If you have completed college-level work in a country other than the United States, then you are eligible to receive transfer credit if the institution is officially recognized by the ministry of education or governing educational body.
Admitted or enrolled students who have questions about transfer credit equivalencies can contact their academic advisor or a transfer articulation specialist at
Transcript Evaluation
UAB credential evaluators will review the transcripts of all students who have taken university-level coursework outside of the United States. You must submit all transcripts and mark sheets and any degree certificates, diplomas, or provisional certificates for all universities you have attended. After the evaluation is completed, UAB will use the evaluated grade point average (GPA) to make an admission decision. The minimum GPA required is a 2.00 out of 4.00.
Please allow five to 10 business days for evaluations to be completed after all required documents have been submitted. Contact the Office of International Admissions at
Disclaimer
Applicants may not disregard any part of their educational history, and failure to report all institutions previously attended will be cause for cancellation of the admissions process or for dismissal. All credentials submitted for admission to UAB become property of the university and will not be returned or released.
Matching Your Courses to UAB Courses: Articulation
There is an additional process to allow those previously completed credits to count toward the completion of your UAB degree: Articulation. The articulation process is used by UAB to determine whether or not academic coursework completed at another academic institution is equivalent to UAB coursework.
If you want your previously earned credit to count toward your UAB degree, you need to have the individual courses matched with UAB courses through the articulation process. To learn how to do this, please follow these steps carefully:
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1. Contact Your Academic Advisor
Contact your academic advisor by telephone, email, or in person to determine if previous coursework might be articulated to fulfill UAB degree requirements. In your conversation, you and your advisor will come to one of the following two decisions:
Decision 1: No Articulation Requested: You proceed with the curriculum required for degree completion.
Decision 2: Articulation Requested: You proceed with the transfer articulation process. UAB strongly encourages you to begin the articulation process immediately after admission. If you and your advisor agree that your previous academic work might help satisfy UAB degree requirements, then proceed to “Gather the Necessary Information.”
If you have any questions about the evaluation of your transcript, contact the Office of International Admissions at
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . -
2. Gather the Necessary Information
Ask your previous international institution to submit detailed course information from one of the following lists.
If English is not the native or official language of your home country, then all credentials must be translated to English. (See "Certified English Translations" near the bottom of this page for details.)
LIST 1: Detailed Course Syllabus
The syllabus must include all of the following:
- Course title
- Course level (1st year, 2nd year, 3rd year, etc.)
- Any prerequisites required for the course
- Course description. Example:
- Course objectives
- Program of study or content covered in course
- Whether the course was independent study, a lecture, a seminar, a laboratory, a lecture and laboratory, etc.
- A description of how the course evaluated students, such as how the final course grade was determined
- References utilized during the course, such as textbooks (including titles and authors)
Providing a list of your home university's curriculum may be helpful. That will allow the evaluators to see exactly where the course appears within the curriculum.
LIST 2: Detailed Course Description from Home University Academic Course Catalogue or Course Bulletin
As you gather and send the necessary information to UAB for articulation, please note the following:
- While course descriptions from your home university’s course catalogue or bulletin may help articulate courses, a detailed course syllabus—as described above—will provide the most comprehensive and accurate information to evaluators making articulation decisions.
- All submissions coming from your home university should be accompanied by a cover letter from that university on its official letterhead. The letter must include the name and contact information of the person submitting your academic credentials directly to UAB.
- All documents submitted to UAB for articulation are subject to verification, become property of the university, and will not be returned or released. If any document is found to be fraudulent, then the student will be held responsible and may be subject to disciplinary action.
- Though not required by UAB, you may wish to request that your home university send by post, in a sealed envelope, an original transcript directly to the Office of International Admissions.
FOR BOTH LISTS: Mailing Address
For each course you want UAB to evaluate for articulation, you must request that your home institution submit the academic credentials and a cover letter by mail (in a sealed envelope) or email.
Course information should be sent to:
Office of International Admissions
UAB - The University of Alabama at Birmingham
Mervyn H. Sterne Library, Floor 2
917 13th Street South
Birmingham, Alabama 35294
USAOR
Office of International Admissions:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Disclaimer
In all instances, UAB reserves the right to request additional information as needed. You are responsible for following stated transfer articulation guidelines and for ensuring that all documents submitted to UAB are complete, accurate, and verifiable. Any documents that you submit directly will be sent to the issuing institution for verification purposes, which may delay the articulation process. Additionally, the articulation process does not guarantee that an international transfer course will be equivalent to a UAB course and will satisfy a degree requirement.
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3. Contact Your Academic Advisor Again
Once your academic credentials have been submitted to the UAB Office of International Admissions, the documents will be forwarded to the appropriate academic department representative to evaluate equivalency to UAB coursework.
Stay in contact with your academic advisor, who will receive the final decision. He or she can explain how any articulated courses can fulfill UAB degree requirements.
Certified English Translations
Certified English translations are available in two forms:
- The first option is a translation from native language to English that is completed and certified by your home university. These translations must be sent along with original academic credentials in native language directly to the UAB Transfer Articulation Office. As with all of your original academic credentials, your home university must send these documents and a cover letter on official university letterhead that includes the name and contact information of the person sending the materials. Any materials that arrive in an unsealed envelope or that do not come directly from your home university will not be considered valid.
- The second option is a translation of all academic credentials that have been completed, certified, and sent in a sealed envelope directly to UAB by an American Translators Association (ATA)-certified translator. Documents translated in English must be submitted with the original language documents issued by the academic institutions, unless they have been issued in English directly by the institutions themselves.
UAB ATA Disclaimer
Students are responsible for payment of all costs associated with the translation of academic credentials.
Due to the general credentialing and certification standards required for membership, the ATA is listed as a resource for students if an English translation certified by their home university is not accessible. However, individual ATA-certified translators or ATA member agencies are not employed by UAB, nor does UAB endorse any particular translator, translation agency, or translation entity.