The same basic policies apply to courses taken abroad as apply to courses taken at Baruch: you may only take certain courses if you have completed the prerequisite(s). However, students studying abroad are sometimes granted a temporary waiver for a pre- or co-requisite course. This means that you may be approved to take a more advanced course abroad before you complete the pre- or co-requisite(s).

Please note: If you receive a pre- or co-requisite waiver, you are still required to complete the course(s) temporarily waived when you return, unless you are granted an exemption from taking the course(s). An exemption from a pre- or co-requisite requires the written approval of the Chair of the department offering the Baruch equivalency and the Dean’s Office of the appropriate School.

The credits and grade (if applicable) for the course taken abroad will not be posted until you have completed the pre- or co-requisite(s) or obtained an exemption and submitted it to the Director of Study Abroad.

It is your responsibility to ensure that you meet all requirements to take any course abroad for Baruch credit.

As with prerequisites, if you wish to take a course abroad which is equivalent to a 3000+ level business course, you must have been admitted to the Zicklin School of Business, or obtain special permission (which is granted only if you will have completed all Zicklin core prerequisites prior to your study abroad). For example, in order to receive credit for a course at the Copenhagen Business School that is equivalent to Baruch FIN 3710, Baruch students (1) must have been admitted to the Zicklin School of Business (or obtained special permission), and (2) must have completed FIN 3000, which is a pre-requisite for FIN 3710, or obtained a Prerequisite Waiver.

A minimum of 60 percent of the credits in the major field must be completed at Baruch College. A transfer student must meet all degree requirements and take a minimum of 30 credits at Baruch for the BA or BS degree and 31 credits for the BBA degree.

If you are enrolled in a graduate program of the Zicklin School of Business, the credits you earn studying abroad on one of Baruch’s exchange programs count as in-residence credit, not as transfer credit. These credits are not counted towards the maximum students are currently allowed to transfer.

Certain courses in the curriculum at Baruch must be taken in-residence, and thus will NOT be approved for study abroad. Those include:

• BPL 5100
• Capstone courses for all majors and minors (any exceptions must be approved in advance and in writing by the Chair of the Department in question and the Director of Study Abroad)
• FIN 4610 or FIN 4710 (students may take either FIN 4610 or FIN 4710 abroad, but not both

Changes are frequently made to the curriculum of the Zicklin School of Business, and the list above should not be seen as exhaustive. Information about the current curricular requirements for undergraduate programs in the Zicklin School of Business is available on the Zicklin website, and inquiries about any restrictions on courses students may take abroad may be directed to the Undergraduate Programs Office.

Grades Earned for Study Abroad

You will receive a grade for every course you take abroad. There is no “pass/fail” for courses taken abroad. However, not all grades students receive for their course work abroad will be displayed on their Baruch transcript. In addition, depending on the program, the credit for the courses you take abroad will be considered either as transfer credit or as “GPA credit.”

GPA Credit

“GPA credit” means that the grade(s) you receive for the course(s) you take abroad will be factored into your Baruch grade point average just like any other course you take at Baruch or on E-Permit at another CUNY College.

You earn GPA credit only if you study abroad on Baruch-sponsored or CUNY-sponsored Study Abroad Programs. If the course you take abroad is on a programs sponsored by a CUNY College, and you have paid CUNY tuition for that program and have filed an E-Permit for that program, you earn GPA credit. The sponsoring CUNY College will issue an official transcript with grades listed, and these grades will be recorded and factored into your GPA at Baruch.

 Transfer credit

Transfer credit is credit earned at another institution of higher education that Baruch College accepts to count towards its degree requirements. Transfer credit earned by studying abroad is accepted in the same way: as credit only, and is considered “GPA neutral,” in other words, the grades are not factored into a student’s GPA. Please note, however, that you must have been awarded the equivalent of at least a “C” (undergraduate) or “B” (graduate) for the course from the host institution abroad in order to receive transfer credit.

If you have any questions about this policy, please contact the Study Abroad Office.

All students who study abroad from Baruch must take a full load of courses as designed by the program. For Summer Session and Winter Intersession programs, this usually means 1-2 courses per session.

