Global Education Policies

Academic policies for Tufts Programs Abroad 

All courses taken on Tufts Programs Abroad, including host-country university courses, will be awarded Tufts credit in the corresponding department (or as "All-College” credit if there is no corresponding department at Tufts). The program Director supervises and monitors your progress in order to ensure that you obtain full credit for courses taken in each program. 

Students must enroll in a full-time course load at their local institution or program site while they are abroad and it is not possible for students to enroll in any Medford-based courses (e.g., a remotely-taught directed study or similar) during the time they are abroad.

All students will have a Tufts Program Abroad study agreement put onto their student account preventing enrollment in on-campus courses during the intended semester abroad.* However, students will still need to electronically sign the ‘Registration Agreement’ in SIS so that they can be billed and have their Tufts Programs Abroad courses added once registered abroad.

*If a student later decides to withdraw from their Tufts Program Abroad, they will be given access to sign up for any open on-campus courses at the time the study agreement is removed from their account.

You may request formal approval for a course taken through a Tufts Program Abroad to be designated either as a direct equivalent to a Tufts course or as upper- or lower-level major credit by submitting an 'Equivalence Request for Tufts Programs Abroad' in SIS.

Find a Departmental Transfer of Credit Representative Submit an 'Equivalence Request for Tufts Programs Abroad' in SIS. 

• Courses taken pass/fail are not eligible for transfer credit (and transfer-credit courses are not counted as pass/fail and thus do not count towards your pass/fail allotment here at Tufts).
• Students must enroll in a full-time course load at their local institution or program site while they are abroad and it is not possible for students to enroll in any Medford-based courses (e.g., a remotely-taught directed study or similar) during the time they are abroad.
• Any courses that take place before the semester begins (e.g., pre-session courses, orientation courses, and introductory seminars) are not eligible for transfer credit.
   
• You will not receive transfer credit for any courses similar to those for which you have already received credit at Tufts or taught through a department that does not have a corresponding department here at Tufts.
   
• If courses are not pre-approved, it may be possible to gain course approval after completion of your program. Please note that this practice is strongly discouraged as Tufts Global Education cannot guarantee transfer credit. Be sure to save course descriptions, syllabi, assignments, reading lists, or exams — enough material to show what you learned in the course.
   
• Due to the wide variety of academic schedules, course loads and credit systems in use at colleges and universities throughout the country and abroad, Tufts does not automatically transfer credit on a course-for-course basis. Therefore, the total number of transfer credits you may count toward your Tufts degree may not equal the number of courses taken abroad. All students, in order to earn a full semester’s credit at Tufts, must take a full semester’s course load as defined by the foreign institution. It is recommended that engineering students consult with the Assistant Director for External Programs. 

• Courses receiving transfer credit may count towards degree requirements (such as major, minor, distribution, and foundation, per the Registrar's policies), but departmental policies regarding transfer credit will vary. You should consult with your major department regarding specific courses you wish to take on an external program to fulfill major requirements. 
   
• If you wish to receive credit toward your major for pre-approved courses, you must discuss this with your major advisor before going abroad.

• You must receive a grade of C- or above in order for a course to be eligible for transfer credit.
   
• Transfer credit grades will not appear on your Tufts transcript, calculate into your Tufts GPA, or count towards Latin honors. However, professional and graduate school admissions committees and employers may require submission of your study abroad program transcripts along with your Tufts transcript so they can calculate a composite GPA. (If you are planning to apply to medical, dental, veterinary, or other health professions graduate programs, those schools will require transcripts from study abroad programs. Therefore, it is safest to choose a program sponsored by an accredited U.S. college or university.)

• You are solely responsible for requesting, and ensuring receipt of, your official transcript upon completion of the program; do not assume that your program will automatically send it. Tufts University accepts transcripts by mail and electronic delivery.  
   
  • To send by mail: Office of the Registrar, Attn: Transfer of Credit, Dowling Hall, Tufts University, 419 Boston Ave, Medford, MA 02155 
     
  • To send electronically: List studentservices@tufts.edu as the email recipient for the transcript. We will only accept official transcripts sent electronically via a verified vendor. 
     
• Transcripts handed in by students, even in a sealed envelope, are not acceptable for awarding transfer credit.
   
• Once the transcript from your study-abroad program arrives at Tufts (presuming that you have already received transfer-credit approvals for each of the courses that appears on that transcript), it may take up to 3 or 4 weeks for the transfer credits to appear on your Tufts transcript. 

• It is your responsibility to submit transfer of credit requests for each course through SIS and have them approved online by the appropriate departmental transfer credit representatives.
   
• Once you have selected the courses you will take abroad, you may submit transfer of credit approval requests via SIS. It is recommended to obtain approval for alternate courses as program changes are common. 
   
