In cooperation with the CMEC Secretariat and in keeping with its mandate to facilitate communication, the Alberta Council on Admissions and Transfer (ACAT) has produced the following summary of the Pan-Canadian Protocol on the Transferability of University Credits. ACAT seeks to build awareness of the assurance that the Protocol provides for Alberta's students, particularly in support of those transferring to other Canadian post-secondary institutions. ACAT also seeks to build awareness of the Protocol among front-line staff at post-secondary institutions.

Pan-Canadian Protocol on the Transferability of University Credits: Summary

Background

The Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) is the national voice for education in Canada. The Ministers responsible for education established their Council and through it they can take collective action in the national interest while, at the same time, maintaining responsibility for their individual education systems. An arm of the provinces and territories, the CMEC is the ministers' mechanism for consultation and action on matters of mutual interest. The CMEC is the instrument through which ministers cooperate with other national education organizations and ensure liaison with various federal departments. It is also the body that represents Canadian education internationally.

In February 1995, the CMEC adopted the Pan-Canadian Protocol on the Transferability of University Credits with a view to achieving pan-Canadian recognition of university undergraduate credits, including the final year of studies leading to a diploma of college studies (DCS) in Quebec and the university transfer courses offered by community colleges and university colleges in British Columbia and Alberta, by the end of 1996. In the spring of 1995, Alberta's four universities and four private university colleges advised the Minister that they affirmed the Protocol and indicated that their practices already conform to the Protocol.

Summary of the Protocol

Through the CMEC Pan-Canadian Protocol on the Transferability of University Credits, the universities and private university colleges of Alberta affirm that they recognize each others' courses, as well as those of other Canadian universities. Alberta's post-secondary institutions recognize the growing importance of student transfer and endorse the principle that the portability of educational credit must be optimized.

Outcomes

Students who have successfully completed one or more courses at another Canadian university, and who meet the receiving university's admission requirements, will be granted transfer credit provided the courses are applicable to the program and the grades meet the minimum acceptable standards of the receiving institution's program.

Transfer credit is used to reduce the length of the degree program. Generally, the amount of transfer credit granted depends on how applicable the previous course work is to the particular degree program to which the student has applied. The amount of transfer credit is determined by Faculty regulations, and is subject to the same regulations as for those transferring from one Faculty to another within the university. Normally, a maximum of two years of transfer credit may be granted towards an undergraduate degree program.

Click here for the full text of the Protocol.

November 1997