Most students studying abroad for a semester must obtain a student visa, which requires you to be a full-time student. Furthermore, taking less than a full-time load could affect your eligibility for financial aid and scholarships used to pay for study abroad. If you are studying on a short-term program, you must take the number of classes that is designed by the program.

For semester programs, this means the equivalent of at least 12 transferable credits. If a course at a foreign institution has been approved for Baruch credit, then the credit is “transferable.”

Foreign Equivalency of Full-Time

Baruch students are required to enroll in a minimum of 12 credits to be considered full-time for financial aid purposes. However, 12 credits at a foreign university do not automatically equal 12 Baruch credits. For example, universities in Europe assign values for courses in “credits” of its European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). A full-time course load at these universities is 30 ECTS credits per semester, which translates into 15 Baruch credits. In this example, if you are studying at a European university, you would be required to take courses worth at least 24 ECTS credits. Each course that you take abroad must be approved for equivalent Baruch credit. You must take enough courses to equal at least 12 Baruch credits, and each course that you take must be approved for transfer to Baruch.

Credit values for Foreign Courses

Credit values for courses at Baruch are based on “contact hours,” or the number of hours over the semester that you are in class actively receiving instruction.

Credits abroad may be assigned using a similar measure, but often the standard used is overall workload for a given course.

At many universities abroad, one course will be equivalent to one Baruch course. In any situation where this is not the case, it will be reviewed by the Director of Study Abroad. As a rule of thumb, as long as you are taking what is considered a full-time load at your host university, you should be able to convert your credits into at least 12 Baruch credits.

Part-Time Internships

From Baruch’s perspective, approved credit-bearing part-time internships taken abroad are considered part of your academic course load and thus count towards your full-time status. However, if the policies of the host institution are different, you must abide by its policies. If you are doing an internship that is not credit-bearing, then you will need to take a full-time load of courses in addition to the internship.

If you have any questions about any of these policies, please contact the Study Abroad Office.

Studying abroad is fundamentally about taking courses for academic credit in a different cultural context. All study abroad involves a combination of academic (disciplinary) and cultural learning. A significant amount of cultural interaction-hence cultural learning-takes place studying alongside other students inside the physical classroom. The experience of such cultural interaction cannot be replicated through an online course. Consequently, with very few exceptions, students may only enroll in classes taught fully in person when studying abroad.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was self-evident that students studying abroad would only enroll in in-person classes, because other modes of instruction (“hybrid,” synchronous and asynchronous online classes, etc.) were rare. Like Baruch, since the pandemic, many institutions have expanded their course offerings in varied formats, and many Baruch students may find that a combination of in-person with hybrid and/or online courses fits in well with their schedules and other commitments when studying at Baruch. However, these considerations do not apply study abroad, because of the priority study abroad accords immersive academic learning in a different cultural environment.

Naturally, in an emergency like a pandemic, institutions or programs abroad may shift to online modes of instruction for shorter or longer periods. Moreover, sometimes a course that is initially offered in an fully in-person format will switch unexpectedly to a different mode of instruction. Mindful of these various possibilities, Baruch has developed a policy that properly privileges in-person learning abroad, but is flexible enough to adapt to changed circumstances.

Students wishing to earn Baruch academic credit while studying abroad are required to enroll in fully in-person classes unless:

1. the host university or Study Abroad Program has moved all instruction to an online format as a result of an emergency (students must provide evidence of this change to the Director of Study Abroad of this change); or
2. the mode of instruction was changed from in-person to hybrid or online after the student had registered for the course, and there was no opportunity to switch into an in-person class (students must provide evidence of this change to the Director of Study Abroad of this change, and obtain written approval of the Director of Study Abroad to remain in the course); or
3. a student can demonstrate a compelling academic justification for being allowed to take a course in a different mode of instruction. Such requests will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and each individual request must be approved in advance and in writing by the Director of Study Abroad.

Course Equivalency Approval Requests on a student’s Application to Study Abroad are valid for in-person classes only, unless it falls under one of the exceptions noted above.

Students who enroll in hybrid and/or online courses without proper notification and/or prior written approval of the Director of Study Abroad forfeit their eligibility to receive a CV Starr Study Abroad Fellowship.