Core Curriculum Transfer Policy
The University of Portland welcomes transfer students and transfer credits by balancing efficiency with UP’s academic mission. The University’s goal is to ensure all students can progress toward their degree in cost-effective ways while also ensuring graduates have shared academic experiences true to the distinctive education offered at UP.
The basis for UP’s distinctive undergraduate education is the Core Curriculum, which offers students six Habits of Heart and Mind that derive from the enduring values of the liberal arts, the needs of the world, and the university mission. The classes in the Core cultivating these habits constitute the communal academic experience for all UP students regardless of major. While many classes at other accredited higher education institutions cover similar content, UP’s classes are designed with learning goals specific to the University and with a commitment to community formation. Thus, UP evaluates and accepts general education transfer credits with reference to the mission related commitments embedded in the University Core.
Course-Level Transfer Credit
Course-level transfer credit policies are most often relevant to students entering UP as first-year students, existing UP students transferring specific course credit, or transfers from other accredited colleges or universities who do not meet block transfer requirements. These policies specifically apply to:
- New first-year students with some transfer credit from prior learning assessments such as AP or IB exams and/or from dual enrollment courses during high school (but who have not completed an associate degree designed for transfer).
- Returning UP students transferring credit from part-time enrollment or summer enrollment at other accredited colleges or universities.
- Transfer students with less than 60 semester-equivalent credit hours from other accredited colleges or universities.
- Transfer students with more than 60 semester-equivalent credit hours from other accredited colleges or universities but less than 11 lower-division classes from across a breadth of liberal arts disciplines.
Course-level transfer credits earned at other regionally accredited four-year universities and earned through enrollment at other regionally accredited two-year colleges will be evaluated on a course-by-course basis. Search the Transfer Equivalency System (TES) to see how credits will transfer to UP from specific courses completed at another college.
Course-level transfer credits can fulfill up to 8 of the 11 required Foundation Level courses of the University Core Curriculum through previously earned college credits approved for transfer to UP and deemed equivalent to UP Core courses (including dual enrollment credits earned in high school through programs such as Running Start or credits from minimum scores on prior learning assessments such as AP and IB exams).
Students with course-level transfer credit at the foundation level of the UP Core must take at least one foundation level course in the Religion, Faith, and Ethics habit at UP and one foundation level class in the Commitment to Diversity, Inclusion, and the Common Good habit at UP. This requirement helps to ensure all UP students engage with these habits as part of their community formation and as a key mission commitment embedded in the University Core.
If a student has transfer credit from another college or university for an equivalent course that employs a liberal arts disciplinary perspective and addresses the learning outcomes of the Commitment to Diversity, Inclusion, and the Common Good habit, that student may, in some cases, be exempted from completing one exploration level course at UP. Guidelines for such exemptions are coordinated between the University Core Curriculum Committee (UCCC), the Core Director, and the relevant Dean’s Offices.
In addition, to ensure students have opportunities as part of the UP community to engage with writing and dialogue, if a non-block transfer student has transferred coursework for both foundation level classes in the Literacy, Dialogue, and Expression habit then at least one exploration level course must address that habit.
Otherwise, in most cases students seeking course-level transfer credit to fulfill UP Core requirements must take the Anchor Seminar and two upper-division exploration level Core courses at UP or through UP approved study abroad coursework. In rare cases, students may request course-level transfer credit as a substitute for one exploration level course in the UP Core if they have taken an upper-division interdisciplinary course with a liberal arts focus at another college or university. Any such request must be approved by the Core Director or the UCCC through review of the relevant transfer course. In all cases, students must take at least one exploration level course at UP. All transfer students will complete the Integration Assignment prior to graduation.
Block Transfer Credit
Block level transfer credit policies are most often relevant to students transferring at the junior level after several years of coursework at community colleges or other accredited colleges or universities. These policies specifically apply to:
- Transfer students who have completed associate degrees designed for transfer to four-year universities, currently the Associate of Arts for Oregon Transfer, the Washington Associate of Arts with a Direct Transfer Agreement, and the California Associate Degree for Transfer.
- Transfer students with more than 60 semester-equivalent credit hours at other accredited colleges or universities who have completed at least 11 lower-division classes across a breadth of liberal arts disciplines. To qualify for the block transfer, these credits must be evaluated through the Transfer Equivalency System to fulfill course-by-course requirements of at least four habits at the foundation level of the UP Core.
If students earn an appropriate transfer-oriented associate degree, they may enter the University of Portland as a junior with 60 credit hours earned and will be considered to have completed the foundation level of UP’s University Core Curriculum through a block transfer.
If a student transfers to the University of Portland from another accredited college or university with more than 60 earned semester credit hours but without an approved associate degree, they may also be eligible for a block transfer. These students must have taken at least eleven lower-division courses across a range of liberal arts disciplines, ideally through a liberal arts general education program, and these courses must in sum be equivalent to fulfilling course requirements for four of the six habits at the foundation level of the UP Core. At least ten of these courses should be knowledge-based courses (such as introductions to literature, psychology, biology, art history, or other surveys of fields in the liberal arts and sciences) that would be roughly equivalent to courses in the UP Core, including courses from liberal arts disciplines not currently offered at UP, such as anthropology, ecology, geography, geology, linguistics, neuroscience, and 3- to 5-credit interdisciplinary seminar courses with a liberal arts focus. No more than two of the eleven courses should be from the same discipline, and laboratory and internship courses would not count as independent classes for the purposes of reaching eleven courses.
One of the eleven courses may be skill based, provided that the course is offered within a liberal arts and sciences discipline. Such courses include writing courses, research methods courses, studio art courses, public speaking courses, leadership courses, and some language courses. (Language courses that are equivalent to 202 or 300 level UP-language courses should count among the ten knowledge-based courses).
If eligible, students will be able to transfer their general education credit as a direct substitute, or block, for all foundation level requirements in the UP Core. This block transfer will not require any need to match transfer credits on a course-by-course basis at the foundation level.
To ensure these junior-level transfer students have curricular experiences in accordance with UP’s mission, students using a block transfer will take at least one philosophy (PHL) course and at least one theology (THE) course at UP. These courses, pending prerequisites, should usually be upper-division courses that are approved as exploration level Core courses. In cases where block transfer students have not transferred necessary prerequisites for available philosophy and/or theology courses at the exploration level, block transfer students may substitute foundation level courses in PHL and/or THE for either one or both of their required exploration level courses. Students who have taken multiple courses in philosophy and theology at other institutions may seek approval from the Core Director to enroll in exploration level courses other than philosophy and theology.
Block transfer students will also need to complete an Anchor Seminar designed for transfer students to integrate their general education experiences with the UP Core Habits of Heart and Mind. In most cases block transfer students will take the version of the Anchor Seminar specifically designed for transfer students, though in some cases (such as for students who completed an associate degree through dual enrollment during high school) block transfer students may take an Anchor Seminar in the fall semester with other first-year students. All transfer students will complete the Integration Assignment prior to graduation.