10.8 Evaluating and awarding academic credit

The institution publishes policies for evaluating, awarding, and accepting credit not originating from the institution. The institution ensures (a) the academic quality of any credit or coursework recorded on its transcript, (b) an approval process with oversight by persons academically qualified to make the necessary judgments, and (c) the credit awarded is comparable to a designated credit experience and is consistent with the institution’s mission.

Judgment

x Compliance o Non-Compliance o Partial Compliance

Narrative

UL Lafayette recognizes that beneficial learning experiences occur outside of the University’s campus. Therefore, the University has policies and procedures for evaluating, awarding, and accepting credit for transfer, advanced placement, and professional certificates. The regulations governing transfer of credit, advanced placement, and other forms of alternative academic credit are published in the University Catalog. Credit is not awarded for experiential learning.

A. UL Lafayette ensures the academic quality of any credit or coursework recorded on its transcripts.

In general, UL Lafayette accepts all credits awarded by a regionally accredited institution. To facilitate transfer of credit, the University has developed articulation agreements that indicate course equivalencies. All articulation agreements require faculty review of course syllabi from the transferring institution to ensure course quality and compatibility with UL Lafayette offerings. The Louisiana Board of Regents (BOR) compiles a statewide general education, natural sciences, and business Course Articulation Matrix listing hundreds of courses and their equivalents at every two‐ and four‐year state institution. In addition, UL Lafayette has separate articulation agreements with major transfer feeder institutions, South Louisiana Community College and Louisiana State University – Eunice. Finally, the University has established “2 + 2” programs with these two institutions. In all of these documents, course equivalencies have been determined with the qualitative input and approval of the relevant academic programs. In the course of periodic reviews, faculty members provide a syllabus assessment of course content and learning outcomes and make recommendations for any course addition or deletion in these articulation matrices which are then communicated to the BOR.

The BOR Articulation Matrix, as well as information related to the articulation agreements and “2+2” programs, is available to the public on the Academic Affairs website.

The Admissions Office determines which transfer courses are acceptable to the University. All courses with a grade of “D” or better, from regionally accredited colleges and universities, are transferable to the University, though those courses may not be applicable to a degree. The application of a given transfer course to a degree program is determined by the Department Head and Dean. The Board of Regents’ Articulation Matrix developed by the State of Louisiana is used in determining equivalents for many lower‐level courses. Additional requirements and exceptions to this general policy are applied in the following units:

· College of Nursing and Allied Health Professions: Students who transfer from another institution into the BSN program are subject to the same rules regarding credit and progression as UL Lafayette’s “native” students. For example, nursing students may enroll in required nursing courses only twice; a student who earns a “D,” “F,” or “W” a second time must leave the nursing program. Transfer students’ past records are evaluated according to the same criteria.

· College of Engineering: Technical courses leading to a two‐year associate degree or to a four‐year technology degree are accepted only by the Department of Industrial Technology. Engineering courses at or above the 300 level are accepted toward a degree only if they were taken in an engineering program accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).

· International Students: The Office of Admissions makes a determination of an international student’s eligibility for admission based on the credentials submitted for evaluation. An international student is considered a transfer student if he or she has attended a postsecondary educational institution. International transfer students must meet all of the minimum admissions requirements as set by the University, and by the college and the department in which admission is sought. In addition, international students must submit evidence of English proficiency in the form of an official Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) result.

Undergraduate Colleges

First‐time freshmen are eligible to earn college credit through several programs. Advanced Placement credit is awarded to highly qualified high school students based on their scores on the College Entrance Examination Board’s (CEEB) AP exams. A list of credits UL Lafayette awards for the various scores for each of these examinations is found in the University Catalog.

Students who have participated in the College Entrance Examination Board’s College Level Examination Program (CLEP), the College Level GED program, the American College Test’s Proficiency Examination Program (PEP), or other recognized advanced placement programs may submit transcripts of these examinations to the Office of Admissions for evaluation and possible credit.

First‐time freshman and transfer students who have not enrolled in any college‐level English or Mathematics course, and who have special competence in a given academic area, may also qualify for college credit through the University’s own Advance Credit Exam (ACE). Generally, ACT scores serve as a guide to eligibility for this program, and credit may be automatic or may depend on successful completion of oral or written examinations conducted by the academic department in question. Credits may be awarded in Biology, Business Systems Analysis and Technology (BSAT), Chemistry, Communication, Computer Science, English, Mathematics, Modern Languages, Music, Physics, and Visual Arts.

