Credit transfer

If you have completed courses on other degree programmes or at other universities, you must apply for credit transfer to have the courses inserted in your study programme.

When applying for credit transfer, you must include documentation that you have passed the courses in question.

Below, you will find further information on what you should be aware of if you apply for credit transfer.

Before applying

Obtain an exam certificate

You need to be in possession of an official exam certificate before you can apply for credit transfer.

The exam certificate must contain the following information:

  • Your full name
  • Course identification code, course title, number of credits (ECTS/other credits)
  • Assessment (e.g. grade or pass/not pass)
  • Stamp and signature from the university or electronic verification

Not all universities issue official exam certificates to students who only visit the university for a short period or enrol in a limited number of courses. For this reason, you might need to contact the studies administration at your host university directly to obtain a verified transcript of records.

Requirements for English titles

If the course titles are not listed on your exam certificate in English, you must include them in your application. This applies regardless of whether you have taken courses in Denmark or abroad.

At many Danish universities, you can request a transcript of records in both Danish and English. Alternatively, you may submit a request for an English transcript of records to the studies administration in question.

Requirements for grading scale (universities abroad)

If you have completed courses abroad, you must include an official description of the grading scale in use at the host university.

You must include preapproval or course description

Courses with advance approval

If you apply for credit transfer for courses with preapproval, you must include your preapproval with your application. Your preapproval is sent to Digital Post.

Before you apply for credit transfer for courses with preapproval, you should make sure that the information in your preapproval is consistent with the information on your exam certificate.

If there are any discrepancies between the course identification code, course title or number of credits (ECTS/other credits) on your exam certificate and preapproval, your application for credit transfer must include course descriptions for the courses in question.

Courses without preapproval

If you apply for credit transfer for courses without preapproval, you must include course descriptions with your application.

This is the case if:

  • You apply for credit transfer for courses which you have passed as part of previous study programmes.
  • There are any discrepancies between the course identification code, course title or number of credits (ECTS/other credits) on your exam certificate and preapproval.

You can read more about the requirements for course descriptions here.

Applying for a credit transfer

Credit transfer for courses at Aarhus University

If you have completed courses on another degree programme at Aarhus University as part of your own degree programme, you do not need to apply for credit transfer.

The courses will automatically be transferred to your study programme when you pass them.

Credit transfer for courses at other institutions of higher education

If you have completed courses at another university in Denmark or abroad, it is your responsibility to apply for credit transfer.

You must submit your application via mystudies.au.dk.

  • Go to “Genveje til selvbetjening”
  • Click on "Ansøg hos dit studienævn"
  • Go to "Merit for kurser der ikke er en del af din studieordning"
  • Go to ”Merit for kursus på en anden uddannelsesinstitution”
  • Click on ”Søg om merit for et kursus på en anden uddannelsesinstitution”
  • Fill in the application form.

Include the following documentation:

  1. An official exam certificate (including English course titles)
  2. Grading scale (in relation to universities abroad)
  3. Advance approval or course descriptions

 

After you have applied

How long before you can expect a reply to your application?

In general, the processing time for applications for preapproval or credit transfer is 6-8 weeks.

If the attached course descriptions are inadequate, the processing time may increase.

The summer period
During the summer, you must expect increased processing time, as the lecturers and students who perform the academic assessments are usually on holiday in July.

Why is the processing time 6-8 weeks?

When you have submitted your application, the student affairs officer will go through the attached course descriptions and assess whether they contain the necessary information. Subsequently, the course descriptions are sent to the lecturers and students who are responsible for performing the academic assessment. Upon receiving this academic assessment from the lecturers and students, the student affairs officer will summarise and prepare a reply which you will receive via Digital Post.

Rounding down ECTS credits

When transferring credits, the number of ECTS credits that are inserted into your study programme must correspond to the number of credits obtained at the other degree programme or university. In the event that you have obtained too few ECTS credits, it will never be an option to round up the number of credits transferred to your study programme, and if you have obtained a surplus of ECTS credits, the number of credits will be rounded down during the transfer.

If the courses you take abroad are to replace a group of elective courses on your own degree programme, the total number of ECTS credits for all courses taken abroad will be rounded down – not the number of credits for a specific course. The resulting surplus of ECTS credits is not forfeit, but may be used at a later time in combination with other ECTS credits.

This has the following consequences:

  • If the elective courses offered at your degree programme amount to 5 ECTS credits and the course you have taken outside your degree programme amounts to 7.5 ECTS credits, only 5 ECTS credits will be inserted into your study programme. You will have a surplus of 2.5 ECTS credits that you may combine with an additional 2.5 ECTS credits and insert into your study programme at a later time.
  • If the elective courses offered at your degree programme amount to 5/10/15 ECTS credits, and you have completed four courses amounting to 8 ECTS credits each at another programme, you will have 30 ECTS credits transferred to your study programme.

Whether the number of ECTS credits will be rounded down to a number divisible by 5/10/15 ECTS credits during the transfer depends on the number of credits assigned to the elective courses on your degree programme. If your degree programme both offers elective courses amounting to 5 and 10 ECTS credits, the number of credits will be rounded down to a number divisible by 5.

 

Grade transfer

Courses at Danish universities/degree programmes

If you apply for credit transfer for an elective course based on courses completed at another Danish university, the following applies:

  • If you have passed the course with a grade on the Danish 7-point grading scale, your grade will be transferred to your study programme directly. The grade will count as part of your overall average grade. 
  • If the course is assessed on a pass/not pass basis, the course will be transferred with the assessment ‘pass’.

If you apply for credit transfer for a compulsory course based on a course taken at another Danish university, the following applies:

  • If both the credit-bearing course and the course element for which you apply for credit transfer are assessed with a grade on the Danish 7-point grading scale, your grade will be transferred directly.
  • If either the credit-bearing course or the compulsory course are assessed on a pass/not pass basis, no grade will be transferred.
  • If you apply for credit transfer for a course element based on a combination of credit-bearing courses no grade will be transferred.

Courses abroad

  • If you are granted credit transfer based on a course taken abroad, the course will be transferred to your study programme with the assessment ‘pass’. This means that your grades from courses abroad will not count towards your average grade.

FAQ

I can’t see the course(s) I have passed in STADS

When you have passed a course, you have to apply for credit transfer via mit.studie.au.dk.

Once you have received a reply to your application for credit transfer, it may take some time before the credit transfer is registered in STADS.

Once the credit transfer has been registered, you will be able to see it on your self-service under the 'Results' tab and the 'Credit transfers/exemption' bar.

If you’ve applied for credit transfer and received an answer, and after a few weeks you still can’t see your credit transfer in STADS, we recommend that you write to Aarhus BSS Studies Administration via bachelor.bss@au.dk or kandidat.bss@au.dk.

Is there a deadline for applying for credit transfer?

There is no actual deadline for applying for credit transfer. However, you must generally apply for credit transfer when you’ve passed the course(s) with advance approval, and you’ve received your official diploma.

Contact

  • Do you need assistance in relation to your exchange, please contact  BSS International 
  • Do you need assistance in relation to your study planning, please contact the student counsellors
  • Do you need assistance after you have sent in your application, please contact  BSS Studies

What is credit transfer?

If you have completed courses on other degree programmes or at other universities, you must apply for credit transfer to have the courses inserted in your study programme.