Recognition of Studies
How the work you do at your host institution counts towards the degree awarded by your home institution
A mobility only has value if the study it produces is recognised. Within EXCEL-PHARM, recognition is agreed in writing before you travel, evidenced by a transcript of records when you finish, and honoured by the institution that awards your degree. Nothing is left to be negotiated after the fact.
1. Before mobility — the learning agreement
Before you travel, you, your supervisor at home, your supervisor at the host institution, and the local coordinators at both institutions agree in writing what you will study: the modules, laboratory or clinical work, or research programme you will undertake, the credits or workload attached to each, and how they map onto your degree at home. All parties sign it. Because your home institution signs before you leave, the recognition of that work is settled in advance rather than left to a decision on your return.
2. During mobility — changes are re-agreed
If your programme has to change — a module is not running, a laboratory becomes unavailable, your research takes a different direction — the change is agreed and signed by the same parties before it takes effect. An unrecorded change is the single most common reason a credit is later disputed, so tell your coordinator as soon as something moves.
3. After mobility — the transcript of records
At the end of your mobility, the host institution issues a transcript of records listing the components you completed, the credits earned, and the grades awarded, in its own credit system. It is sent to you and to your home institution. Keep your own copy — you will need it long after the project has closed.
4. Recognition and the award of your degree
Your home institution recognises the credits recorded on the transcript, in line with the signed learning agreement, and counts them towards your degree. Your degree is awarded by the institution where you are registered. Because credit systems differ across the consortium, the conversion between them is stated in the learning agreement itself, so both institutions have agreed the arithmetic before you begin.
Degree-seeking mobility
If you hold a degree-seeking scholarship, you are registered for the full degree at the institution you were admitted to, and that institution awards it. Recognition then concerns any component you take at another consortium institution during your studies, which follows the same learning-agreement route described above.
Model agreements
The consortium issues one composite document covering the learning agreement, research plan, traineeship agreement and staff mobility agreement. Download it below. Your local coordinator provides the version that applies to your own mobility and signs it with you.
Download the model agreement View all documentsCredit systems at each institution
The credit system each institution uses and who issues its transcript of records.
How credits are recognised across the consortium
Credit recognition is handled case by case at every institution in the consortium. No standing credit-transfer agreement runs between the partners, and no single standard governs credit recognition across the countries involved.
Where a scholarship holder earns credits at a host institution, the home institution assesses them individually. That assessment is made by its academic affairs division, its school or faculty of graduate studies, and the other bodies concerned within the institution.
University of Cape Coast
GhanaThe University of Cape Coast uses credits. One credit is one contact hour a week, so a three-credit course means three hours of direct instruction a week. A research master's degree (the MPhil, the MCom and the MN) requires a minimum of 60 credits. The first year carries 30 credits, taken as 15 to 18 credits in each semester. The second year carries 30 credits, made up of a thesis worth 12 credits and a seminar worth 3 credits in each semester.
A candidate who enters the PhD holding a research master's degree studies for three years, or six semesters: one year of coursework, seminars and presentations, followed by two years of research and thesis. The postgraduate programme structure gives this route a total credit load of 90 credits.
The transcript of records is generated and approved by the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies.
Credit transfer and the recognition of credits earned elsewhere are handled by the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies together with the Director of Academic Affairs.
University of Port Harcourt
NigeriaThe University of Port Harcourt uses credit units. One credit unit is 15 notional hours: a class that meets for one hour every week for one semester, or three hours every week in the laboratory, workshop or field. Delivered as a module, one credit unit runs over 2.5 days at six contact hours a day, or over five days at three hours a day online.
An MSc requires 36 credit units in total, of which 6 are for the dissertation.
Every course is graded out of 100 and converted into letter grades and grade points: A for 70 and above (5 points), B for 60 to 69 (4 points), C for 50 to 59 (3 points), and F below 50 (0 points). The pass mark in any course is 50%. The grade point average is the total quality points divided by the total credit units.
Where a student transfers in from another university, only the grades obtained at the University of Port Harcourt are used to compute the cumulative grade point average.
The School of Graduate Studies issues the transcript of records for graduate students.
Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar
SenegalCheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar operates under the LMD system — Licence, Master, Doctorat — a transferable credit framework comparable to the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). Programmes are organised into semesters, with 30 credits per semester and 60 credits per academic year. Credits are attached to teaching units (unités d'enseignement) and are capitalisable and transferable.
The transcript of records is issued by the relevant academic authority of the university, through the student's faculty or school and the university administration — the registrar and academic affairs services.
Stellenbosch University
South AfricaStellenbosch University uses credit hours. One credit is equivalent to 10 notional hours. The credit load is on average a minimum of 120 credits per academic year for certificates, diplomas and bachelor's degrees, and 180 credits per academic year for master's degrees and doctorates.
The registrar's office at the university, or the relevant faculty, issues the transcript of records.
Makerere University
UgandaMakerere University uses credit units. One credit unit is equivalent to fifteen contact hours. One contact hour is one hour of lecture or clinical work, two hours of tutorials, two hours of practical work, or four hours of research or fieldwork.
The graduation load varies from programme to programme and from college to college. On average a student must obtain a minimum of 107 and a maximum of 120 credit units to graduate.
The School of Graduate Training, at the Senate Building, issues transcripts and diplomas or degrees.
Questions about recognition
Recognition questions are handled by the academic coordinators at your two institutions, who are the people who sign your learning agreement. You can find them on the partners pages, or write to info@excel-pharm.org and we will put you in touch.
Find your local coordinator