General accreditation/transfer of courses and exams
Regarding the accreditation of previously gained academic knowledge through courses and/or exams taken at other institutions of higher education, the respective degree program administration/director will use the principle of ‘course per course relevant accreditation.
The equivalency of the previously taken courses in terms of content and scope to the offered courses in the degree program will be determined by the degree program administrator/director. If an equivalency is determined to exist, then those courses passed with positive marks/grades will be recognized and accredited. Additional examination of academic knowledge in these cases is not foreseen.
Specialized knowledge and relevant experiences acquired through professional and on-the-job experience may also be considered for accreditation for relevant courses. In cases of accrediting professional experience for course credits, additional examinations may be carried out if applicable.
Applications for accreditation are to be submitted directly to the Program Director no later than the start date of the relevant study course(s).
The student must decide where s/he will spend the semester abroad (i.e., a partner university) and will need to coordinate with the responsible Departmental International Coordinator concerning the necessary requirements.
Before the student spends the semester abroad, s/he is required to submit a completed Learning Agreement. This document contains all the courses the student will take abroad and will be recognized at CUAS once s/he finishes the courses successfully. The courses should correspond as much as possible to the courses offered in the curriculum of the student’s CUAS study program in the relevant semester in content and semester hours. It is highly recommended to students to take 30 ECTS credits abroad.
The Learning Agreement is signed and approved by the individual student, the host institution and the program director of the study degree program or a designated faculty member at CUAS.
The Learning Agreement is a declaration of the courses which are to be taken abroad and is not valid as an official recognition document by Austrian law. Therefore, the document is to be linked to the official document “Antrag auf Anerkennung / Application for Accreditation” for academic studies abroad.
During the first four weeks of the study abroad semester the student is allowed to change the Learning Agreement. For example, previously selected courses do not take place or overlap. The host institution and CUAS must agree upon the courses to be changed. If this is approved, the changes must be listed separately on the Learning Agreement (section “Changes to the original Learning Agreement). Afterwards the document is signed and approved by the individual students, the host institution and the program director of the study degree program or a designated faculty member at CUAS.
After the semester abroad the courses taken abroad will be recognized at CUAS. Therefore, the original Transcript of Records from the host institution and the legally valid document “Antrag auf Anerkennung / Application of Accreditation” (which is linked to the Learning Agreement) are obligatory. The student lists on the document the successfully finished courses abroad. After the recognition process is positively completed, the CUAS Transcript of Records will contain those courses.
In cases where the semester abroad is not completed successfully, the Departmental Coordinator and program director of the relevant study degree program will determine on an individual basis if and what courses will be accredited and what a student can do to make up those missing credits which were not accredited.
Detailed information about a semester abroad
For further questions please contact the International Relations Office.
