Course Approvals

Although not required for your application to be considered, students are strongly urged to submit signed Course Approval Forms at the time of application.

• For semester programs, you MUST have at least 8 courses approved and these forms submitted to the Study Abroad Office BEFORE you depart for your program.

• In order to get your foreign courses approved, you must locate the course name and description, usually on-line at the foreign institution's web site, and print out the descriptions, and then meet with the corresponding USF academic advisor, chair or director (and with your home campus if you are a non-USF student) to have them assign a course number equivalency and title. For example, if you want to attend an art course, then the Art department approves the course; for approving a psychology course, the Psychology department will approved the course. Some courses, such as "Australian Aboriginal History", might be cross referenced by either the History, Sociology or by Anthropology departments, depending on the type of course credits that is sought.

• If the advisor requires reviewing a complete course syllabus in addition to the course description, and such is the case with most science, math, and business courses, let the Study Abroad Coordinator know to contact the foreign institution to request the syllabus on your behalf. It usually takes at least one week to obtain syllabi in this manner.

• Until courses are approved, you will not know how the courses will transfer back to your transcript. You are responsible for obtaining these course approvals and submitting them to the USF Study Abroad Office. We are only able to assist in extreme situations, such as if there is an unexpected change of course while you are overseas and you unable to contact your academic advisor. To avoid this, it is strongly recommended that keep an email and phone list available of your advisors so that you can contact them when necessary.

• If you do not submit course approval forms in advance, you take a chance in not earning credit for the course at upon returning to USF or there will be delays in posting your courses and grades to your transcript, which can result in problems with the Financial Aid Office if you are an aid recipient.

With these steps taken in advance, you will return from your international education experience with not only a new outlook on life, but also with the confidence that your study abroad course credits will successfully transfer back to your degree program.