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Transfer of Swedish and Foreign University Credits


Course Entirely Completed at Another Higher Education Institution

If you have entirely completed a course studied at a higher education institution other than the University of Gävle which you wish to be included in your degree (higher education diploma, bachelor´s degree, master´s degree) you must state this when applying for your degree certificate.

If you have courses studied at a higher education institution other than the University of Gävle that you want to include in your professional qualification, you should apply to have these included as set out below. (A).

Part of Course Studied at Another Higher Education Institution

If you have part of a course studied at a higher education institution other than the University of Gävle, you need to apply to have it credited. See below (B).

Other Types of Education

If you want to include credits for education outside the higher education system, such as older education or education provided by another education provider, this must be assessed. What is assessed is whether this education can be considered equivalent to higher education. Contact us for more information.


The Higher Education Ordinance

The Higher Education Ordinance regulates the rights of students regarding transfer of credits and equivalence assessment of both Swedish and foreign education and actual competence. In order for an assessment to be made, you must have been admitted to and be carrying out studies at the University of Gävle. There is no general restriction on how much of a qualification can be comprised of transferred credits, as long as at least one course is from the higher education institution which issues the degree. A decision on transferring credits is valid at the higher education institution at which the decision has been made.

According to the degree ordinance, first and second cycle education includes professional qualifications (according to a separate list), general qualifications (University Diploma, Bachelor´s Degree and the two forms of Master´s Degree.

At the University of Gävle the following local provisions apply regarding transfer of credits in accordance with the University Board´s decision of 27.04.1993.

A) Professional qualifications

A decision on crediting education as part of a course is made by the lecturer who is the examiner for that course. A decision on crediting education or activities as part of a qualification is made by the person responsible for the subject/programme director.

B) General qualifications

A decision on crediting education as part of a course is made by the lecturer who is the examiner for that course. In such cases, initial contact should be made with the faculty concerned. A decision on crediting education as part of a general degree (whole course) is made by the head of the student office. The degree office (studentsupport@hig.se) should be contacted initially.
At the University of Gävle there are no separate local regulations on maximum limits for transferring credits for courses studied.

What is examined in crediting education from another country as part of a Swedish degree is:

  • that the education completed is of the same nature as and can be considered to be at the same level as Swedish university education
  • that the education is reasonably in line with the aims of the degree being sought
  • that the education does not overlap with other education to be included in the degree
  • that the scope of the foreign education is to be recalculated in relation to the Swedish credits system

Procedure

Applications to transfer credits for an entire course are assessed by the University of Gävle:

  • for professional qualifications (nursing, specialist nursing and the university diploma specialising in estate agency) by the subject representative/programme director.
  • for general qualifications (i.e. university diploma, bachelor´s degree and 1 year master´s degree) after delegation from the head of the student office by the degree evaluation officer, possibly in consultation with the faculty/subject representative concerned.

Applications are made in writing regarding parts of a course and for professional qualifications and are handled by the respective faculty. A response is provided in writing. A negative decision can be appealed against and information on how to do so is appended to the decision.

Applications to transfer credits for education from another country should be accompanied by an officially issued original certificate of the education completed. The original will be returned. If the certificate is in a language other than Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, English, French or German, it is to be accompanied by an authorised translation. In addition, the course syllabus and reading list should normally also be enclosed and it is worth remembering to bring these with you on completion of studies abroad. It tends to be very difficult to recreate them afterwards.

If you are a student on an exchange programme, an advance assessment on transferring credits is part of the decision on exchange studies and is therefore made in advance. There is a special form for this. Of course, it is important that you are completely clear about what the assessment covers so that there is no cause for doubt once you have returned home. The assessment is to be made in writing. The same main principles as stated above otherwise apply.
When applying for a degree certificate, the decision on transferring credits is to be appended to the application.

In many cases you may wish to “credit" studies abroad as part of a course on which you are already registered. If this is the case, it is the examiner at the University of Gävle who decides what can be accepted as part of the grounds for the grade for the entire course. The examiner decides him or herself what documentation is required — normally this is the same as set out above, i.e. an official certificate, course syllabus and reading lists.

For students on exchange programmes this assessment is part of the decision on exchange studies and the institution will normally have obtained the information on the intended studies by other means. Nevertheless, it is still worth bringing adequate documentation home with you. At many foreign universities support courses in the language of the country are provided for exchange students. Credit for these courses is not usually transferred as they are not courses at university level. Decisions on transferring credits for courses can be appealed against.

Degree Certificate

The degree certificate lists the courses credited with their original name, i.e. as they were named at the higher education institution where you studied them. The certificate also states at which higher education institution the course was studied and if possible the grading scale which was used.
When results abroad are used to replace part of a course and the grade for the whole course is issued by the university, this is not normally shown on the certificate — what is entered on the certificate is the entire course with the grade, grading scale and the date. For students on exchange programmes, a line may be included stating that part of a course was completed within the framework of an exchange programme but here it is required that you support this with a certificate from the institution abroad, which must be appended to the application for a degree certificate in such cases.

Miscellaneous

It can take a long time before you receive an answer on transferring credits. Therefore it makes sense to apply in good time before you need your degree certificate; it is best to do so as soon as you have completed your studies abroad.
A decision on transferring credits applies at the higher education institution where the decision was made. If you have completed an academic undergraduate qualification in another country and have had this evaluated by the Swedish Council for Higher Education, you should append the statement to your application. This can considerably reduce the time it takes to process your application.

Information on transfer of credits that you have been given in advance, i.e. before documentation of the results is available and a real assessment can be made, is not legally binding.

Published by: Liselotte Laurila Page responsible: Maria Strand Updated: 2021-11-15
Högskolan i Gävle
www.hig.se
Box 801 76 GÄVLE
026-64 85 00 (växel)