Third-Party Transfer Credit

To receive transfer credit at Duke, students are expected to present a transcript from a four-year college or university at which the course work was also completed.   Trinity College does not generally award transfer credit in so-called “third-party” transfer situations, i.e., when the school attended is not the same as the accredited four-year degree-granting institution that issues the transcript.  The Undergraduate Teaching, Academic Standards, and Honors (UTASH) Committee of the Arts & Sciences Council reviewed this policy in the Spring of 2008 and reaffirmed it, concluding that, because the school attended is by definition not an accredited 4-year degree-granting institution, no transfer credit can be awarded for work completed at it. 

The UTASH Committee did recognize one exception to this rule: the situation in which the transcripting institution administers the school attended, setting its academic standards and curriculum and appointing the instructional staff, either from its own ranks or otherwise.  For example, Duke students can receive up to two transfer credits for participation in Semester-at-Sea, administered by the University of Virginia.

The UTASH Committee also recognized the existence of highly reputable academic institutes, field study laboratories, and other such independent research programs of study that our students might benefit from attending, even though they cannot yield Duke transfer credit.  In such cases, the Committee proposed that students work with the appropriate department at Duke to establish a supervised independent study course based on the experience at such an institution—generally this will take place after their attendance of the school in question—for which they could receive Duke course credit.  Such an independent study should generally be arranged prior to enrollment in the program at the other institution.