UC Transferable Course Guidelines
University of California - Office of the President
July 2003

• Special Regulations for Courses in Specific Subject Areas
• Physical Education Courses
• Variable Topics Courses

Policy and Process on Course Transferability

For many years, the University of California and the California Community Colleges have worked together to establish articulation agreements that enable students planning to transfer to maintain continuity in their programs. There are basically two categories of articulation agreements. One type of agreement determines the general transferability of community college courses at the university-wide level, and the other, done at the campus level, determines the acceptability of transfer courses in satisfaction of specific degree requirements in various academic programs.

General Transferability of Courses

The Office of Outreach, Admissions and Student Affairs (OASA), in the UC Office of the President, develops and updates articulation agreements with community colleges. This responsibility has been delegated to OASA by the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS), a standing committee of the UC Academic Senate. The Office maintains current and historical lists for 110 community colleges, two of which are private.

In developing the articulation agreements, OASA follows policies established by BOARS regarding the acceptability of courses for advanced standing elective credit toward a university degree. The basic principles used in determining the transferability of community college courses are:

1. Courses should be comparable to those offered at the lower division level at any of the UC campuses; and
2. Courses not equivalent to any offered at UC must be appropriate for a university degree in terms of purpose, scope, and depth.

Courses listed as transferable are accepted at the point of admission for unit credit toward the total units required for the UC baccalaureate degree.

UC articulation staff updates articulation agreements annually. During the course review process, UC staff uses UC and community college catalogs, expanded course outlines, regulations established by BOARS governing the maximum amount of credit allowed in certain subject areas, and recommendations developed by UC faculty and deans in special areas, such as architecture.

Community college articulation officers are encouraged to review their agreement carefully and to bring any concern to the attention of the UC articulation staff. Appeals of course denials are acceptable. In these cases, UC staff may require the articulation officer to send expanded course outlines providing information on items such as: prerequisites, purpose of the course, and detailed descriptions of the course content, method of evaluation, and reading lists. The UC articulation staff is able to resolve routine appeals. Occasionally, however, course outlines are forwarded to appropriate university faculty to solicit an opinion on the transferability of a denied course.