Course Approval Process

Each department at Loyola has a dedicated course approver for students going abroad.  The course approvers and their academic areas are found here.

1. Work with your academic advisor to determine which Loyola degree requirements you hope to fulfill abroad—major, minor, Core, Honors, Engaged Learning, or general elective credits.
2. Identify potential Loyola courses that might satisfy these degree requirements with your academic advisor.
3. Meet with a Study Abroad Advisor to explore which study abroad programs potentially align with the Loyola coursework you previously discussed with your Loyola academic advisor.
4. Submit study abroad courses for Loyola approval within the course approval system inside of your GoGlobal portal.
   1. Log in.
   2. Click “Course Approval” on right-side of application.
   3. Read instructions in portal on how to submit courses for approval.

If you have any questions about why your study abroad courses have not yet been reviewed, please contact your Study Abroad Advisor.

No! You are not necessarily required to enroll in all the study abroad courses you get approved. The course approval process helps you understand if you ultimately enroll in the foreign course, what the equivalency would be at Loyola. Only courses you enroll in abroad will appear on your transcript.

If a course has been approved through this process, it means that the foreign course specified in the request will fulfill the corresponding Loyola requirement if you take it abroad. Remember, getting a course approved is not the same as enrolling in a course. The process of enrolling is usually handled by your Jesuit affiliate, affiliate, or exchange/direct-enroll program partner. Make sure to carefully review any incoming communications from them so that you do not miss any deadlines. Course enrollments on some programs can fill quickly.

Course approval requests can be rejected for a variety of reasons. The foreign course may not have met the same objectives as the requirement you hoped to fulfill at Loyola. Requests with incomplete or inaccessible syllabi are often rejected. Other times, the rejection may have been due simply to incorrect submission of the request. Course approvers often leave comments explaining the rejection decision. You can log into your GoGlobal portal and click on the rejected approval request to check for this. Your Study Abroad Advisor can help you identify if the course was rejected due to incorrect submission. Note that if a course is rejected in the course approval process, you can still take the course abroad for general elective credit.

Yes! You can submit additional study abroad courses for Loyola approval up to two weeks after your program start date; however, it is in your best interest to get all study abroad courses approved before enrolling in them. It is always possible that what you think may be approved is not actually the appropriate Loyola course equivalent. In extenuating circumstances, additional extensions may be granted. Please reach out to your Study Abroad Advisor for more information.

We recommend getting six to ten potential study abroad courses approved for LUC Credit for each semester you plan to be abroad. For summer programs, we recommend three to five. Although you will not enroll in them all, you will have flexibility to make changes to your schedule if needed.

Once the Study Abroad Office receives and processes your study abroad transcript, your academic advisor will articulate your course approval requests and update your degree plan. This process can take 1-3 months.