International Transfer Credit

Accreditation

For courses that are appropriate to the Rice curriculum, Rice will generally transfer credits from academic institutions who have United States regional accreditation, or its foreign equivalent, such as the government's Ministry of Education, or national government entity in the country.

Transfer Credit Conversion

All transferable credits from schools utilizing a credit system other than semester credit hours will be converted to semester credit hours. In accordance with university guidelines and based on the international transcript, the Office of the Registrar will attempt to determine appropriate transferable semester hour. Students might have to provide a professionally evaluated transcript if the Office of the Registrar is unable to make a clear distinction of the credit earned. In no instance will a course transfer in with credit greater than the semester hour equivalent originally earned for the coursework.

Professional Course-by-Course Evaluation

Students seeking transfer credit for courses taken pre-matriculation and post-matriculation at institutions outside the United States must present a professional course-by-course evaluation of the foreign official transcript. The professional evaluation must verify that the foreign institution is equivalent to a regionally accredited U.S. academic institution and must include an explanation of credits earned (including U.S. semester hour equivalents), grade equivalents, and course levels (lower-level, upper-level or graduate-level). Two reliable services with course-by-course evaluations that include this required information are:

All professional evaluations should be obtained from one of these two recommended credential services and submitted to the Office of the Registrar (for undergraduate students) or to the degree program (for graduate students). Payment for the professional evaluation is the responsibility of the student.

Study Abroad

Undergraduate Students

The Office of Study Abroad offers exciting overseas opportunities for academic enrichment and for gaining new perspectives abroad. Study abroad international transfer credit may be transferred back to Rice in the following situations:

Third-Party Providers: Students participating in a study abroad program with a third-party provider must provide a School of Record transcript in order to transfer credit back to Rice.

Direct Enrollment: Students participating in a study abroad program with direct enrollment into a foreign institution should be prepared to provide a professionally evaluated transcript if the Office of the Registrar is unable to make a clear distinction of the credit earned.

Undergraduate students interested in studying abroad are encouraged to contact the Office of Study Abroad at abroad@rice.edu.

Graduate Students

Graduate students interested in studying abroad are encouraged to contact their program of study. Graduate and Postdoctoral programs of study can be found on the GPS website here.

Additional Information

Non-Traditional Coursework

The following types of non-traditional coursework will not transfer to Rice for credit:

  • Life experience; courses offered by non-collegiate sponsors such as businesses and government agencies, and labor unions, even if evaluated by the American Council on Education (ACE)
  • Equivalency examinations (e.g. CLEP, DSST)
  • Remedial, college preparatory, and life skills courses
  • MOOCs (massive open online courses)
  • Areas of study offered by regionally accredited institutions but not offered at Rice, such as agriculture, hotel management, police academy, and fire science
  • Credit by Exam (CBE); credit obtained for a course through exam taken at another college/university