Credit transfer, cross crediting and exemptions
4 steps to applying for a credit transfer
Credits are the points you earn in tertiary study when you complete a paper or module. Once you earn the required number of credits or points, you gain the qualification.
What is a credit transfer?
A credit transfer is when one tertiary provider recognises the credit you have gained from another tertiary provider and allows this to count towards your new qualification.
Could credit transfer benefit you?
Credit transfer can benefit you if you are in any of these situations:
- You have already completed an undergraduate qualification and are starting another undergraduate qualification. A limited number of papers may be counted towards both qualifications.
- You have completed a qualification overseas, and want to credit part of the qualification towards a New Zealand qualification. A limited number of overseas papers may be counted towards your New Zealand qualification.
- You have an uncompleted qualification, and want to change your tertiary provider partway through your qualification. For example, you might be studying graphic design at UCOL in Wanganui, but you want to shift to Auckland to study media design at AUT.
- Credits can sometimes be transferred between equivalent tertiary providers
How is credit transfer assessed?
Faculty staff compare the learning outcomes of the paper you have done with the one they teach at their institution. If staff are satisfied that the paper content and learning outcomes match, they will award a credit transfer for that paper. Each application for credit transfer is assessed on an individual basis and given at the discretion of the faculty or department.
Fees are charged for the time it takes the staff to assess the credit transfer. Partial credits are not awarded.
Faculty staff also consider:
- whether the learning is current and relevant (some tertiary providers specify that study should have been in the last five years)
- the maximum amount of the qualification that the tertiary provider allows to be transferred. For example, most tertiary providers only allow you to transfer up to one third of a Bachelor’s degree
- any compromise will be made to the integrity of the qualification to which credit is being transferred
- the qualification at the new institution will retain its distinctive character
- the teritary provider's own credit transfer rules. It is best to check the provider’s website and with the faculty office for more details.
When can’t you transfer credit?
- When the first institution is not recognised as being of equivalent tertiary standing to the second one.
- When the statutes or programme regulations of the institution to which you are transferring do not allow credit transfer.
- Credit transfer is only possible between equivalent level qualifications. For example, it is usually not possible to transfer credits from a graduate to a postgraduate qualifications. For example, a Bachelor’s degree to a Master’s degree programme.
What is cross crediting?
- Cross crediting is when you are working on two qualifications, for example a conjoint degree, and you want a paper from one degree to count towards the other degree. For example, you might be taking a first year law paper, which you want to count towards your Bachelor of Arts as well.
- Not all tertiary providers use the same terms, so it is best to check the handbook of your tertiary provider for their explanation of cross crediting.
What is an exemption?
- An exemption is when you are given the right to proceed in your qualification without having to complete a compulsory or pre-requisite course. This is usually because you have passed an equivalent paper already at another institution. For example, a student studying a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration at Victoria University, who has already passed Accounting 101 at the University of Auckland, could apply for an exemption from Victoria's Accounting 111 paper.
- An exemption could also be the result of a successful recognition of prior learning application, or credit transfer.
