Credit transfer and pre-approval of courses

Please note that processing and consideration takes time – so please apply in good time.

 

This page is intended for LIFE students, so if you have come from another University of Copenhagen faculty or elsewhere in Denmark, click here.

 

1) How to apply:

What can you apply for and from where can you apply?

 

You can apply for preliminary approval/credit transfer of courses offered by other faculties at the University of Copenhagen as well as at other Danish and foreign institutions of higher education.

 

• As a rule, courses within LIFE’s academic areas will be approved as long as they meet the academic level requirements. Language and literature courses, for example, are not considered relevant to LIFE study programmes and will not be approved.
• Courses from pre-approved institutions of higher education (and this still does not apply to language and literature courses) in this list can be automatically transferred for elective credits.
• You must ensure that there is room in your study plan (maximum number of credits) for the courses which you are applying for. You also need to find out whether the courses will replace the compulsory courses, form part of your core module courses or be transferred as elective credits. Contact Student Services for further assistance.
• You must receive preliminary approval of a course before you begin attending classes. This guarantees that the course’s credits can be transferred so they can count as part of your study programme. Please note that your preliminary approval is only valid for the period you have stated in your application.
• See also the general rules concerning credit transfer in the curriculum – common component, Chapter 6.6.
• SLING courses at the Danish Forestry College in Nødebo: BSc students in natural resources and landscape architecture can register for SLING courses without preliminary approval. MSc students wanting to follow SLING courses must obtain exemption at . MSc students in landscape management and landscape architecture can register for 131308 GIS without preliminary approval. To register for all courses, send an email to

Completing the form

 

If you want to attend courses which are to be transferred to your current LIFE study programme, you need to complete the application form for preliminary approval.

 

Please enclose the following:

 

• Course description including course weighting in ECTS/credits (or another type of weighting (hours/weeks)) as a Word or PDF file.
• Documentation specifying academic level.
• Syllabus/literature list (only for compulsory courses and subject courses).

When completing the form, please note that:

 

• Both the Danish and the English titles must be correct, as they will be used on the diploma.
• You must clearly state whether the course is to be transferred as a compulsory LIFE course, core module course or as elective credits.
• It is necessary to clearly state which course descriptions and syllabus lists belong to which courses.

This preliminary work on your part speeds up the application process considerably and is ultimately for your own benefit.

 

It is important that you do not submit documents where you have written on both sides of the paper as we are unable to scan both sides for our registry system.

 

The completed form including all documents and enclosures can be handed in at Reception or sent to either or

Faculty of Life Sciences

for Foods, Veterinary Medicine and Natural Resources

Faculty Services/Study and Students’ Affairs

Bülowsvej 17

1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark

 

When applying for preliminary approval of stays abroad, please be aware that:

 

You need to start planning in good time. It is important that your stay does not extend the duration of your studies, which means that your stay must be part of your studies at LIFE. On the face of it, it might be hard to see how it fits in with your studies, but help is available.

 

All study boards are aware that it must be possible to integrate a stay abroad in your study programme, as the academic areas want and prioritise internationalisation of the students’ profiles. Therefore they are flexible. So, if you do not have a complete period with elective courses, you can instead try and find courses at the desired host university which can match either subject courses or compulsory courses.

 

Possibly contact a director of studies for assistance, or contact Student Services to find out what exact credits have previously been transferred for students within your field of study.

 

Planning a stay abroad might seem complicated, but remember that it is well worth the effort at the end of the day – both academically and personally.

 

• Courses in the 400s from the USA and Canada can be included in both the MSc and BSc programmes, but they will be calculated as BSc credits. Course numbers in the 100s, 200s and 300s designate BSc courses, while 500s and 600s are MSc courses for North American institutions.
• If you are due to be away during the spring semester, you must note that exams in block 2 may coincide with your stay abroad. If so, you must apply to the study board for permission to take an alternative form of exam (e.g. an oral exam, a paper as a substitution for part of an exam, or individual postponement of an exam). You will always have to apply to the secretariat of the study board to which your study programme belongs.
• If the courses at the host university are not listed with ECTS, you are obliged to procure the necessary documentation for what a full-time study consists of in local weighting (credits, units etc.)
• It is not always possible to obtain exact credit numbers from more exotic locations, but please try to get hold of documentation in the form of official statements (stamped or signed) from a person with professional insight who can confirm the workload and time spent on a course (27.5 hours = 1 ECTS).
• If during your stay abroad you want to change your study plan, you must immediately contact Study and Students’ Affairs at and supply all the information for your new courses in order to obtain a revised preliminary approval. This is extremely important as it is your guarantee that we will be able to transfer your credits to your Danish study programme.

