Credit transfer - first- and second- cycle education

Course and programme web

Information that must be available on the course and programme website.

• The information should be about the possibility of transferring credits for previous studies and professional experience.
• Where to turn for additional information, i.e. contact details for decision-makers and administrators
• If there are specific documents to be attached to the application
• Link to the main page describing the application procedure

• Students at KI can have previous education or work experience assessed for credit transfer. Students in semester 1 who have been admitted and have activated their student account can apply for credit transfer, a decision may only be made when the student has started the programme, i.e. is pursuing studies.
• The application in Ladok should be used. The student must attach documents to the application to prove previously completed education or professional experience.
• The student is responsible for ensuring that the application received is complete.
• The application can also be submitted in other ways, for example by text message, e-mail, post or verbally. Both written and oral applications must be processed. The application should be submitted in good time so that a decision can be made before the start of the course.

Persons with protected personal data

• For persons with protected personal data, the application must be made on the form "Application for credit transfer". The case must be processed with regard to the protected personal data and registered and archived with a confidentiality marking.

Foreign merits

• When applying for credit transfer of education from other countries, the student must attach documentation to the application describing how the studies were organized, what was required for full-time studies, the division of the academic year, a detailed syllabus/course description, reading list, schedule, the number of credits of the course and the scope of the course in weeks and hours.
• The student must arrange for the translation of documents written in languages other than Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian and English.

• Applications via Ladok are provided with the case number and date of arrival by the system. Applications via the form must be provided with the date of arrival and registration number. Cases must be processed as quickly as possible.
• Once the application has been received, the case must be allocated to the correct administrator.
• Checks must be made that the student has been admitted and is pursuing studies at KI in accordance with Chapter 1. 4 § HF. If the student does not meet the requirements of Chapter 1. 4 of the Higher Education Ordinance, a decision shall be made to reject the application on the grounds that the applicant is not a student at Karolinska Institutet.

• The student is responsible for submitting documentation that supports the application.
• Only the original education/equivalent, which the student referred to in the previous decision on credit transfer, can form the basis for the assessment of credit transfer at KI.
• KI shall investigate a case concerning credit transfer to the extent required. When a student initiates a credit transfer case, the student must participate as far as possible by submitting the documentation that the student wishes to refer to in support of a credit transfer. If necessary, KI shall, through questions or remarks, work to ensure that the student clarifies or supplements his/her application for credit transfer.
• KI must encourage the student to submit supplementary information, the last date to submit supplementary information must be stated. The student must be given clear information about what needs to be supplemented, for example if it is a clarification or if/what documentation is missing. In connection with this, KI must also inform that the case will be decided on the basis of existing documentation if supplementary information is not provided. KI is responsible for making a decision on the matter even if the student remains passive.

• A case must be processed as simply, quickly and cost-effectively as possible without compromising legal certainty.
• If KI assesses that the processing will be significantly delayed, KI must notify the student and state the reason for the delay. The processing time shall not exceed two months from the date of receipt of complete documents.
• If the matter is not decided within six months, the student may request that KI decide the matter. Such a request must be in writing and may only be made on one occasion during the processing of the case. If the student requests that KI make a decision on the matter, KI shall, within four weeks from the date the request was received, decide on the matter or reject the request in a separate decision. Such a decision can be appealed to the Higher Education Appeals Board. If the appeal is upheld, the Higher Education Appeals Board shall decide to order KI to decide the case as soon as possible or within the time they determine.

• The processing must be in writing.
• During the preparation stage of a matter, students have the right to provide oral assignments. If the student wishes to submit complicated or extensive assignments, KI may request that the oral assignments be supplemented with written documentation.
• Information/s that are not a written document must be documented as soon as possible, if the information may be of significance for a decision in the case. It must be clear from the documentation when it has been made and by whom. The information can be compiled in a service note.

The template for service notes is available as a KI template in the program Word.