A student may apply to the appropriate academic Dean to take a credit examination for skills‐based and knowledge‐based courses at the 100 and 200 levels in which no term paper is required and class participation in discussion is not a central component for the course. In addition, certain 300‐ or 400-level courses may be considered appropriate for credit by examination. Academic departments and Deans determine courses appropriate for individual credit examinations. Only students who are regularly enrolled and who claim special competence gained through practical experience, extensive training, or completion of courses in non‐accredited institutions may apply for a credit examination. Additional information on credit examinations can be found in the University Catalog.

The University recognizes the validity of the recommendations in the current edition of “A Guide to the Evaluation of Education Experiences in the Armed Services” and grants credit for certain military schools, subject to the approval of the Director of Admissions and the student’s academic dean.

Graduate School

The Graduate School recognizes the appropriateness of accepting credits completed at another regionally accredited institution for course work equivalent to course work at UL Lafayette. The Graduate School requires evidence of correspondence between transferrable credit and credit offered by UL Lafayette. A maximum of nine or 12 semester hours of transfer graduate credit may be applied toward fulfillment of requirements for a master's degree, depending on the total number of credits required for the degree. An unspecified number of semester hours of transfer graduate credit may be applied toward fulfillment of requirements for the PhD degree. No Ph.D. program accepts more than half of the candidate’s degree credits from another institution. Transfer credits are limited to 12 semester hours for the EdD degree and 19 semester hours for the DNP degree. Transfer of graduate credit requires the approval of the Dean of the Graduate School, and is subject to conditions outlined in the University Catalog.

B. UL Lafayette ensures an approval process with oversight by persons academically qualified to make the necessary judgments.

Transfer Credit Evaluators in the Office of the University Registrar are responsible for working with the appropriate academic colleges and faculty to ensure accurate and timely evaluation of transfer credits. The team currently includes two full-time Transfer Credit Evaluators and an Associate Registrar, and another two evaluator positions are expected to be filled in Fall 2019, as part of a concerted campus effort to enhance the transfer credit evaluation process, and to review transfer credit policies and practices.

The Transfer Credit Evaluators are well qualified—each has a Bachelor’s degree and prior experience working with transfer credits—and they are well trained. Over the Summer and Fall 2018 semesters, the team members attended training conducted by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO). They then engaged in numerous meetings with academic colleges and faculty to ensure full understanding of the departments’ course offerings, including course descriptions and learning outcomes.

The Registrar’s Office has also successfully implemented College Source’s Transfer Evaluation System (TES) software to enhance the speed and accuracy of transfer credit evaluations. This software allows the transfer credit evaluators, academic colleges, and academic departments to access catalogs from hundreds of post-secondary institutions. The software also offers an electronic workflow that allows the Transfer Credit Evaluators to send an evaluation request to an appropriate academic department for evaluation. The system then documents the evaluation decision made by the academic department, which allows the transfer credit evaluator to add the evaluation to the articulation table in Banner. The University has also purchased the Transferology software for implementation in Fall 2019. This tool allows prospective students to gauge the transferrable credit hours that may apply to their degree program upon admission to the University.

Ultimately, all decisions about determining appropriate course equivalencies between UL Lafayette and any other institution rely on the content expertise of qualified faculty members in their respective subject areas. The University’s articulation tables, as well as individual assessments of courses for the purpose of transfer credit, have been developed with input from the relevant academic units on campus. The Board of Regents’ Articulation Matrix is updated on a yearly basis, and articulation agreements with other institutions are periodically reviewed for curriculum accuracy.

C. UL Lafayette ensures that the credit awarded is comparable to a designated credit experience and is consistent with the institution’s mission.

The University records all academic credit not originating from the institution on the official academic transcript. Both transfer credit earned under an articulation agreement and credits not earned under an articulation agreement are clearly labeled as transfer credit at the beginning of the official transcript. The name of the institution where the credit originated is also clearly visible to the reader. AP and other examination-based credits are also displayed on the transcript.