University of Hawai‘i at Hilo
Please return completed form to
• National Student Exchange • 200 W. Kawili Street, Hilo, Hawai’i 96720 •Tel. (808) 932.7389 •
• Fax (808) 932.7388 • Email: uhhnse@hawaii.edu •
Courses Taken on Exchange
Students should be aware of the following:
1. When asking Department Chairs (History dept chair for History course, etc.) to approve courses that will or have been taken on
exchange you must present the description and/or syllabus for each course- if neither is available contact the NSE coordinator for
further instruction.
2. If you are seeking approval for courses after your exchange it is recommended that you gather a copy of your host university transcript
(which you can pick up from the National Student Exchange Office) as well as a print out of your transcript off of the star system before
speaking to any Department Chairs. You may also want to have a syllabus of the course handy or the course description.
3. The Course # and Title column on the PECA form must match letter for letter the # and name of the course on your Host University
Transcript and/or Catalogue.
4. As your exchange nears, you may find that some courses that you may have received approval for may not be offered at your host
institution. You may take courses that have not been previously signed off on your PECA form but, you must inform the NSE
Coordinator of the change. Otherwise, you may get incorrectly credited when your transcript comes back to UHH.
5. You must meet the minimum amount of credits required to qualify for full time status at your host university.
6. Your grade point average (GPA) is based only on work taken at UH Hilo- grades received on exchange will not help or harm your GPA.
7. If you are receiving financial aid you must pass with a minimum equivalent of 12 UHH credits per semester on exchange
(passing as stipulated by UHH Admissions is to maintain a grade of ‘C’/70% or higher for each course taken) 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 stipulated by Financial Aid, and could lose your awarded aid.
8. To earn a bachelor’s degree at UH Hilo, a minimum of 30 semester hours in the college from which a degree is sought must be earned at
UH Hilo.
9. College of Arts & Sciences and Ka Haka ‘Ula O Ke‘elikolani students must earn a minimum of 25% of the credits required for their
major, minor and/or certificate at UH Hilo.
10. You are discouraged from repeating courses taken at UH Hilo, since the grade at another institution (including within the UH system)
will not replace the grade earned at UH Hilo.
Department Chairs 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 descriptions and/or syllabi available) you should turn them away.
2. Courses taken on exchange can only be approved by Department Chairs and decisions by Department Chairs can only be superseded by
the Director of Admissions.
3. If a course is not exactly equivalent to any class offered in your department you may list it as <dept name> Upp or <dept name> Low.
Ex. Japanese-European Relations 01 = POLS Upp
4. If there is no equivalent department for a course taken on exchange you may list that class as ELTV Upp or ELTV Low.
Ex. Sewing 101 = ELTV Low
5. Please be aware that some universities, namely in Washington, Oregon and California, use a quarter system where, instead of two 15
week semesters, the standard academic year is divided into the three 10 week terms: Fall, Winter and Spring. Therefore, please note that
3 quarter credit hours transfers to UH Hilo as 2 semester credit hours.
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.
To receive credit at UH Hilo for courses completed at another institution, UH Hilo students should:
1. Secure approval in advance for each course to be taken on exchange by filling out the reverse side.
2. Earn a passing grade of equivalent to a U.S. “C” (70%) or higher at host institution.
3. Any course taken on exchange that is completed with D/69% or lower will not be on be recorded on your UHH Transcript.
4. Request an official transcript from your exchange institution to be sent to the UH Hilo National Student Exchange Office
(address located at the bottom of the page).