Academic Credit

Pardee RAND Graduate School Credit

Pardee RAND credit for graduate programs is awarded in units, rather than credit hours. Courses are most often assigned 1.0 unit of credit.

Quarter-long classes typically meet three hours per week on average (two 90-minute sessions per week or one 180-minute sessions) over a 10-week term. Students are generally expected to spend at least two hours outside of class preparing for each hour in class. Courses that meet for more or less time may bear proportionally more or less credit. For example, graduate courses that meet for three hours every week for five weeks rather than ten receive 0.5 units of credit. The School’s standard meeting times illustrate meeting patterns that meet the requirement for direct faculty instruction each week, and the Faculty Committee on Curriculum and Appointments evaluates the expected student work per week at the time of course approval.

Pardee RAND does not typically offer conversions to other credit systems; however, institutions accepting a quarter credit in transfer can consider 1.0 Pardee RAND quarter unit to be approximately equal to 4.0 quarter hours. (See the Federal definition of quarter hour of credit and semester hour of credit below.)

Credit Hours: Federal Definitions and Regulations

Federal definitions and regulations regarding the assignment of credit hours appear as follows under Section 600.2 and 600.24(f) of the Higher Education Opportunity Act:

Credit hour: Except as provided in 34 CFR 668.8(k) and (l), a credit hour is an amount of work represented in intended learning outcomes and verified by evidence of student achievement that is an institutionally established equivalency that reasonably approximates not less than—

  1. One hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours of out-of-class student work each week for approximately fifteen weeks for one semester or trimester hour of credit, or ten to twelve weeks for one quarter hour of credit, or the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time; or
  2. At least an equivalent amount of work as required in paragraph (1) of this definition for other academic activities as established by the institution including laboratory work, internships, practica, studio work, and other academic work leading to the award of credit hours.