CREDIT TRANSFER & EXEMPTION POLICY

Purpose 

This policy prescribes the system, standards, procedures, and terms and conditions under which students may be granted advanced standing at Maldives Business School. Credit transfer recognizes the successfully completed prior learning experiences of the students and provide them with the opportunity to accelerate their progress towards completion of their program.

Policy Statement

Maldives Business School recognizes the prior learning and experience achieved by the student from any other institute, college or university. College provides them with the framework to get their prior learning recognized and transferring the credit to the current course they enrolled in with the college. This policy highlights the rules and regulations along with the conditions which are to be satisfied in order to provide credit transfer for the prior learning. The credit transfer policy set in accordance with the guidelines set by the MQA in the guideline no.  2022/G-39 dated 17^th October 2022.

Scope

This policy applies to all the students who enrolls in under-graduate and post-graduate programs offered by the college from level 4 to level 9.

Definitions

1. Credit: Credit is the agreed means of measuring and recognizing the learning which are required to be achieved by a student to achieve the qualification. The credit is always correlate with the learning hours where students showcase their commitment and effort towards learning in achieving the qualification. The learning hours includes the time spent by the student in classes, doing their assignment, project work, content research, preparation for examination and examination. A student achieves the credit on the successful completion of the course and scoring minimum pass grade in the course. Total of 120 credits make up one academic year for all the programs extending from Level 4 to Level 9.
2. Credit Transfer: A process whereby the school recognizes and validates the prior learning of a student after verifying all the relevant documents like certificates, statement of results, letter of completion with MQA reference number and allowing the student to get the credit transferred from the prior learning to their current programs in which they are enrolled with the school. The student does not need to attend the programs or courses for which credit transfer has been approved by the school. EX will be printed on the transcript for the program/course for which credit transfer been approved by the school.
3. Prior Learning: Learning acquired outside of Maldives Business School from any MQA recognized institution through previous coursework, professional experience, or other formal and informal learning experiences.
4. Exemption: An exemption is provided to a student who have previously studied a particular course and had achieved the pass grade from any other MQA recognize institution. The student need not to attend or do any form of assessments for the courses they been granted exemption. EX will be printed on the transcript for the courses exempted.

Criteria for Credit Transfer

1. Prior learning must be related, relevant and equivalent in terms of content of the courses offered at Maldives Business School.
2. The student must have secured a minimum of pass grade from the previous institute for the courses applied for exemption under credit transfer.
3. Exemption for the course may be allowed for equivalent modules that have been taken in other institutions provided that certified copies of evidence are provided and the school is satisfied that the content and depth with at least 70% similarity in the content.
4. The student must be able to produce the documents to validate the prior learning.
5. Student need to apply for the credit transfer immediately after their enrollment in the program along with all the relevant documents.
6. The learning experience must have occurred within the past five years from the date of enrollment. Prior learning that is older than five years will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
7. Application for credit transfer and exemption can only be made by a student who have formally enrolled in the programs.

Limitations

1. For the under-graduate programs, maximum of 2/3 of the total credit transfer will be allowed for credit-transfer.
2. For the post-graduate program, maximum of 1/3 of the total credit will be allowed for credit transfer.
3. Any request for credit transfer will not accepted after the first six months of enrollment in the program.
4. Exempted courses will not be counted towards the total grades awarded for a program.
5. Exempted courses/programs are recorded on the student’s transcript but are not included in the total grades awarded for a program.

Credit Transfer Procedure

1. Students seeking credit transfer and exemption must submit the Application for Credit Transfer and Exemption form available on the college website.
2. Students are required to submit the Application for Credit Transfer and Exemption on the college website along with the relevant documents like certificates and transcripts for evaluation and validation.
3. The submitted applications for credit transfer and exemptions are forwarded to the Registrar for evaluation and validation of the prior learning.
4. Registrar after evaluating and validating the submitted application for credit transfer and exemption provides the approval.
5. The letters of Statement of Advanced Standing and Exemption are emailed to the students whose applications for Credit Transfer and Exemptions has been approved by the Registrar.
6. The students whose applications got rejected by the Registrar are formally informed through an email mentioning the reason for rejection.
7. Decisions on Application for Credit Transfer and Exemption will be communicated within four weeks of application submission.

Appeals

Students whose application for credit transfer and exemption are denied may appeal the decision by:

1. Submitting a written appeal through an email to the Registrar’s office within two weeks of the decision notification.
2. The Registrar’s office will review the case and make a final determination within two weeks.

Review

This policy will be reviewed every two years to ensure its relevance and effectiveness.