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Course Equivalency Approval Request
Credit for Study Abroad
At Baruch College, credit for study abroad is awarded strictly on the basis of course equivalencies. Baruch credit is awarded only after the chair of the respective department has certified that a given course at a foreign university is equivalent in terms of content and academic level to a corresponding Baruch College course. A valid Study Abroad Permit guarantees that a student will receive credit for the Baruch College course(s) specified on the Permit, provided he/she satisfactorily completes the approved corresponding course(s) at the foreign university or other study abroad institution, and receives the minimum passing grade (C for undergraduates, B for graduates).
In order to be eligible for a Study Abroad Permit, a Course Equivalency Approval Request (CEAR) must be completed for each course you wish to take abroad prior to departure. If you are studying abroad on a Conditional ("Blanket") Study Abroad Permit, you are not required to submit CEARs for each course before you leave, but you are subject to special regulations governing Conditional ("Blanket") Study Abroad Permits.
The procedure for completing your CEARs is simple, if you follow the guidelines below.
Previously approved course equivalencies
If other Baruch students have studied on the program you applied to, some courses in which you plan to enroll may have been previously approved. The Study Abroad Office keeps a record of previously approved course equivalencies. In this case, your CEAR may be approved by the Study Abroad Director. If you wish to take a course abroad, but wish to request approval for another Baruch equivalency, you must follow the procedure for submitting normal CEARs.
Course equivalency approval requests
Once you have decided on which program you wish to study, and determined which (Baruch) courses you think you need to take the term you are studying abroad, you will need to discover which courses are available to you at the host university or study abroad program. You can do this most easily by consulting the website of the host university or study abroad program, or any published list of courses.
You should print out or photocopy all the course descriptions and syllabi available for the courses you wish to take abroad, and consult the Baruch College Bulletin to find courses offered by Baruch departments that are equivalent to these courses in terms of subject matter and academic level. In most cases it should be fairly easy to find a Baruch course that corresponds to the course you wish to take abroad. If you find no exact or close matches among the regular courses, look to see if a department offers the equivalent of "Special Topics in X"-type of course that might apply to the course you wish to take. You may also apply to receive general elective credit for a course without an exact or close Baruch equivalency. This credit, usually awarded as BUS 7000, LAS 7000, or PAF 7000, will count toward fulfilling your degree requirements, but will not count toward your major or minor. Please note: you must satisfy any pre-requisites for the Baruch equivalency you select, even if the host institution does not require it.
When examining the descriptions and syllabi of courses at the host university or study abroad program, pay attention to the amount of credit the host institution assigns to the course, and what criteria the institution uses to determine credit. At Baruch, the amount of credit a course receives is determined by things like the number of total classroom instruction hours in a given term (this is especially true of language courses). The foreign course must match the proposed Baruch equivalency in terms of "contact hours." Please note: you will not receive more Baruch credits for a course you take at a foreign university, if that course does not meet the minimum standards for contact time in force in the Baruch department that approves the equivalency (as determined by the department chair), even if the host university course matches the proposed Baruch course equivalency in terms of subject matter and level.
The Study Abroad Office is here to help you sort through these things. Make use of our expertise. You will need to complete your CEARs with a Study Abroad Adviser. He/she will examine your choice of equivalencies, and suggest alternatives if necessary.
The Study Abroad Office will submit all completed and signed CEARs to the appropriate department chair. The department chair may:
- approve a requested specific course equivalency unconditionally
- approve the course with conditions
- deny the request
- propose an alternative departmental course that in the view of the chair more closely corresponds to the host university course.
If a department chair denies your requested course equivalency, and you cannot identify another Baruch course that would be a better match, you may apply for elective credit for the course in question. Should this attempt also prove unsuccessful, you will have to choose a new host university course and begin the equivalency approval procedure anew.
Once the Study Abroad Office has received all approved CEARs, you may move onto the next stage of the application process, the Study Abroad Permit Application Process