CREDIT TRANSFER

 

Credit transfer is the process of transferring course credits that students have taken in a program to another program that leads to the award of qualifications offered by different or the same institutions. This process allows credit for the course to be calculated as part of the credit requirement for graduations of a program being followed. At UPM, on the whole, credit transferable courses are courses that are equivalent to courses in the program that lead to qualifying awards subject to several criteria such as equivalent credit loads, having a content equivalent of at least 80% and getting at least Grade C + for the course on which the credit was transferred to the new program that the student followed.

The transfer of credit is divided into two parts:

(1)   a vertical transfer from a lower program of study to a higher education program for example, a diploma to a bachelor, and

(2)   a horizontal transfer involving the same degree of study as from a bachelor to bachelor.

This credit transfer benefits the students involved in terms of allowing them to take lower credit burdens and shorten the duration of study. Additionally, it also provides opportunities and encourages student mobility for students to attend equivalent courses at other universities including in other countries and transfer their course credits to meet the curriculum requirements of the home university.

The Ministry of Higher Education has made improvements to a credit transfer policy involving credit transfer with grade and credit transfer without grade (also called credit exemptions). Generally, the policy explains vertical or horizontal credit transfer for students who have left the system (graduating students) to transfer credit to curriculum requirements but do not involve transfer of grade in GPA and CGPA of students. For horizontal credit transfer in which the student is still in the system of study it will involve the transfer of credit and the course's grade to the new program of study as an example, a program exchange of a Bachelor of Agriculture Science in Semester Three to the Bachelor of Plantation Management Science program.

 

UPM has long been practicing vertical and horizontal credit transfers. For example, a student who has graduated from the Diploma in Forestry is eligible to apply for a credit transfer to the Bachelor of Forestry Science program subject to a maximum allowable transfer credit of not more than 30%. While horizontal credit transfers are subject to a maximum of 50% of graduated credits for transfers involving university programs. In a horizontal credit transfer UPM Rules (Undergraduate Academic Matters) 2014)), a student who achieved Cumulative Grade Point Average of less than 2.000 at the end of the semester in which the students are awarded status of ‘warning’ may apply for a change of Programme of Studies and shall not receive any credit transfer for any course of studies and shall be deemed as new students, in a new program. For the exchange of programs involving programs in UPM, the Dean can determine the number of credits that can be transferred (refer to Paragraph 10, Second Schedule, UPM Rules (Undergraduate Academic Matters) 2014)). In the case of student mobility, only C+ grade and above for the equivalent course obtained by the student at the Recipient's University is displayed in the transcript but the grade will not included in the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) calculation (student intake before 2017/2018 session). For students who receive a low grade from C+, the grade will not be displayed and the student will need to re-take the course at UPM;

 
With effect from the 2017/2018 session intake student, horizontal credit transfer for students who are still in the system of study will involve transfer of credit and grade of the course concerned to the new program of study [To avoid confusion, the current student who changed the program in 2017/2018 session is not considered an enrollment student of 2017/2018 session for the purpose of transfer of credit]

 

• students should be given the option of transferring any credit together grade for the equivalent / equal course it qualifies;

 

• the student will need to repeat the course at the bachelor's level (although the course is the same course taken at the same or lower level) if he chooses not to apply for transfer credit. New grades will be taken into account in GPA and CGPA calculations even if they are lower than the old grade;

 

• a course which has been credit transfered shall not be re-registered by the student for the purpose of improving his cumulative grade point average (ULT). The student is only allowed to re-register the course as an audit course.

 

• for all student including mobility students who apply credit transfer with a grade, but the grading system is difficult to measure or different from the UPM grade system, the designation of grades will be made by reference to raw marks;

 

Also be informed that the transferred credits and grades will be included in the GPA and CGPA calculations in the following semesters:

• new students (diploma to degree) - credit transfer without grades is included in the First Semester;
• student exchange program (degree to degree) - course transfer and grade are included in the approved program exchange semester; and

 

• mobility students - transfer of courses and grades are included in the semester of mobility expires.

 

 

Credit Transfer Rules
Entry Category		Transfer Credit				Remarks
From	To	With Grade	Without Grade	With Exemption Course	Without Exemption Course
Bachelor	Bachelor	√				The horizontally credit transfer is for students who are in the system. Credit transfer is the process of transferring course credits taken by students in a program to another program that leads to the award of qualifications offered by the same institutions or different institutions. Credit is calculated in student graduation credits and course grades are taken into account in the calculation of GPA and CGPA. Horizontal credit transfer is subject to a maximum of 50% of graduated credits for transfers involving university programs. For change of programme at the University on the same level of studies, the Dean receiving the student shall determine the total credit hours which may be transferred.
Diploma	Bachelor		√			The vertical or horizontal credit transfer are for students who have left the system or who have reached the level of competence in the course. Transferred course credits are taken into account in graduated credits but course grades are not taken into account in the calculation of GPA and CGPA of students. (Eg PRT2008, Co-curriculum subjects, SKP2203, SKP2204).
International Student	Bachelor			√		Course exemption will not cause students to earn credits for excluded courses. If the exemption of the course will result in insufficient credit requirements, students will have to take another course to replace the course. Examples is the international students who been given exemption of SKP2203 and SKP2204 which need to replace the credit.
UPM Agriculture Foundation Program	Bachelor				√	The Agricultural Foundation Program students are given exemption from the PRT2008 Agriculture and Human course but not as credit transfers starting from the 2017/2018 student intake session. Students need to replace credit with another course (The UPM Senate Minutes of 639 on October 12, 2017).

Date of Input: 01/07/2019 | Updated: 31/07/2019 | m_bazli