Principles and Procedures for Undergraduate
Inter-Campus Transfers (ICTs)
The faculty of Indiana University supports the equivalent application of comparable courses toward degree requirements, regardless of the campus where the course was completed.
I. ADMINISTRATIVE PRINCIPLES
A. Each campus shall develop appropriate application
procedures, forms, and deadlines for students wishing to transfer home campus
within the IU system, and exchange such information.
B. Each campus
shall designate an office to provide initial information to students
considering transfers to other campuses, to ensure that prospective incoming
ICTs are provided with appropriate procedural and academic guidance and
advising, including guidance on the appropriate use of Insite (particularly, the Advising
option within Insite, also known as IUCARE) in exploring ICT options, and to coordinate receipt of and action on incoming
ICT applications.
C. Decisions concerning ICT approval to any campus are
determined by the appropriate office on the receiving campus, and governed by
criteria approved by that campus.
D. Students will be expected to give notification of
decisions to accept or decline ICT approval, according to deadlines set by the
receiving campus. Offices on both the home and receiving campuses of an ICT
student shall share information concerning ICT approval and student decisions
to transfer campuses.
E. Wherever specified procedures fail clearly to apply
to individual cases, decisions should be based on the best educational
interests of the student; exceptions granted on the basis of individual cases
shall not constitute precedents.
II. COURSE EQUIVALENCIES AND DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
A. Computerized records shall be maintained so as to
allow students to use IUCARE to assess, at the time of ICT application and with
the greatest possible predictability, how inter-campus transfer will affect
their progress towards a degree. Each campus shall develop procedures for
course equivalency decisions that will ensure that prospective ICTs will be
fully aware of how courses will apply towards degree progress at the time of
transfer approval.
B. Courses at the 100 and 200 levels should apply to
degree requirements on any campus equivalently, regardless of the campus of
origin. Distribution requirements should be treated with flexibility as long as
intended goals are met.
C. Courses offered on different campuses with
identical numbers should be comparable enough in content and requirements to
allow equivalent applicability towards degree requirements on any campus. At
present, this is sometimes not the case. Therefore, the university should
design a procedure to realize this goal within a period of one year from the
adoption of this policy, through a full review of existing courses that are
presently identically numbered, and of the process whereby the Master Course
List is maintained and used. This process may be coordinated by an appropriate
administrative group, such as the Academic Officers Committee; judgments of
specific course equivalencies should be determined by faculty in appropriate
units on each campus, and faculty governance groups on the campus and
university levels should be designated to exercise oversight over the process. At the end of this one-year
process, university policy should stipulate that courses with identical numbers
apply equivalently towards degree requirements on all campuses.
D. For courses that are not identically numbered,
Recorders’ Offices for each campus, school, or division shall maintain lists of
equivalencies for courses on all IU campuses. All equivalency decisions should
be made by the most appropriate school, division, department, or program on a
campus, and should apply for all programs on that campus. Courses that fulfill
similar educational goals in terms of content and proficiency training should
fulfill degree program requirements regardless of the campus on which they were
offered. When substantive curricular changes occur in courses that may affect
equivalence decisions, corresponding programs on other IU campuses should be
notified. Equivalency designations will apply between courses as offered on
specific campuses.
E. Prospective ICTs may request reviews of IUCARE
equivalency indications for specific courses from the campus to which they wish
to transfer. The review should be made by the appropriate degree-granting unit,
and a substantive explanation of any negative decision should be recorded.
Positive equivalency decisions should be reported to unit Recorders and coded.
Campuses should designate an appropriate faculty committee to which negative
decisions may be appealed. Equivalency reviews and appeals should be conducted
in a timely fashion. A sustained review judgment will not be subject to further
appeal for a period of five years.
F. An ICT student is responsible for meeting all
specific requirements for the major field as defined by the degree-granting
unit on the receiving campus; departmental and school residency requirements
may necessitate the completion of additional hours beyond the normal minimal
requirement. Exceptions granted to students prior to transfer should, whenever
possible, be honored by the degree-granting school.