Academic Credit for Study Abroad

Pre-Advising:
Students participating in TSU Study Abroad programs are required to meet with an academic advisor to discuss courses to be completed on their chosen program. The Academic Advisement Form serves as a tentative approval for your plan of study. If information on specific courses is unavailable, general topics and levels of study should be listed. If possible, students should include more courses than they plan to take as some courses may be unavailable by the start of the program. The advisement does NOT constitute a pre-approval of courses. Coursework completed abroad must be evaluated by the academic units granting equivalent credit at TSU during the Credit Approval Process upon the student's return to campus.

It is the student's responsibility to follow through with the program at the exchange site. Occasionally, situations beyond a student's control will prevent the student from being able to take certain specific courses. In those cases, the student should take courses that are similar to those listed on the advisement and consult with the academic advisor at TSU concerning substitutions that have been made.

Credit Approval Process:
Students should request that all transcripts for study abroad be sent to the OIE at this address.

TSU University
Office of International Education
Tarleton Center, P.O. Box T-0770
Stephenville, TX 76402

Once the Office of International Education has received transcripts for work completed abroad, credit approval forms will be issued and the student is contacted to come in to pick them up. Students may wish to have the exit interview at the time they pick up these forms.
It is the student's responsibility to bring any syllabi, papers, reports or projects produced for the course taken abroad to the TSU faculty who will evaluate the credit.
Faculty in the department that grants similar credit will evaluate the work. The department then designates a TSU course that may be considered equivalent to the course taken abroad. Credit from Affiliated programs are assessed for credit and hours. Credit from Reciprocal programs are assessed for credit, hours and equivalent grades. The determined equivalents are indicated on the Credit Approval form provided by the OIE. The student must then return this form to the Office of International Education.
Once the OIE receives the signed forms, it oversees the notification of the appropriate academic deans who are then asked to instruct the registrar to post credit for the student.

It is very important that students understand their responsibilities in this process.
CREDIT DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY TRANSFER BACK TO TSU - STUDENTS MUST HAVE THEIR CREDIT APPROVED BY FACULTY IN DEPARTMENTS AT TSU THAT TEACH SIMILAR COURSES.