FAQs for Transfer Specialists
Accrediting Agencies
What, if any, accrediting agencies in addition to regional accrediting bodies does your college recognize for credit transfer?What criteria are required to accept credits from international institutions of higher education?
Bemidji:
I am very glad this question is being asked as we have struggled with this at Bemidji State. I would imagine we all accept credits from the regional accrediting agencies but we get lots of transcripts from national accrediting bodies as well as others.
Gustavus:
Gustavus accepts credit from schools that have regional accreditation. Credit from international schools is evaluated in-house by the registrar's office.
Hennepin TC:
We recognize only the 6 regional accrediting agencies.
Lake Superior:
LSC is the same as Ridgewater for accrediting requiermennts.
Minnesota State Community and Technical College - Fergus Falls:
Minnesota State Community And Technical College - Fergus Falls Campus transfers in credits only from Regionally accredited colleges. For international students we have used (WES) World Education Service for evaluating credits and then accept their evaluation. Canada has not come up as an issue as of yet.
Northland:
Northland Community & Technical College accepts transfer credits from colleges and universities with regional accreditation only. This is also true for transfer credits from Canada, etc. We would use an outside agency to evaluate credits for other international situations.
Ridgewater:
At Ridgewater we also accept credits only from institutions accredited through the 6 regional associations - their Commissions on Higher Education. I have usually ended up taking credits from foreign credentials only to the extent that students were able to use a course or two for specific program requirements in their chosen goal at our two-year institution.
I have sometimes called ECE in Milwaukee for their free help on information regarding credits and grading systems in particular countries. I have recently asked a student to send her transcript to ECE for a course-by-course evaluation, but I don't know if she followed up on this. I would be interested to hear which of ECE's evals others have found most useful. To verify a foreign institution's status, I have referred to a book called the World List of Universities and other Institutions of Higher Education from the International Association of Universities/UNESCO (21st Edition, 1997). I would definitely be interested in knowing of additional sources of "accreditation" information for non-U.S. institutions.
Riverland:
Riverland Community College only accepts transfer credit from regionally accredited intitutions.
Saint Mary's:
We only accept transfer credits from colleges/universities which are accredited by regional agencies.
Saint Paul:
We require most international to use either ECE (Educational Credential Evaluators, Inc.) or WES (World Education Services). I have started recommending ECE over WES recently because their evaluation in more thorough.
University of Minnesota:
At the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities the primary basis for transfer of course work completed at domestic institutions is regional accreditation of the institution. If the institution is regionally accredited, we then look at the mission of the institution (is it similar to ours), the content and comparability of the course work offered, and finally the appropriateness of the course work to be used for our baccalaureate degrees. If the institution is not regionally accredited, there is always the process of Credit by Special Examination. We do not transfer course work based on AP/IB/CLEP/DANTES/Military Schools. If the student has taken any of these exams or has completed military schools, we ask the student to provide us with the original scores/documents. Then we do our own review based on our own criteria.
For international institutions we look for institutions to be recognized by the appropriate authorizing body in each country. We expect the course work to be similar in level and content to courses we offer here.
University of Minnesota Duluth:
University of Minnesota Duluth accepts credits from institutions with regional accrediting agencies.
University of Minnesota, Morris:
Our institution recognizes the regional accrediting agency, but any other type of accreditation or lack of accreditation requires a special review by our faculty. If there is no type of accreditation, prior learning review is always available for a student. Prior learning evaluations involve a special directed study or internship enrollment for credit where new learning is added to previous learning or experience. Students interested in a prior learning directed study or prior learning internship work with our prior learning evaluator and with faculty.
I should have clarified something in my response. When our faculty review courses from colleges that do not have regional accreditation, the credit is awarded by special evaluation of the course syllabi and any other documentation the student can provide. The credit is NOT given IN Transfer from colleges that lack regional accreditation. Credit is awarded in exceptional cases where the course is determined to be college level, not too technical or applied in nature, and where the content of the course is consistent with the educational mission of our liberal arts program.
University of North Dakota:
At the University of North Dakota, we accept all college-level credit from regionally accredited institutions, but no credit from schools accredited by the other bodies.
For international transcripts (other than Canada), we require an outside evaluating source like World Education Services (WES) or AACRAO's Foreign Education Credential Service. We treat Canada the same as we treat U.S. schools.
University of St. Thomas:
The University of St. Thomas only accepts transfer credits from colleges and universities with regional accreditation.
Winona:
At Winona State we only accept credits from Regionally accredited schools. There were some acceptations made for bible college in Minnesota but that is no longer the case.
As for international schools they must be "recognized" by their country. If I am not sure I call ECE in Milwaukee and they will let me know if it ok to give credit or not.
Last Updated: 10/3/03