Chapter II. Recognition and transfer of credits

Article 14.- Definition.

Recognition is understood to mean the acceptance by a university of credits that, while having been earned in an official course at the same or another university, need to be counted in a different course in order to obtain an official qualification. Credits earned during university courses that resulted in Undergraduate (Licenciatura), Engineering, Architecture, Diploma, Technical Engineering and Technical Architecture degrees are also subject to recognition.

Article 15.- Effect.

The effect of credit recognition is that students only have to earn those credits that are not recognised, up to the minimum number of credits required to obtain the qualification in question.

Article 16. General criteria.

The unit of recognition will be that of a single subject, in accordance with the competences and acknowledgements associated with the credits earned. To this end, it is vital that the student in question provide sufficient information regarding the competences established in the syllabus of the course on which the credits to be recognised were earned, as stated in article 16 of these Regulations. Reports on requests for credit recognition issued by the Academic Commissions of the various Master’s degrees should refer to similarities linked to the competences and contents of the credits being assessed, rather than to a mere similarity between subjects in terms of contents and length. A subject cannot be partially recognised. Obligatory and optional subjects can be recognised, along with external practical subjects, providing the nature, aims and competences acquired are similar.

Credits corresponding to Master’s graduation projects are not eligible for recognition, except in the case of projects carried out within the specific framework of a mobility programme.

In the case of joint inter-university studies governed by specific mobility or joint degree agreements, that established in said agreements shall prevail, except when it is in express contrast to UPV/EHU regulations.

For those Master’s degree with their own guidelines, that established in said guidelines shall be respected in relation to recognising subjects.

In addition to recognising complete subjects, duly accredited work and professional experience may also be recognised in the form of credits that go towards earning an official qualification, providing said experience is related to the competences and skills inherent to the official qualification being earned.

The number of credits that can be recognised on the basis of work or professional experience or previous non-official university studies (university-accredited or lifelong learning qualifications) may not exceed (in total) 15 percent of the total number of credits that make up the syllabus of the qualification being earned. Recognised credits do not count towards the numerical grade awarded, and cannot therefore be used for the purposes of calculating the student’s academic transcript.

Notwithstanding that stipulated in the preceding paragraph, exceptionally, this percentage may be exceeded, and all credits earned during a non-official university degree may be recognised providing said non-official degree is no longer taught and has been replaced by a new official university degree with recognisable academic credits. In such cases, internal quality assurance systems shall be responsible for confirming the academic validity of this procedure.

Article 17.- Recognition procedure.

1.- To initiate the recognition process, the interested party must be enrolled on the Master’s degree on which they wish the courses or work carried out in official institutions or those of acknowledged prestige to be recognised. Once enrolment is complete, the process is as follows:

Submitting the request:

The student should submit a recognition approval request to the Master’s Academic Commission within one month of the start of the course; said request must be accompanied by the following documents:

• Duly completed request form.
• Certified photocopy of their personal qualification certificate or copy and original for comparison.
• Syllabus of the subject or course in question, or detailed outline of the postgraduate activity carried out.

Once it has considered the recognition request, the Master’s Academic Commission will, within a maximum period of one month, send its proposal to the Recognition Committee of the corresponding Faculty, along with all completed files and reports.

The Faculty Recognition Commission will issue a ruling and will notify the Master’s Academic Commission and the student. The ruling will indicate which credits are recognised and which not. The reasons for refusing to recognise any credits must be duly argued and justified.

The interested party may lodge an appeal with the Vice-Chancellor against the ruling issued by the Recognition Commission, within one month of receiving notification of its decision.

The ruling regarding the recognition of credits should cover the following aspects:

• The number of credits to be recognised, indicating the ordinary subjects to which they pertain.
• The subjects in the syllabus that are recognised.
• The number of credits recognised on the basis of work and professional experience, as well as due to university-accredited or lifelong learning courses.
• The number of credits not recognised and the reasons for this decision.

Credits earned by a student through recognition will feature on their academic transcript as ‘recognised’, with the entry stipulating the subjects of the syllabus the student is considered to have passed as a result, as well as the subjects corresponding to the credits recognised, along with the exact name, type, number of credits and grade obtained in the original transcript, and the issuing institution.

Fees for recognised credits:

1.- For each recognised credit, the student shall pay the UPV/EHU the fee established for each academic year by the Basque Government Department of Education, Universities and Research. 

Article 18.- Credit transfers.

Credit transfer consists of including in the student’s transcript credits obtained in previous official studies at either the UPV/EHU or any other university, which did not result in the attainment of an official qualification.

1.- Effect.

All credits earned in previous official courses at the same or another university that did not result in the attainment of an official qualification are included in the official academic documents that attest to a student’s previous academic achievements.

2.- Aim.

Credit transfer is carried out in those cases in which students start a new degree course, after having failed to complete a previous one.

3.- Procedure.

Credit transfer is automatically carried out when students enrol for a course transfer, and all credits earned in official courses attended at either the same or another university that did not result in the attainment of an official qualification are included in their transcripts.

Transferred credits feature in the student’s transcript under the terms outlined in article 16.