• An application for credit transfer must be assessed against the course's intended learning outcomes based on established course and programme syllabi. It is clear from the practice of the Higher Education Appeals Board that the higher education institution must always consider the application.
• An individual assessment must be made of the student's knowledge and skills in relation to the education against which the credit transfer is to take place.
• When considering the application, a generous approach must be applied.
• The application for credit transfer can be granted in full, in part or rejected.
• The student must be notified if, and to what extent, the application is granted through a written decision.
• A decision to reject all or part of the application must be clearly justified. The justification must contain information about the regulations that have been applied and the circumstances that have been decisive for KI's position.
• The decision must state who made the decision, who was the rapporteur, and who was involved in the final processing without participating in the decision. The rapporteur is, for example, one or more teachers who participated in the assessment of the case. The case officer is involved without participating in the decision, for example by handling the communication of supplementary information with the student.
• The decision may be appealed by the person to whom the decision relates, if it has gone against them.  A reference to appeal must be submitted with the decision. See also the paragraph on appeals.
• Credit transfer of course(s) corresponding to full semester/semester's courses within a programme does not mean that the student is given admission to a higher semester
• A credit transfer for a course in education, to which the student has not been admitted, does not entitle the student to follow other parts of that education. The student is only guaranteed to follow the regular course of study based on decisions on admission and admission semester.

Is the credit transfer based on foreign qualifications? 
In this case, think about ensuring that the level and scope of the training is right. The Swedish Council for Higher Education prepares individual statements for foreign education that the applicant can, if applicable, attach to his/her application for credit transfer, which then forms a basis for the assessment of the level and scope of the education. You can also request a description of the education system and the training from the applicant.

UHR has information about foreign education, such as countries' education systems, previously made assessments of education and degrees, and information about UHR's own assessment methodology. There is also a forum where you can ask questions regarding the case you are handling. 

Possible basis for assessment:

• Statement of the education from UHR
• Applicant's description of the current education system and education
• Information about countries' education systems, previous assessments and UHR's assessment methodology (via the NARIC portal)
• Direct communication with UHR in the individual case (via the NARIC portal)

Elective course
Assessment of credit transfer of elective course is made against the objectives for elective course in the programme syllabus.

Contract education
Those who participate in contract education may be given grades and degree certificates or course certificates, if the same quality requirements are set for the contract education as for the corresponding higher education education. This applies even if the participants do not qualify for access to higher education. Furthermore, a person who has completed and received a certificate from such contract education has the right to transfer credit for the education as a university education at first- or second-cycle level. 

Correction of decision
If a decision on credit transfer has been dispatched or in some other way made available to a third party and contains an obvious error as a result of clerical errors, calculation errors or some other similar oversight, the decision may be corrected by KI.

Amendment of decisions
A decision on credit transfer can be changed before the decision has been dispatched. In order for a favourable decision that has been dispatched to be amended, one of the following is required:

• there is a readmission reservation,
• there are imperative safety reasons;
• the student has provided incorrect or misleading information in his/her application for credit transfer or36
• the decision has not gained legal force.

A negative decision that has been dispatched can be changed.

A negative decision that has been dispatched can be changed.

The appeal case must have its own registration number and be handled entirely outside Ladok. The documentation, i.e. the application and decision, is retrieved from Ladok as a PDF document.

If it is a student with protected personal data, the matter must be marked as confidential in the register.

Handling of decisions in education that can be appealed.

MANUAL

Decisions on credit transfer are made in Ladok. The application and decision are registered and archived in Ladok.

For people with protected personal data

• Decisions on credit transfer are made in a separate document and must be signed analogue or digitally.
• A template for decisions on credit transfer must be used.
• The decision is then documented in Ladok. KI must register the credit transfer in the study documentation system as soon as possible after the student has been notified of the decision.
• All application and decision documents are registered and archived with a confidentiality mark in the archive in accordance with the current document management plan.

KI has no statutory obligation to provide advance rulings on credit transfers. KI does not normally give advance notice before the person is a student at KI.  Advance notice can be given, for example, if a person plans to apply for a later part of a programme and does not meet the requirement of being a student at KI or before a student is to pursue studies abroad and plans to be able to transfer these credits upon return to KI.

