School of Arts and Sciences
International Relations Program

Transfer of Credit

Students must complete the following steps so that courses taken at other institutions may be counted toward the IR major. Students are strongly encouraged to do this before they take the course.

  1. Complete the Transfer of Credit process through SIS. The request(s) must be made to the corresponding department(s) -- for example, Art History, Economics, or Sociology. Log into SIS, navigate to "Classes", and click "Request Transfer of Credit." (NOTE: Skip this step for Tufts Abroad, Fletcher, and Consortium courses).
  2. After receiving credit for the course(s) on SIS from the corresponding department(s), complete the IR Transfer of Credit Form. Be prepared to attach a course syllabus (in English) and write a brief explanation of the course's relevance to International Relations, and how it meets the specific requirement within the Core or Thematic Concentration Requirement for which you are seeking inclusion.
  3. IR approval takes approximately one week. Students will be notified via email whether a course has been approved for IR credit, and a record of the approval is kept with the IR Program Office.

Core Requirements

The IR Program will be cautious in allowing transfer credits to count toward Core Requirements. The Core Requirements were designed carefully to provide all majors with a common intellectual foundation. Please consider whether the course shares similar intellectual content with the approved courses listed for the Core Requirements when submitting transfer credit requests.

To be accepted for Core 4 credit, classes taken outside of Tufts should be History classes (i.e. offered by a historian, with readings mostly by historians) that are transnational/transcultural in focus and broad and introductory in scope. They should have a reading load and assignments that are comparable to expectations for a Tufts Core 4 course. As long as they clearly meet these criteria, they do not have to map onto an existing class at Tufts. (For example, a class on East Asian Empires would clearly meet the criteria but is not currently something we are able to offer at Tufts.)

Note that classes focusing solely or mainly on Europe are never approved (just as classes focusing solely on Europe do not count here at Tufts). Classes on Europe with a significant (at least 50%) emphasis on colonialism, imperialism, or cross-cultural exchange are more likely to be approved.
 

 

Thematic Concentration Requirements

The IR Program allows transfer credits to count toward Thematic Concentration Requirements. Please consider whether the course shares similar intellectual content with the approved courses listed for your Thematic Concentration Requirements when submitting transfer credit requests.

Culture Requirement

Culture courses examine different aspects of a culture and must include the analysis of primary texts and sources. A primary text or source is a product produced by the culture under study. Some types of primary sources include original documents, creative works, and relics or artifacts. Students in TC1, TC5, and TC6 must choose a culture course that relates to the concerns of their Thematic Concentration. Students in TC2, TC3, and TC4 may alternatively fulfill the culture requirement by taking a course from the linguistic region they are using to fulfill their Language Requirement. (Note: A student FULLY EXEMPT (e.g. native speaker) from the IR language Requirement (with required proof of 8th semester level of proficiency on Tufts transcript) may select a culture course from any language category).

Language Requirement

The IR Program defers to the respective language departments for evaluation of language courses to fulfill the IR Language Requirement.

IR Economics Requirements

Because the Economics Department requires that its majors take its core courses (EC 11 Intermediate Microeconomic, EC 12 Intermediate Macroeconomic, EC 13 Statistics, and EC 15 Basic Econometrics) at Tufts, Tufts students cannot receive equivalent credit for these particular courses. IR students can, however, receive general credit in the Economics Department for these courses, but it is necessary for them to state in the comment box of the SIS submission to Economics that they are "requesting for IR major credit only." The Economics transfer credit representative will then evaluate the courses for their content and note whether the courses are acceptable for credit for students who are not pursuing a major or minor in Economics. Students who receive credit from the Economics Department in this manner follow the remaining steps (2 and 3) in the IR transfer of credit process above.

The Fletcher School

Tufts students wishing to enroll in Fletcher courses should refer to the Fletcher website for Cross-Registration for Non-Fletcher Students. To receive IR credit for Fletcher courses, follow the IR transfer of credit process above.

Boston Consortium

Students currently enrolled full-time at Tufts may cross-register at certain other institutions, with appropriate approvals. The university has consortium agreements with Boston College, Boston University, and Brandeis. Tufts students wishing to enroll in courses at one of the abovementioned institutions should refer to Registrar's website for Cross-Registration. To receive IR credit for cross-registered courses in the Boston Consortium, follow the IR transfer of credit process above.