Academics

The classes you take while studying abroad may count for graded Ohio State credit and be factored into your GPA.

Credit evaluation basics

Faculty-led Programs

The pre-established course credit is noted on the Academics tab on each program brochure. Your program’s faculty resident director(s) will provide you with a syllabus prior to departure. You are encouraged to direct any questions about how you will be assessed to your resident director(s). Your academic advisor can advise you on how the credit you earn can fulfill graduation requirements.

Third Party Provider/Direct Enroll/International Exchange Programs

All credits earned will transfer to Ohio State as graded credit, and will go towards ones' GPA, pending approval of individual academic departments via the credit evaluation process. Consult the host institution’s website for course descriptions and/or syllabi for the classes you wish to take, as well as several back-up options.

Meet with your academic advisor in your college of enrollment (Arts and Sciences, Business, Education and Human Ecology, etc.) well in advance of your global education program to discuss your plans. Ohio State academic departments approve Ohio State equivalency credit for courses completed during your program, but your academic advisor will advise you on how your global education credit fulfills graduation requirements (major, minor, general education and/or elective credit hours). Your academic advisor can also help you plan your course schedule for the semesters preceding and following your program so that you continue to make progress toward your academic degree without interruption.

Grading systems vary across the globe. At the beginning of the program, you should understand how you will be evaluated and who is responsible for submitting the final course grades to Ohio State. In many cases, the course syllabus will define course objectives and requirements, including criteria for grading.

Tutorial

Credit evaluation process

For most programs, you are required to obtain credit pre-approval for the courses you take while studying abroad. In order to receive Ohio State credit for a course taken at another institution or program, you will need to initiate a credit evaluation process well in advance of departure.

Each academic department at Ohio State has a designated transfer credit coordinator. For each course that you take abroad, you will work with the transfer credit coordinator who represents the academic department where you'd like to earn credit. This coordinator will review your course information and assign an Ohio State graded course equivalency, if applicable. You may need to meet with coordinators from several different departments.

Some programs have existing pre-approved courses available. Students who take pre-approved courses will not need to complete the credit evaluation process for those courses. Pre-approved course listings are located under the academics tab of each program brochure page, which can be found in each program listing page found via the search function. If your chosen program does not have existing Ohio State course credit indicated in the academic tab, you will need to complete the steps outlined below.

Global education credit evaluation steps:

1. Visit your program provider or host institution’s website to view course offerings. Determine the courses you would like to take along with a back-up course for each. In most cases, your course selection will not be finalized until you arrive in your program’s host country.
2. Identify the transfer credit coordinator for the department in which you wish to receive credit. View the transfer credit coordinator list to find the appropriate contact.
3. If you wish to receive credit from different departments, you must contact the transfer credit coordinator in each department.
4. For each transfer credit coordinator you contact you will need to provide them with a copy of the OIA Global Education Evaluation of Credit Form. You will also need to provide them with a copy of the syllabus or course description for each class you plan to take during the global education program.
5. The departmental transfer credit coordinator will review your course syllabi and and complete the OIA Global Education Evaluation of Credit Form using these instructions, as appropriate. 

• Return the completed Evaluation of Credit Form electronically to Tony Valle, global education liaison for the College of Arts and Sciences. The form must come from the Ohio State email address of the transfer credit coordinator.
• For programs in the College of Engineering only, completed forms may be sent to  Leslie Callihan.
• For programs the College of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Science only, completed forms may be sent to Elizabeth Shuman.

Important points to remember:

• All courses taken abroad must be evaluated for graded Ohio State credit.
• Some transfer credit coordinators may not sign off on a course until you have returned from your global education experience. If you meet with the coordinator upon return, you may be required to show a syllabi, transcript and completed coursework. Please be sure to bring course materials home with you.
• A transfer credit coordinator cannot sign off on a course that is not within his or her department. For example, someone in the History department cannot sign off on International Studies credit.
• You must have all courses signed off before any of the credit that you obtained abroad can be posted to your record.
• You will have one semester from the time that we receive your overseas transcript to complete this process. If you do not complete the process within that timeframe, a hold will be placed on your account and a grade of "E" will be recorded on the placeholder course.
• Once your credit evaluations and transcript are submitted to Tony Valle (or other appropriate contact), it may take up to a week for the credit to appear on your record. When the graded credit is posted, it will appear under the Transfer Credit tab of your Buckeye Link page.
• You are responsible for making sure that a transcript is sent to our office. 
• If you had all courses that you took abroad pre-approved, the sponsoring college's education abroad liaison will notify the Registrar of the final results.
• If you took courses abroad that were not pre-approved, or you need to obtain final approval, you will need to visit with the appropriate transfer credit coordinator before any of the course(s) taken abroad will be posted.