International Transfer Credit

Courses taken through approved UMaine education abroad programs are eligible for transfer credit. With advance planning and academic approval, education abroad coursework can contribute toward your degree progress and help you stay on track toward graduation.

Before studying abroad, you will work with the Office of International Programs (OIP), your academic advisor, and your college to determine how your planned courses will transfer to UMaine and how they may apply toward your degree.

Transfer credit and degree requirements are not the same thing.

OIP determines how an education abroad course transfers to UMaine. Your academic department determines how that transferred credit applies toward specific requirements in your major, minor, concentration, or other academic program.

Approval of a course for transfer credit means that UMaine will accept the credit when the course is successfully completed and all transfer requirements are met. It does not necessarily mean that the course will fulfill a particular degree requirement. Your academic advisor and department can help determine how approved transfer credits fit into your degree program.

How Transfer Credit Works at UMaine

Before You Study Abroad

Before departure, students complete an International Study Away Registration Form listing their planned courses abroad.

OIP reviews the courses and determines:

  • how international credits convert to UMaine credits
  • the appropriate UMaine subject area and course level
  • whether each course has a direct UMaine equivalent or transfers as an elective
  • applicable General Education requirements, when appropriate

OIP uses course descriptions and information from the host institution to make these determinations. Because universities around the world organize academic disciplines differently, the course title or department abroad may not correspond directly to a UMaine department.

For example, an interdisciplinary course on gender and media might be designated as Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies or Communication and Journalism based on the course content.

Academic Review and Approval

After OIP completes the initial transfer credit evaluation, the International Study Away Registration Form moves through UMaine’s academic approval process.

Your academic advisor reviews your planned coursework and may identify how courses can apply toward your academic program, including direct equivalents or substitutions when appropriate.

The form then receives the required college-level approval. Approval processes vary by college. In many colleges, this is also where degree audit considerations are reviewed.

Finally, the form is reviewed by a Student Financial Services advisor.

Once the required approvals are complete, the International Study Away Registration Form documents UMaine’s advance approval of your planned coursework for that specific education abroad program and term.

How Courses Transfer

This Education Abroad Course Transfer Guide outlines the grade and credit conversion scales for UMaine’s most popular study abroad programs.

Study abroad courses generally transfer in one of three ways:

Exact Equivalency
A course receives an exact equivalency when the content closely matches a course offered at UMaine. Example: A course abroad may transfer directly as a specific UMaine course, such as POS 120 Introduction to World Politics.

Same Subject Elective
If UMaine offers coursework in the same academic field but does not have a sufficiently comparable course, the course transfers as an elective within that subject. For example: POS 300X, Political Science Elective. This means the course has been accepted as Political Science credit at the 300 level but does not have a direct UMaine course equivalent.

General Elective
If UMaine does not offer courses in the applicable subject area, the course may transfer as a general elective, such as GEL 200X General Elective or INT 200X Interdisciplinary Elective

What Does the “X” Mean?

Many education abroad courses transfer as 100X, 200X, 300X, or 400X electives.

The “X” does not mean that the course was not accepted or that the credits do not count.

Instead, it means that UMaine has accepted the course at a particular academic level, but there is not a direct UMaine course equivalent.

For example, a 300X course is accepted as 300-level transfer credit. The subject designation and course level can then help your academic department determine how the course may apply toward requirements for your major, minor, concentration, or other academic program.

How Transfer Credit Applies to Your Degree

Once OIP determines how a course transfers, your academic department determines how that credit applies to your specific academic program.

For example, you might take a 300-level Tropical Marine Biology course abroad. If UMaine does not offer a directly equivalent course, OIP may designate it as a 300X elective in the appropriate subject area.

Your academic department may determine that the course can satisfy a particular requirement within your major, minor, or concentration even though it does not have a direct UMaine course equivalent.

When a department determines that an elective should fulfill a specific degree requirement, the department completes the appropriate course substitution process. The approved substitution is submitted to the Office of Student Records so that it can be reflected in your degree progress information. OIP does not complete or approve departmental course substitutions.

After You Return

After your education abroad program, an official transcript must be received before your transfer credits can be posted.

Keep in mind:

  • Undergraduate courses require a grade of C- or better to transfer.
  • Graduate courses require a grade of B or better to transfer.
  • Grades earned at other institutions appear on the UMaine transcript but are not calculated in the UMaine GPA.

Once your approved transfer credits have been processed, review your credits in MaineStreet and your degree progress information.

If a course transfers as a generic elective but is intended to fulfill a particular major, minor, concentration, or other program requirement, work with your academic advisor or department to determine whether a course substitution is needed.

Search Previously Approved Course Equivalencies

UMaine maintains a Transfer Equivalency Search in MaineStreet with courses that have previously been evaluated from institutions abroad.

The search is a helpful planning tool, but not every course offered abroad will appear in the database. New courses are evaluated as students select them, and previously evaluated courses may no longer be offered by the host institution.

A course appearing in the Transfer Equivalency Search indicates how UMaine has previously evaluated that course for transfer credit. It does not guarantee that the course will satisfy a particular requirement within an individual student’s major, minor, concentration, or other academic program.

How to Search

  1. Go to MaineStreet.
  2. Select View Transfer Equivalencies.
  3. Select Transfer courses or test credit to the Univ. of Maine System.
  4. Select the University of Maine & Univ of Maine at Machias.
  5. Find your host institution in the alphabetical list by first initial.
  6. Select Show all Subjects or choose a specific subject.

Courses from the host institution appear alongside their UMaine equivalent or elective designation. When a course satisfies one or more General Education requirements, that information is also displayed.

Note: The Transfer Equivalency Search displays course equivalencies but does not display the number of UMaine credit hours awarded. Credit conversion is documented through the International Study Away Registration Form.

Who Should I Contact?

Contact the Office of International Programs with questions about transfer credit, credit conversion, course level, subject designation, Core (General Education) designations, or the International Study Away Registration Form.

Contact your academic advisor or academic department with questions about how a course can satisfy a major, minor, concentration, or other specific degree requirement.

Course substitutions are initiated and approved through the appropriate academic department and submitted to the Office of Student Records.

OIP is happy to work with students, faculty, advisors, and colleges to answer questions about education abroad transfer credit. Contact us at studyabroad@maine.edu or 207-581-3437.