Course equivalency

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. A course equivalency can be unilateral, meaning it is deemed equivalent by the receiver. Or, it could be bilateral, meaning both sender and receiver acknowledge their acceptance of each other's course as equivalent. The methods and measures used to determine course equivalency vary by institution, state, region and country. Course equivalencies are determined, tracked and maintained historically by the receiving institution.

Background

College transfer often requires the determination and evaluation of prior course learning. Historically, receiving institutions usually maintain course equivalency tables listing how courses equate by institution. Unless the receiving institution maintains an online public reference, sending institutions often have difficulty projecting transferbility of their course offerings. The process of evaluation usually requires the transfering student to request an official academic transcript from all the institutions they had previously attended. The administrative function to review one or more academic transcripts, begins with checking the course equivalency tables to see if the identical course has already been reviewed and approved. If not, the workflow to evaluate additional courses is triggered. Depending on the number of courses listed on a student's transcripts, the evaluation process can take some time before all the decisions are assembled and given to the student.

Colleges and universities historically have utilized standalone electronic tools to track course equivalencies and facilitate the course evaluation process. Institutions, led by state education agencies are shifting to collaboration tools and shared repositories like the National Course Atlas to facilitate how they propose, evaluate and track course equivalency decisions online. Further, utilizing shared tools and content enables institutions to ensure systematic procedures applied quickly, accurately, and equally by reducing the duplication of effort and the lack of transparency across institutional curricula.

The most common course attributes evaluated to determine course equivalency are description, academic credits, accreditation, 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.

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Background

See also

References