An advance notice can be significant for the student's ability to plan their studies, it is therefore important that the notice contains correct information about the conditions that apply for a credit transfer later to be possible.

An advance decision on credit transfer is only a preliminary decision and thus not binding, which must be made clear to the student. Advance rulings must be documented and registered.

Exchange/studies abroad 
Prior to exchange studies within an exchange programme and prior to studies abroad approved by the programme or course coordinator, a preliminary assessment (advance notice) of the possibility of transferring credits must be made. This assessment must be communicated to the student. The preliminary assessment (advance ruling) does not constitute a decision on credit transfer.

The following applies to persons who have a residence permit in Sweden as a refugee and who have insufficient study documentation: The university shall, as far as possible, use knowledge testing as a basis for credit transfer. This approach shall be applied if the following can be invoked:

• that the person has been forced to leave documents in their home country when fleeing;
• that it is not possible to communicate with the authorities in the home country;
• that the archives in the home country have been destroyed;
• that the information cannot be disclosed for political reasons;

Information about previous studies must be provided on honour and conscience and, if possible, certified by someone who is familiar with the circumstances.

"Prior learning means the overall competence a person has, regardless of how he/she has acquired it and regardless of whether he/she has formal grades for it or not. Prior learning is tested in connection with a student's eligibility for a particular education and in connection with a person's request for credit transfer of education other than higher education or professional experience."

In addition to the application, the student must attach an evaluation of how they consider themselves to meet the intended learning outcomes in the course syllabus. In the evaluation, the student must describe and justify his/her competence that corresponds to the intended learning outcome. The student should answer the following questions:

• Describe when, where and how you have acquired the knowledge, skills and attitudes that correspond to the intended learning outcome.
• Specify specific situations and/or tasks that make your knowledge, skills and approach visible.
• Describe the methods and/or theories you have used and justify why and state in which research/literature you find support for your reasoning and action.

If something is missing in the application, the student must be given the opportunity to supplement their application.

The process and assessment methods 
The processing and decision-making of credit transfer of prior learning shall follow the ordinary processing of credit transfer. The process below complements the processing of the application for credit transfer based on prior learning. 

1. Students who have questions regarding the application for credit transfer of prior learning or the design of the application, should contact the programme's study counsellor or the course's education administrator/examiner.
2. The student submits the application including self-evaluation of his/her knowledge, skills and approach in relation to the intended learning outcomes.
3. The decision-maker decides whether the application, including the self-evaluation and appendices, needs to be supplemented.

Supplementation of the application
A supplement to the application can be made in writing and/or through a conversation/interview with the student. An interview/conversation with the student at the beginning of the case can give the student the opportunity to clarify their self-evaluation. It can be an advantage to prepare the questions that need to be answered during the conversation. Based on the interview/conversation, the decision-maker can, in addition to supplementing the application, receive a basis for deciding whether and, if so, what additional assessment methods (references or subject experts) are needed to assess competence and make decisions in the matter. A service note is written after the interview/conversation and attached to the case.

4. The student submits the requested supplement.

5. The decision-maker decides on the basis of the complete application and, if so, what additional methods are needed to assess the competence and makes a decision on the matter. 

   Below are suggestions for different assessment methods:

In addition to the application and self-evaluation, the following methods can be used to assess the student's knowledge, skills and attitudes in relation to the learning outcomes of the course syllabus.

References 
Another way to assess the student's knowledge, skills and attitude is to interview, for example, the manager of the workplace where the student has been employed.

Subject  experts 
Subject experts can be hired to provide additional information to the decision-maker.

6. If new questions have arisen in connection with the assessment, a final interview/conversation with the student can be used to clarify these questions. However, the purpose of the interview/conversation should only be supplementation.
7. The decision-maker makes a decision on whether to approve or reject the application for credit transfer based on the overall documentation. If the application is rejected in whole or in part, a clear justification must be written in the decision.
8. Finally, the decision-maker writes a service note that is added to the case where there is a description of how the assessment was carried out and what methods have been used, and justifies in what way the documentation shows goal fulfillment. Assessment documents such as job notes from conversations with the student, previous employers, etc., must also be added to the case.