• The Registrar’s Office has an instructional video that explains where to locate the request form and a step-by-step tutorial on submitting the course for review.  
   
• You should make every effort to get your courses pre-approved prior to going abroad. However, we realize that you may not receive final course listings and descriptions until shortly before the program begins and occasionally not until your arrival abroad. (This is most likely to happen if you are enrolling directly in a foreign university.) In such cases, you should discuss the types of courses you plan to take with your advisor and the department from which you will request credit, even though you do not yet have exact descriptions and numbers. As soon as you obtain the final listings, you should submit your requests for approval online via SIS.
   
• Under no circumstance can Tufts Global Education approve courses for transfer credit if you are not able to find an academic department to do so.

Find a Departmental Transfer of Credit Representative Submit a Transfer of Credit Request in SIS

• You may not transfer more than three courses earned in one summer. 
   
• You may transfer a maximum of five summer courses toward a Tufts degree.
   
• Summer internship programs must offer a minimum of two accompanying academic courses to be eligible for credit; the internship component yields 4 SHUs and the coursework yields a total of 4 SHUs. 
   
• January-term study abroad programs must end prior to the start date of spring semester classes at Tufts (for students who plan to take classes at Tufts in the spring semester). Tufts will not approve a student to participate in a January-term study abroad program if the dates conflict with Tufts classes.
   
• Courses must be taken at institutions of higher education that are recognized by the government of the country in which they are located or accredited according to the U.S. system of accreditation.

• Short-term courses may be used, with approval, to satisfy foundation, distribution, and concentration course requirements. In some of these cases, upon receiving course approval in SIS, an additional petition must be submitted. You can verify which courses may require that additional step under the Degree Requirement Petitions page of the Registrar's subsite. 

• You must receive a grade of C- or above in order for a course to be eligible for transfer credit.
   
• Transfer credit grades will not appear on your Tufts transcript, calculate into your Tufts GPA, or count towards Latin honors. However, professional and graduate school admissions committees and employers may require submission of your study abroad program transcripts along with your Tufts transcript so they can calculate a composite GPA. (If you are planning to apply to medical, dental, veterinary, or other health professions graduate programs, those schools will require transcripts from study abroad programs. Therefore, it is safest to choose a program sponsored by an accredited U.S. college or university.)

• To be eligible for transfer credit from short-term study abroad, you do not need to take courses at institutions or programs on our list of approved programs; however, your program must provide a transcript by a degree-granting institution of higher education that is recognized by the government of the country in which they are located or accredited according to the U.S. system of accreditation.  
   
• You are solely responsible for requesting, and ensuring receipt of, your official transcript upon completion of the program; do not assume that your program will automatically send it. Tufts University accepts transcripts by mail and electronic delivery.  
   
  • To send by mail: Office of the Registrar, Attn: Transfer of Credit, Dowling Hall, Tufts University, 419 Boston Ave, Medford, MA 02155 
     
  • To send electronically: List studentservices@tufts.edu as the email recipient for the transcript. We will only accept official transcripts sent electronically via a verified vendor. 
     
• Transcripts handed in by students, even in a sealed envelope, are not acceptable for awarding transfer credit.

• It is your responsibility to submit transfer of credit requests for each course through SIS and have them approved online by the appropriate departmental transfer credit representatives. 
   
• The Registrar’s Office has an instructional video that explains where to locate the request form and a step-by-step tutorial on submitting the course for review.  
   
• Under no circumstance can Tufts Global Education approve courses for transfer credit if you are not able to find an academic department to do so.

Find a Departmental Transfer of Credit Representative Submit a Transfer of Credit Request in SIS

• You may earn a total of 12 SHUs for internship programs listed below. All coursework, as well as the internship component, must be pre-approved by the appropriate departmental representative for credit to be transferred. Once pre-approved, the internship component yields 4 SHUs; the coursework yields a total of 8 SHUs.
   
  • Arcadia University, Scottish Parliamentary Program in Edinburgh, Scotland
  • Boston University, Dublin Internship Program in Dublin, Ireland (consult our office)
  • Boston University, Geneva Internship Program in Geneva, Switzerland (consult our office)               
  • Boston University, London Internship Program in London, England (consult our office)              
  • Boston University, Sydney Internship Program in Sydney, Australia (consult our office) 
• Summer internship programs must offer a minimum of two accompanying academic courses to be eligible for credit; the internship component yields 4 SHUs and the coursework yields a total of 4 SHUs.
• Other programs which offer an internship opportunity in addition to or in lieu of a class, such as IES and CIEE, yield no credit for the internship or for courses that frame or support the internship. The same policy applies for volunteer opportunities.