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Credit Services

UC Merced Extension is pleased to offer UC Merced and community providers continuing education units (CEUs) for their participants in continuing education, professional development and training opportunities.

Why partner with UC Merced Extension?

  • Recognition that the offering meets the standards of UC Merced Extension for the award of CEUs.

  • CEUs are awarded by UC Merced Extension and result in a permanent student record for participants.

  • No cost to the provider for credit services.

  • Official transcripts are available for purchase by the participant if needed.

Continuing Education Units (CEUs)

Professional Development and Continuing Education/Training providers can partner with UC Merced Extension to offer CEUs for their participants.

One (1) CEU is equivalent to 10 hours of participation in an organized educational experience, delivered under responsible sponsorship, capable direction and with qualified instruction.

A $50 fee per unit ($25 per 0.5 unit) covers administrative costs.

Continuing Education Units (CEUs) represent a measure of contact time and participation suitable for seminars, short workshops and other types of courses and programs that do not require participants’ work be evaluated, or “graded”. Participants must attend the entire course in order to receive credit. This is typically demonstrated by sign-in and sign-out requirements on each day of training. Failure to meet the attendance standard will result in a “W”, or withdrawal without penalty.

The number of CEUs awarded is based on the hours of instruction (1 unit for every 10 contact hours, excluding breaks). Credit may be awarded in increments of 0.5 (e.g., 0.5, 1.0 or 1.5). Course approval for CEU credit is at the discretion of the Extension dean and program director. CEUs appear on participant transcripts with the number of CEU's earned. All participants may access a list of completed courses under “My Academics” through the student portal.  Official transcripts are available for an additional fee.

CEU enrollment is open for a fixed period of time to allow the partner provider to make the enrollment opportunity available to their participants, for attendance/participation to be recorded and for the offering to be finalized. Once the offering is finalized, the CEUs are available on the participant’s official record with Extension. Late enrollment may be available. An additional $25 late fee, at minimum, will be charged. Once attendance/participation is reported and the course is finalized and recorded, late enrollment is no longer possible.

If an institution or group wants to provide payment, or partial payment for their attendees/participants, Extension has the ability to invoice a third party. This allows the third party to pay for seats and receive pre-paid reservation tickets or a discount code it can distribute to participants so they can enroll. Please email extension@ucmerced.edu with the subject line “Reservation Ticket Question” for more information regarding the reservation ticket process.

Academic Credit

Professional development programs wishing to offer academic credit can propose a course to UC Merced Extension. Please submit your course proposal to determine if the educational experience qualifies for academic credit.

One (1) semester academic credit is equivalent to 15 hours (classroom lecture), 45-hour academic course formats (workshops, reading, research, lesson design, classroom implementation, etc.) or any combination, all of which are embedded with performance assessments.

Academic professional development courses in the discipline of education (EDUC) are $150 per unit.

Courses offered for academic credit are distinguished by the process of evaluating participant work. All academic courses require a demonstration of competency (via exams, papers, presentations, etc.) and assignment of a final grade by the instructor. Courses may be offered for a letter grade or on a pass/no pass basis. These courses appear on participants' transcripts with the final grade and number of units indicated. All participants receive a reported grade at the conclusion of the course and submission of grades by the instructor. Official transcripts are available for an additional fee.

Academic credit courses are designated with an X and are numbered in either the X300 series (X300 – X399) or X400 (X400 - X499) series as appropriate:

  • X300 series: professional development for teachers; typically methodology-based
  • X400 series: professional, discipline-based, but do not duplicate UC Merced campus courses.

Courses require the approval of the UC Merced Extension dean, unit director and the dean of the appropriate school/college on the main campus (or his/her designee) and the UC Merced Academic Senate. The course approval process for a new course can take several months. For a course to be offered in fall, the completed course proposal must be submitted no later than January 15 in the same calendar year. For a course to be offered in spring or summer, the completed course proposal must be submitted no later than September 1 in the prior calendar year. In addition to course approval, all instructors and/or instructors-of-record must be formally approved to teach the course.

Academic credit is the highest form of credit, and thus is more portable and flexible. Decisions about degree transferability is solely at the discretion of the degree-granting department or institution to which the participant applies and transfers units.

Transcripts

Official transcripts may be purchased online for an additional fee. Please review your list of completed courses under “My Academics” in the student portal to ensure your grades or CEUs have been recorded before requesting an official transcript.

If you took courses through UC Merced Concurrent Enrollment and/or Open University, or were a candidate in the UC Merced Teacher Preparation Program, your transcript for those enrollments is available through the main campus transcript process.