled with study abroad courses.
- Courses must meet for at least four weeks and 36 hours of classroom instruction.
- Courses must be taught in-person. Online courses are not eligible for transfer credit.
- Courses must fall within the parameters of a liberal arts curriculum as defined by Harvard College and should be similar in content and scope to those offered by the College, not the professional schools.
- Courses with a professional focus in accounting, agronomy, education, business, marketing, communications, journalism, clinical medicine/psychology etc. are not eligible for transfer credit.
- Courses in studio arts, design, and other art-making subjects will be reviewed carefully by the relevant department and may not be eligible for transfer credit.
- Courses in research methods may be ineligible for credit. Speak directly with the relevant concentration adviser(s) for pre-approval.
- Courses are ineligible for transfer credit if they duplicate those for which you have already received credit at Harvard. Similarly, you may not take a course at Harvard that duplicates the content of a course for which you earned transfer credit while abroad.
- While you are encouraged to pursue an internship. service learning, and/or volunteer opportunity for personal enrichment, such experiences (and courses that exist to frame/support them) are not eligible for transfer credit, and may not be considered as a part of your full academic course load.
Elective Credit
Elective credit is simply credit towards graduation that does not fulfill any other degree requirement. The OIE manages the elective credit review process in consultation with the Office of Undergraduate Education and/or faculty in the relevant academic department. For more information on transferring elective credit, please contact the OIE.
Concentration Credit
It is your responsibility to consult with the appropriate departmental adviser(s) regarding concentration credit prior to studying abroad to understand course eligibility.
Departments have varying internal policies (minimum letter grades, how many courses may be taken for credit abroad, etc.) and it is your responsibility to to understand what (if any) apply to your concentration(s).
For a sense of the breadth of term-time courses approved for concentration credit and where they were taken, please review this example course list, organized by academic division and concentration.
Secondary Field Credit
- It is your responsibility to consult with the appropriate departmental advisor(s) regarding secondary field credit prior to studying abroad.
- Credit will be transferred in as elective credit and applied toward your secondary field upon completion of your study abroad experience through the relevant department and the Registrar's Office. The OIE is not responsible for applying secondary field credit.
General Education and Divisional Distribution Credit
While courses taken abroad cannot be counted towards General Education Requirements they may satisfy Divisional Distribution Requirements. For more information, please see the Harvard College Student Handbook.
Language Citation Credit
- The OIE does not advise on language citation credit
- Reach out to the relevant language advisor to understand the specific departmental processes for receiving language citation credit
Language Instruction Credit & Language Course Policy
- If you are studying in a non-Anglophone country, you are encouraged to take a language instruction course or a subject-matter course taught entirely in a language of the host country. Consult with the appropriate language department advisor regarding approval of any language courses.
- Beginning language courses are not always eligible for credit, and some language departments will not allow you to fulfill the language requirement abroad. For more information, review the specific guidelines below and consult the relevant language department advisor prior to studying abroad to understand their policies.
Language Level / Program Approval | Fulfill language requirement | Receive elective credit | Receive concentration credit |
|---|---|---|---|
Beginning language (program on pre-approved list) | Possible* | Possible* | With concentration approval |
Beginning language (program not on pre-approved list) | Possible* | Possible* | With concentration approval |
Second-year language or above (program on pre-approved list) | Yes | Yes | With concentration approval |
Second-year language or above (program not on pre-approved list) | Possible* | Possible* | With concentration approval |
*Will require students to pass a departmentally administered examination upon return to campus
- Courses will need to be reviewed by the appropriate Language Advisor during the abroad course enrollment process.
- Students taking beginning language courses abroad are required to pass a language placement exam administered by the language department, if seeking elective credit, even if taken as part of a pre-approved program.
- If a student receives a minimum of a B- or equivalent while participating on a program included in the pre-approved list of programs on the OIE website, the student will earn both elective credit and credit toward fulfilling the language requirement (only for second year and above language study).
- If a student participates on a program I included in the list of pre-approved programs (a petitioned program), the student will be eligible for elective credit if they receive a minimum grade of a B- or equivalent in the course. They will be eligible to apply the course toward fulfilling the language requirement for beginning or second-year (or above) language study by earning a passing grade on a language placement exam administered by the language department.
