Students Question Credit Transfers Despite UB Agreement

Questions continue over credit transfers between Sacred Heart Junior College and the University of Belize, following a 2023 agreement some students believed would simplify the process. University officials now say that agreement was never meant to cover credit transfers, but to allow UB to offer bachelor’s programs on the Sacred Heart campus. As a result, SHJC graduates still have their courses assessed individually, with only some credits accepted. Faculty Dean Doctor Bernard Watler says the system helps ensure students are prepared for bachelor‑level studies, while a broader transfer framework is still being developed.

 

On the Phone: Dr. Bernard Watler, Dean of Faculty of Management & Social Sciences, University of Belize

“What we had signed with State Junior College and back in 2023 was a Memorandum of Agreement whereby the University of Belize would make its program more accessible to students in the West and as part of that, we would then offered a Bachelor’s in Business administration program on the Sacred Heart Campus in collaboration with Sacred Heart Junior College. So that is the agreement that was signed. It didn’t have anything to do with transfer credits. When it comes to students that have completed courses at Sacred Heart Junior College, or have completed an associate degree at Sacred Heart Junior College, their credits are evaluated a course by course basis, and that is the framework that we have for the junior colleges and the courses that are transferable will be transferred for the student and the ones that are not transferable will not be transferred for the student entering into the University of Belize. These evaluation of courses are done by the duly qualified members of the faculty of the university, so that students coming into the University of Beliefs would’ve come with the necessary prerequisites to undertake further studies at the bachelor level. And if where we see that they don’t have the necessary skill, then we would not accept the credit, and then they would have to do the course at UB so that they can then matriculate into the higher level course.”