In establishing agreements to accept credit earned in vocational/technical curricula or from institutions not accredited to offer college transfer curricula, the appropriate course-sponsoring department at a Purdue campus must determine that the course is substantially equivalent to one or more courses taught at Purdue or is substantially equivalent to the nature of courses taught in the discipline at Purdue. In making these decisions, course-sponsoring departments are expected to follow the procedures described below for review of each course proposed for transfer credit.

Course Review Procedures. Departmental faculty may award transfer credit only for courses within their departmental mission. Faculty considering the award of transfer credit for courses completed with a grade of C or better from vocational/technical curricula or non-accredited transfer curricula shall evaluate the following information in reaching a decision:

• the credentials of the faculty teaching the course;
• the syllabus, texts, supplemental readings, and other assignments required of students enrolled in the course;
• the testing and other means used to evaluate student performance in the course;
• examples of student work in the course; and
• whether the institution would award transfer credit for successful completion of the equivalent course at Purdue.

Possible Outcomes. A course may be found to be equivalent to a specific Purdue course (direct equivalency), to more than one Purdue course (multiple equivalency), or to the general type and quality of Purdue courses (undistributed equivalency). In no case will an equivalency award exceed the number of credit hours awarded for the course as taken by the student, and fractional credit will not be awarded.

Periodic Validation. Course-sponsoring departments must validate previously approved equivalencies annually by departments reaffirming the original decision, suspending acceptance of transfer credit for a previously approved course, or changing the course equivalency. Such a decision should be based on changes in the course as taught by the other college or university or on changes in the structure or content of the curriculum or course as taught by the Purdue department.

Reporting Procedures. Departments which reach or change a decision about course equivalency shall notify their dean of their decision and the procedures used to reach their conclusion. The dean shall report the decision to the campus director of admissions and certify that the course review procedures satisfied the intent of this policy. The campus director of admissions will, in turn, notify the West Lafayette director of admissions who shall compile a list of equivalency decisions and distribute it to all campus directors of admissions and registrars. A revised list shall be distributed each time a change is made.