Frequently Asked Questions - Academic Issues

Students must be in good academic and disciplinary standing with the university to study abroad. When reviewing applications for approval, disciplinary records will be taken into consideration and students must be cleared by the Dean’s office to study abroad. Students on conduct probation will not be able to study abroad if they are on conduct probation that does not expire prior to the start date of the semester abroad program.

Each program has specific eligibility requirements, which can be found on the program’s brochure page. To find information about specific programs, please go to https://studyabroad.richmond.edu and click on Programs to find information about each program.

While abroad, students must remain enrolled in a minimum equivalent of 3.5 Richmond units. Transfer credit policies and procedures can be found on the Registrar’s website. Robins School of Business students have additional study abroad requirements. Specific information about the credit and grade conversion can be found on the UR program abroad webpage.

If your student does not enroll in a minimum equivalent of 3.5 units while abroad, she may lose all of the privileges carried with full-time student status, including financial aid and possibly health insurance. It is your student’s responsibility to discuss courses abroad with her Richmond academic advisor and determine how these credits will transfer back so that she can graduate as planned.

Failure to earn enough course units (3.5 transfer minimum in transfer) while on a semester study abroad program is subject to review by the student’s College Dean and may result in academic probation or other academic conditions. Probation and academic conditions will be applied for the semester in which the abroad transcript is received. For more information on the University’s semester abroad credit transfer policy see https://registrar.richmond.edu/registration/programs/study-abroad/units.html.

If a student is struggling with academic, personal, or medical issues, they are encouraged to reach out to the support system at their host university or program abroad, and to contact the University of Richmond for support and guidance.

Students who intend to register for more than 5.5 units abroad should contact Michele Cox in International Education.

Certainly! In fact, the vast majority of our programs have English as the language of instruction. The list of these programs is available here. Because they do not live in the classroom and must interact daily with the local community, students studying in non-Anglophone countries are required to take a course in the local language (if available), even if this course is not for credit. Extra tuition fees for a language course on UR semester abroad program are paid for by the International Education office.

The University of Richmond will provide reasonable assistance in cooperation with the institution abroad so that students with learning or physical disabilities may achieve the intended goals of the study abroad experience. Students requesting assistance are required to file an “application for accommodation” with the Disability Services Office at Richmond.

Although courses must be taken for a grade in order to receive transfer credit, grades earned abroad will not appear on the student’s UR transcript. The UR transcript will show the host institution’s name, course titles, and number of units transferred from abroad.

University of Richmond cannot issue official transcripts from other institutions, nor can we request them on a student’s behalf. International Education receives one official abroad transcript for each study abroad student, which is then kept by the Registrar for the student’s permanent UR academic record.

To request the official transcript from abroad, the student will need to contact that university directly. The transcript request procedures are usually available on the abroad university’s website. Some institutions charge a fee for each transcript and/or may charge for shipping. Some may also limit the number of transcripts they will issue at one time.

We recommend that students keep a record of the student ID number assigned to them by their abroad institution (if applicable). Often that number is required when requesting official transcripts from the abroad institution.