Course Equivalencies
COURSE APPROVAL OVERVIEW
All non-Duke courses taken abroad receive transfer credit and must be approved through the Global Education Office before you leave Duke to study abroad. Only courses that have been approved will be transferred to your Duke transcript. If you postpone approvals until you return, there is no guarantee of credit.
For all transfer credits, it is your responsibility to do the following:
- Verify that all the courses you plan to take abroad are in the Course Approval Database available either in the Global Education Office (GEO), or online. If they are, you need do nothing more.
- If the course(s) is (are) not contained in the database, you will need to provide the Global Education Office with an official description of each course, which will come from the program guide, course catalogue, bulletin, or syllabus (if you can request these of the program in advance). GEO will consult with the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) of the appropriate department at Duke who will determine the course number under which the course will transfer. This number will be either an exact Duke equivalent, or 888 (lower-level) or 999 (upper-level). At this time the value of the course will also be determined, as will area of knowledge if applicable. Independent Study Courses, Field Study, and Internships will not carry area of knowledge designations.(Transfer Course Approval Form)
- Request that a transcript of courses with final grades from the program you attended be sent to the Global Education Office for Undergraduates, Duke University, Box 90057, Durham, NC 27708-0057; generally programs do not mail transcripts automatically. Only courses that have been approved will be transferred to your Duke transcript.
Students interested in receiving Modes of Inquiry codes for approved courses must apply for any of the codes, including the FL code. The request process for Modes of Inquiry is separate from requesting course approvals for your study abroad courses.
PLEASE NOTE: Effective Fall 2011, students will no longer be able to request Modes of Inquiry for post-matriculation domestic and study abroad transfer courses, with one exception: students may apply for the FL Mode of Inquiry (1) for foreign language courses taken in study abroad immersion settings, and (2) for less commonly taught language courses not offered at Duke, provided the student has a compelling reason and received permission from academic dean to use this language to satisfy the foreign language requirement.
