What is the CEP?
The Course Equivalency Project (CEP) is a postsecondary education resource service that provides course equivalency information to facilitate student transfer within the Oklahoma System of Higher Education. Its database contains faculty-generated course equivalency information for hundreds of courses offered at public institutions in Oklahoma. The courses are organized by discipline: biology, history, etc. Within each discipline, several equivalency groups appear, each containing a collection of courses from sponsoring institutions. A generic course title and State Regents’ equivalency number (a two-letter prefix and three-digit number) located at the top of columns identify each equivalency group. Credit for a course within a group can be transferred to any system institution which sponsors a course in that group.
What Is the Definition of Equivalency?
Course equivalency is defined as follows: Course “A” is equivalent to course “B” if and only if “A” satisfies all program requirements that course “B” satisfies – serving exactly the same purpose with respect to content delivery, general education or program degree requirements. Lower-division course work cannot substitute for upper-division credit-hour requirements. However, the content is transferable. For example, if a student completes Smart Course 2000 at two-year college A, it will transfer in content to four-year college B for its Smart Course 3000. The student will not need to repeat the content or learning competencies acquired in Smart Course 2000. But, the student must still complete the full amount of 3000- and 4000-level semester hours that college B requires for a baccalaureate degree.
How Does the CEP Benefit Students?
Students who anticipate transferring to other institutions can access the CEP to learn which institutions will automatically credit their course work as being equivalent. From the CEP, students can also reach available home pages of system institutions to find more detailed information about course descriptions, prerequisites, or degree requirements.
How Does the CEP Benefit Faculty?
The CEP gives faculty the opportunity to update curriculum annually on a statewide basis. When designing new curriculum, faculty can use the CEP as a course equivalency reference and obtain course content descriptions. Faculty Curriculum Transfer Committees representing all system institutions establish the common course content descriptions for their disciplines.
How Does the CEP Benefit Academic Advisers?
With the CEP, academic advisers can quickly access accurate, up-to-date course equivalency information, helping students make better informed decisions about their education planning. Advisers can also impact the development of the CEP. Oklahoma Academic Advising Association (OACADA) representatives attend annual systemwide faculty transfer meetings, and advisers can use the evaluation component of the CEP to provide important feedback information for improving its service.
Why Should Students Seek Academic Advising?
Incomplete educational planning can lengthen the time it takes students to complete a degree and adds unnecessary costs. Visit with your academic adviser to develop a comprehensive and accurate educational plan. advisers can identify those courses listed in the CEP that require prerequisites and can help outline institutions’ program degree requirements. advisers can also inform students about those courses that individual institutions consider equivalent in separate articulation agreements but are not included in the CEP. Finally, academic advisers inform students of support services and other valuable campus information that can give students a competitive edge.
- Any individual may download and/or print the information contained herein for purposes of course planning, advisement or other educational use. Because it is not possible to ensure the accuracy of any such copy, the State Regents are not responsible for the contents of downloaded information or any information derived therefrom.
- This information does not constitute a contractual agreement that institutions will offer all the courses described.
- CEP information is valid only for the academic year listed in the heading.
How to Use the CEP
Course equivalency information is available in database, PDF or HTML format, depending on the year.
The courses are organized by discipline: biology, history, etc. Within each discipline, several equivalency groups appear, each containing a collection of courses from sponsoring institutions. A generic course title and State Regents’ equivalency number (a two-letter prefix and three-digit number) located at the top of columns identify each equivalency group. Credit for a course within a group can be transferred to any system institution which sponsors a course in that group.
When you select an academic discipline, such as mathematics, all established course equivalencies for that discipline will appear along with a list of system institutions that offer equivalent courses in that discipline. The equivalency information is in a matrix format with institutions listed vertically to the left and equivalency group headings and numbers listed horizontally along the top. All courses appearing in a column are considered equivalent at “only” the course-offering institutions.
For more detailed information about a particular course (course content, credit hours awarded, relationship to degree requirements and specified prerequisites) select an institution’s home page by visiting the Colleges and Universities section. If available, search the institution’s home page for its course catalog or course offerings.
For an explanation of the notes, common course descriptions and institution acronyms, see the Appendix (PDF, 1m).Â
How to Access the CEP Equivalency Information for Prior Years
Every year, faculty representing all system institutions meet to update and add courses to the course equivalency matrices. There is a different CEP version for each academic year beginning with 1996-97. Institutions keep a record of previous CEPs so that students can transfer to other system institutions without losing the established equivalencies for completed course work. Please refer to the Course Transfer page for access.
How to Interpret Course Numbers
Course numbers of individual institutions show considerable variation. Generally though, all 1000-numbered courses are freshman level, 2000-numbered courses are sophomore level, 3000-numbered courses are junior level and 4000-numbered courses are senior level. Upper-division course work is numbered at the 3000 level or above, and lower-division work is numbered at the 2000 level or below.
Evaluation Component
For purposes of improving the CEP, address your suggestions or comments to Angel Icenhour at aicenhour@osrhe.edu.