Understanding How Academic Credit Abroad Works
UCEAP works closely with the various UC campus offices to support students who participate in UCEAP study abroad programs.
Every program is assigned an academic specialist who is responsible for providing guidance to your student on:
- Course offerings
- Course registration abroad
- Grades and academic records
All students earn direct UC credit for the courses they take through UCEAP.
UCEAP will automatically transmit courses, units and grades back to the UC registrar, who will add them to your student's UC transcript.
Individual UC campuses, not UCEAP, determine how those courses count, whether they are for major, minor, general education or breadth requirements. Therefore, it's important for your student to initiate conversations on how courses taken abroad will apply to their individual degree progress by speaking with department or college advisors early in the application process (ideally before they apply to a program) and continue that communication throughout their study abroad experience.
Ultimately, it is up to your student to understand the petition process and follow the steps. UCEAP academic specialists will provide them with information on:
- Course registration steps
- Enrollment requirements
- Pass/No pass policies
- Assessment and grading processes
It is important that your student adheres to the UCEAP guidelines just as they would at their home UC. Your student will have contact with the academic specialist assigned to their program prior to departure and will continue to work with them while they are abroad.
FAQs
Host institutions abroad are not legally required to provide accommodations to US students. The accommodations a student receives at their UC campus may not be available when they study abroad.
If your student is registered with the Disability Services Office on their UC campus and receives academic accommodations, they should obtain a disability accommodations letter and submit it with their application as soon as possible.
UCEAP will help facilitate requesting academic accommodations, but it can take time to investigate whether specific accommodations are available.
It’s important to understand that grade reporting and transmission from courses taken abroad takes much longer than is typical at a UC. Students must be prepared for their grades to take, on average, one to three months to transfer back to their home campus.
Your student has a wide academic support network available to them, including their campus academic advisors, UCEAP academic specialists, and onsite staff. If they are struggling to adjust to the academic environment abroad, encourage them to reach out for help.