2) Procedure

The handling time for general cases can be expected to be three weeks, and six weeks for more complex matters. Moreover, longer case administration times should be expected at the beginning of each semester and during the holidays. Make sure to apply in good time.

 

When Study and Students’ Affairs receives your application, it will be considered according to the following principles:

 

• If it falls into the category of courses which are automatically granted preliminary approval, the application is handled administratively, and the administration time is thereby reduced.
• If the courses cannot automatically be pre-approved, the application is sent for consideration by a credit transfer contact who assesses the academic content of the course. If the course is to replace a compulsory course – or a core module course – the application must then be forwarded to the person responsible for the course and/or the director of studies, and the case will thereby take close to six weeks.

3) The final credit transfer application

After passing the pre-approved course, you need to send in a transcript of records with appropriate stamps/signatures for credits obtained at Danish institutions and the original diploma for credits obtained at foreign institutions. You can also choose to stop by Reception and show the original documents. Remember to state your matriculation number. Your credits will then be registered within two months. You do not need to enclose your preliminary approval, as we can check whether you have one.

 

Please note that your courses will only be transferred if the credits applied for fall within your credit limit at the time of transfer.

 

No preliminary approval

If you wish to transfer credits for courses attended at another institution and you do not have preliminary approval, please complete the credit transfer form. The application should include all the aforementioned enclosures for a preliminary approval as well as an original diploma/transcript.

 

Assessment of study periods abroad

Upon your return you must remember to complete an assessment form for your stay – you are required to do so! Submit the assessment form to Study and Students’ Affairs or send it to:

Faculty of Life Sciences

Faculty Services/Study and Students’ Affairs

Bülowsvej 17, 1870 Frederiksberg C

 

4) How will your credit transfer be registered?

Substitution for a compulsory activity can only be granted if there is a substantial overlap between the external course and the compulsory LIFE course. Substitution can only be granted for an entire course with an individual course number and exam part.

 

Students transferring courses from a previous study programme have the option of whether or not they want to transfer their remaining credits. The intention is to give more freedom of choice to those students who, for example, arrive with massive chemistry or mathematics courses but who no longer wish to pursue these academic areas.

 

On the other hand, Study and Students’ Affairs is very much aware that LIFE students applying for preliminary approval of courses with a specific number of credits must transfer the remaining credits. If more credits have been obtained for the compulsory course, the remaining credits will appear as remaining credits in the group of elective credits. You must therefore be careful that you do not use up your quota of elective credits with remaining credits.

 

If you already have preliminary approval, you will receive an updated transcript by email when the credit transfer is registered in STADS.

 

Credit-transferred marks

The credits from all foreign courses will be transferred without marks providing they have been passed.

 

All Danish credits that are transferred with marks and which are registered after 1 September 2007 will be transferred according to the 7-point marking scale. This applies even though the exam has been held before this date.

 

5) Appeals re credit transfers, including appeals to the Credit Transfer Appeals Committee and the Qualifications Committee

If you are unhappy about a decision relating to a credit application, you can decide to lodge an appeal with the Associate Dean for Education. You must submit your appeal within 14 days of receiving the decision. You should know that processing an appeal can take up to two months after it has been received by Study & Students’ Affairs because the ECTS contacts, the people responsible for the course, the study board and the Education Committee all need to be involved.

 

If you fail to win your appeal, you are still able to make an appeal to the Credit Transfer Appeals Committee (deadline for appeals: two weeks) or the Qualifications Committee (deadline for appeals: four weeks), but you will receive further information about the procedure in the final rejection of your appeal from the Associate Dean for Education.