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Gustavson School of Business logo

Incoming exchange students

Eligibility

To apply, you must meet 3 requirements:

  1. Your home university must be an exchange partner with the Gustavson School of Business. Check with your home university's exchange office. 
  2. You must complete a minimum of 1 year of business courses before your exchange semester.
    • students who have taken microeconomics, statistics and finite math will have a larger course selection at Gustavson
  3. You have strong English language proficiency. All of our courses are in English and require active participation. You will need strong English skills in order to succeed.

Nomination process

You must first apply for exchange at your home university. They will then nominate you to Gustavson. Once we have received your nomination from our partner institution, we will email you with exchange application materials. 

Application process - 2 stages

Stage 1: Create application

Once you have received our exchange application materials, please read the instructions carefully and submit documents through our online portal by the deadline.

You will be asked to include the following items:

  • a colour head & shoulder photo of yourself
  • transcript of grades in English 

Stage 2: Course selections

You will be asked to list a minimum of 10 business courses in order of your preference during the course selection period. If there are non-business courses you are interested in, you may also include it in the list. You can find non-business courses without prerequisites. If you list a non-business course with prerequisites, you’ll be contacted with instructions on how to proceed. We will do our best to register you in your selected courses as long as there is space and you have the proper course prerequisites.

When selecting courses, you need to ensure that you:

  • list courses approved by your home university
  • have the prerequisites for your chosen courses
  • indicate your home university’s required course load (check with your home institution to verify how many credits you need to fulfill your exchange course credit requirement)

Course availability varies year-to-year so we recommend students remain flexible during the process. After you have submitted your course selections, you will receive more information about course registration at the end of July.

Note: We register fall and spring students in courses starting the end of June. Course changes can be made once course registration is finalized, but course selection will be limited.

Course load

Each undergraduate business course is worth 1.5 UVic units and approximately 39 contact hours. Please note, 1.5 UVic units is the equivalent to 6 ECTS credits. During one term, the full-time course load is 6.0 units and the maximum course load students may register for is 7.5 units.

Important dates

Fall & spring semesters

  • nomination deadline: March 15
  • application deadline: April 15
  • fall incoming exchange orientation: end of August (mandatory)
  • spring incoming exchange orientation: early January (mandatory)

Application processing and course registration

  • end of May: letters of acceptance (study permit information letter (SPIL) and student exchange letter (SEL)) emailed to all students
  • end of June: course registration for fall and spring terms begins
  • end of July: communication about course registration, orientation and other exchange details sent to students

Please refer to our academic important dates for information about semester start and end dates, reading breaks and exam periods.

Note: You must be on campus until the completion of your exchange term (class and final exams). Your return flights should be booked after the final exam period. 

Academic terms, courses and transcripts

The following information is applicable to both incoming exchange and study abroad students.

Academic terms

  • fall term: typically first week of September to third week of December
  • spring term: typically first week of January to third week of April

You can find more information about important academic dates in the Academic Calendar.

Grading

Review the University of Victoria's grading legend.

Transcripts

  • official transcripts for the fall term will be sent to partner institutions late January/early February
  • official transcripts for the spring term will be sent to partner institutions late May/early June