With the approval of a graduate student's academic advisor and the executive associate dean, graduate-level academic credit from another institution may be transferred for use in a School of Public Health-Bloomington graduate degree. An official transcript from the registrar's office of the academic institution where the course work was completed must be on file in the School of Public Health-Bloomington records office. A copy of this transcript should accompany the request through its approval stages. A student's academic advisor must submit a Request for Transfer of Graduate Credit Form to SPH 123, for evaluation and final approval of the executive associate dean. This form is available at https://one.iu.edu/task/iub/current-sph-students. Stipulations for transferability are as follows:

• Up to one-third of a graduate degree credit hours with the approval of graduate advisor, Director of Graduate Studies, and Executive Associate Dean may be transferred from other institutions for application to a master's degree.
• Up to a third of a graduate degree credit hours with the approval of graduate advisor, Director of Graduate Studies, Executive Associate Dean, and Dean of the Graduate School may be transferred from other institutions for application to a doctoral degree; however, courses already counted toward the requirements for one advanced (doctoral or equivalent) degree will not be counted toward requirements for another degree at the same level, and cannot be transferred.
• For School of Public Health master’s degrees, course work completed more than seven years before the starting date of student’s program-entry semester may not be used to satisfy the program’s course requirements unless the student has remained current in the course subject matter. The student’s graduate advisor may recommend to the executive associate dean that course work taken before the seven year time limit be revalidated if it can be demonstrated that the knowledge contained in the course(s) remains current. Currency of knowledge may be demonstrated by such accomplishments as: (a) passing an examination specifically on the material covered by the course; (b) passing a more advanced course in the same subject area; (c) passing a comprehensive examination in which the student demonstrates substantial knowledge of the content of the course; (d) teaching a comparable course; (e) publishing scholarly research demonstrating fundamental principles of the course; or (f) demonstrating currency of course subject matter through work experience within seven years of matriculation. Each course for which consideration for revalidation is being requested should be justified separately in a document presented to the executive associate dean for approval.
• Not more than 30 credit hours from other approved graduate institutions may be accepted toward the requirements for the Ph.D. The acceptance and distribution of the transferred credit are determined by the student's advisory committee at the time of the formal course prescription meeting and must be approved by the executive associate dean.
• For Ph.D. degrees, course work completed more than seven years before successful completion of the qualifying examination is not applicable to the program unless it has been satisfactorily updated. The graduate advisor, after consultation with the advisory committee, may recommend to the executive associate dean that a maximum of 30 credit hours of course work taken before the seven-year time limit be revalidated if it can be demonstrated that the knowledge contained in the course(s) remains current. Currency of knowledge may be demonstrated by such accomplishments as (a) passing an examination specifically on the material covered by the course; (b) passing a more advanced course in the same subject area; (c) passing a comprehensive examination in which the student demonstrates substantial knowledge of the content of the course; (d) teaching a comparable course; or (e) publishing scholarly research demonstrating fundamental principles of the course. Each course for which consideration for revalidation is being requested should be justified separately.
• No doctoral coursework from any completed doctoral or terminal degree may be transferred into any part of the Ph.D. degree.  A student could transfer coursework from another institution which was taken under a doctoral degree program, so long as that doctoral degree was never conferred.
• A minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale must have been earned for the work to be transferable.
• Grades of Pass (P) or Satisfactory (S) cannot be accepted unless there is official documentation from the transferring institution to verify that these grades are equivalent to at least a B on a graduate grading scale.
• No credit can be transferred for a course that cannot be officially documented as carrying graduate credit.
• Any graduate course work to be taken at another institution for the purpose of transfer to an Indiana University program must be approved in advance by the advisor and the executive associate dean.
• A student wishing to enroll in degree-related course work at any other Indiana University campus must secure the appropriate forms from the School of Public Health-Bloomington records office, SPH 123, before registering for such courses.
• The cumulative grade point average (GPA) for students in the School of Public Health-Bloomington is calculated, using only Indiana University graded coursework. Credits and grades in work transferred from other institutions are not used in the calculation of a student’s Indiana University GPA.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Question: Is coursework taken at an IU campus, other than the Bloomington campus, considered to be transfer coursework?
Answer: No, Indiana University coursework completed at any IU regional campus or in another school on the IU Bloomington campus is not considered to be transfer coursework.  However, usage of credits from another IU degree is subject to approval of the executive associate dean. 

Question: I would like to transfer credit hours to my master's degree program from an academic institution that is on the quarter-hour system; how do those hours equate to IU's semester-hour system?
Answer: A quarter-hour equates to .6667, or two thirds of a semester-hour; example: a 3 credit-hour course completed at an institution that is on the quarter-hour system would transfer into IU as 2 semester credit-hours.