Course equivalency
Background
Course equivalency is the term used in higher education describing how a course offered by one college or university relates to a course offered by another. If a course is viewed as equal or better than the course offered by the receiving college or university, the course can be noted as an equivalent course. The methods and measures used to determine course equivalency vary by institution, state, region and country.
Colleges and universities utilize collabortive platforms such as collegetransfer.net to perform the course equivalency determination and their publication. This way, sending and receiving institutions communicate how course offerings align online and in realtime. This enables the identification of new course equivalency opportunties across institutions by displaying the permutations and indirect links no one would be able to see standalone. By utilizing a shared course atlas and repository, institutions remove the duplication of effort that is often required collecting course catalogs from other colleges and universities. The accuracy of the course equivalency link is very important, since course changes may alter how receiving institutions accept or deny transfer credit. Many institutions publish their course equivalencies on their websites to help students navigate college transfer.
The most common course attributes evaluated to determine course equivalency are description, academic credits, type of instructor, method of instruction, length of the course, number of meetings, total class time, level of rigor, level of instruction, learning outcomes, grade scale, pre-requisites, co-requisites and textbook. This is not an exclusive list of course attributes. Generally, faculty perform the determination of course equivalencies. Course equivalency decisions can be appealed by presenting evidence to an academic department. Some institutions publish course equivalencies displaying how courses will be accepted by their academic departments satisfying degree requirements that may exist in transfer guides.
Another form of course equivalency is called curriculum mapping establishing a basis of comparison between courses offered by two or more institutions.