Academic Planning
Before you depart for your MIX program, it is required that you meet with your UHM Academic Advisor(s) to discuss how the transfer credits you earn on MIX can be applied towards your major and minor degree requirements.
The purpose of the MIX Learning Agreement is to provide a transparent and efficient preparation of the study abroad period and to ensure that the student will receive recognition in his/her degree for the educational components successfully completed abroad. This form is applicable to all students participating in Manoa International Exchange (MIX) programs. Students planning to take courses in multiple subjects/disciplines should provide each UHM Department with a separate Learning Agreement & Course Approval Form.
STUDENTS should be aware of the following:
1. When asking Academic Advisors or Department Chairs to approve courses that will be or have been taken abroad you must include a course syllabus for each course. If a course syllabus is not available, contact MIX (outbound@hawaii.edu) for further instruction.
2. The Foreign Course Number and Foreign Course Title must match exactly with the number and title of the course as it appears on your Host University Transcript and/or Catalogue.
3. Once abroad some courses that you may have received approval for may not be offered at your host university. For this reason, students are advised to seek approval for a number of courses greater than what would be needed to constitute a full-time courseload at the host institution. You may take courses that have not been previously approved on your MIX Learning Agreement form but you must inform your academic advisor(s) and MIX (outbound@hawaii.edu) of the change as soon as possible.
4. You must enroll in the minimum amount of credits required to qualify for full-time status at your host university (ex. University of Bergen requires 30 ECTS credits per semester). You must also maintain full-time enrollment at UHM (12 credits for undergraduates; 8 credits for postgraduates; 6 credits for summer participants).
5. Your grade point average is based only on work taken at UHM. Grades received abroad will not affect your UHM GPA.
6. If you are receiving financial aid you must enroll in and pass with a full-time credit load per semester abroad to retain full-time student status. Should you fail to meet this requirement you will be subject to the normal consequences of not meeting the conditions of Satisfactory Academic Progress as stipulated by Financial Aid Services.
7. You should avoid repeating courses taken at UHM, since the grade at another institution will not replace the grade earned at UHM, nor will you receive credits for participating in the repeated course.
8. If the Office of Admissions does not have a completed MIX Learning Agreement and Course Approval form, undergraduate students will receive lower division elective credits. If you wish to receive specific UHM course equivalencies, you must contact the academic departments to review the syllabi and complete page 2 of this MIX form. Please email the completed form to the Office of Admissions then the equivalencies will be updated. Do not send your syllabi to the Office of Admissions.
9. Once your credits have transferred back to UHM, if you enrolled in the MIX placeholder course (IS-099), the total number of credits for the placeholder course will be reduced to 0 in your STAR Campus Report and the credits you received will be shown instead as transfer credits at the top of your Transfer Report.
10. Students cannot fulfill focus credits (FGA, FGB, FGC) but for diversity (DP, DB etc.) if it’s been approved by the appropriate Department Chair (Ex. Department Chair of Biology approving a Biology Course abroad, the DB credit may be fulfilled)
11. WI and Oral Credits may only be fulfilled on UH campuses.
12. All credits received abroad through MIX will transfer back as elective transfer credits. (Ex. If you receive 12 UH equivalent credits abroad, this will be transferred back as 12 elective transfer credits.)
DEPARTMENT CHAIRS OR DESIGNATED REPRESENTATIVES should be aware of the following:
1. Students are responsible for completing the course research for their university of interest. If the student comes to you unprepared (not having course syllabi ready) you may turn them away and ask them to make another appointment when they have the requisite documentation prepared.
2. If a course is not exactly equivalent to any class offered by your department you may list it as <Dept Name> Upp or <Dept Name> Low. (e.g. ART 101 = ART Low) to indicate that it can be counted as an upper/lower division elective for your department.
3. If there is no equivalent department for a course taken abroad you may list it as an upper division or lower division general elective.
4. Please be aware that some Universities abroad already participate in established credit transfer systems that UHM acknowledges (e.g. 2 ECTS credits = 1 UHM credit).
ACADEMIC ADVISORS should be aware of the following:
1. Academic Advisors cannot sign off for course approval decisions nor supersede the course approval decisions of Department Chairs unless given approval to do so.
2. Once the signed form has been returned to you by the Department Chair or designated representative, please send a copy to MIX (outbound@hawaii.edu) so this data may be saved.
To receive credits for courses completed at another institution, UHM STUDENTS should:
1. Secure approval in advance for each course to be taken abroad by filling out the attached form.
2. Earn a passing grade, which is a D or higher. Please note that “passing” is not the same as being able to use the course to fulfill requirements.
3. To use a course for General Education requirements, you will need a grade of D (not D-) or higher.
4. To use the course as a prerequisite for another course or to fulfill a major requirement, you may need to receive a grade equivalent to a C (not C-) or higher at UHM. To be sure, please check with your academic advisor.
