Credit transfer

Use your previous HE study to help you gain an OU qualification

You are here

  1. Home
  2. My previous study
  3. Study completed at a UK or Republic of Ireland institution with degree awarding powers

Study completed at a UK or Republic of Ireland institution with degree awarding powers

Yes - it looks like you may be eligible to transfer your credit

If you have successfully completed some study at a UK or Republic of Ireland institution with degree awarding powers you are likely to be eligible for credit transfer.  You may have studied towards a certificate of higher education, diploma of higher education, foundation degree, higher national diploma, bachelor’s degree, a postgraduate qualification or a smaller stand-alone qualification or module.

To be eligible for credit transfer your previous study must fulfill the following requirements.

  • It should have been completed at the higher education level - this is equivalent to the first year of a UK degree of above.  Please note that study at Access level/level 0 is not eligible for credit transfer.

    • On the Further and Higher Education Qualifications Framework (FHEQ) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland this is equivalent to Level 4 or above.

    • On the Scottish Qualifications Framework (SCQF) this is equivalent to Level 7 or above.

    • On the Irish National Framework of Qualifications (NQF) this is equivalent to Level 6 or above.

  • Your study should have been credit rated by the institution.

    • A credit rating/value is given when a university has assigned a certain number of credits or CATS (Credit Accumulation Transfer Scheme) points to a module or course.

    • You will need at least 30 credits of study before you can be awarded credit transfer. Modules at the OU are usually either 30 or 60 credits so you need a minimum of 30 credits to use credit transfer in an OU qualification. If you have more than one eligible qualification or period of study we can add the credits from each qualification to reach the minimum of 30 credits.  Please note some of our qualifications only allow credit to be transferred in multiples of 60 due to their structure.  You cannot be awarded partial exemption from a module.

Evidence you will need to provide

With your application you will need to provide an official academic transcript. This is obtained from your awarding institution or university, and shows all the modules you completed, the marks awarded and how many credits each module was worth.

If you do not already have a transcript you will need to contact the Registry Department/Student Records department at your previous institution to obtain it.

Depending on the OU qualification you want to have your credit transferred to, you may also need to provide syllabus information.

Once we have received the evidence required we will work out the number of credits you have based on the credits shown on your transcript.  We can only award credit for successfully completed modules - we do not award credit for compensated/condoned passes (this is where a module has been awarded a pass when the mark achieved was below the pass mark - which is usually 40).

Already studied?

 If you have already studied with the OU please sign in to make sure that you get the credit transfer information that is relevant to you. 

Contact us

If you have any queries about applying for credit transfer please feel free to contact us using the link below.

Please try to include:

  • which qualification you completed
  • the organisation you completed it through
  • when you completed it
  • which OU qualification you would like to transfer to

Contact us about credit transfer.

If you have general questions about the University feel free to contact us.

More information about The Open University.