Ramapo College will grant academic credit through assessment of prior learning at the graduate level.

PROCEDURES FOR GRADUATE PRIOR LEARNING EXPERIENCE (GLEX)

Graduate students at Ramapo College of New Jersey may receive credit for graduate-level knowledge that they have gained outside the traditional academic setting through work, training, community service, or other accomplishments. (Not all graduate programs accept GLEX. Please review individual program requirements.) The process of graduate prior learning experience assessment involves the development of a portfolio and an interview that confirms that the learning the student has achieved through his/her life experience is relevant to the program’s learning goals.

GLEX REQUIREMENTS

When a graduate student applies to Ramapo College, he/she is made aware of the opportunity to apply for GLEX.  GLEX requirements include:

• Prior learning experience may be substituted for up to two (2) courses (not to exceed 8 credits) in the graduate program.
• GLEX credit is considered transfer credit; therefore, the combination of transfer credit and GLEX credit may not exceed two (2) courses or eight (8) credits.
• A student must successfully complete (2) courses at Ramapo College before GLEX will be posted to the student’s transcript.
• Since GLEX credits are considered 600-level, they must be completed before registering for 700-level courses.
• The program director or designee reviews and evaluates applications for prior learning credit and recommends the number of credits to be awarded.  The dean makes the final approval.
• GLEX credit may be granted for equivalent coursework offered at Ramapo College.
• When the experience does not compare to a Ramapo course but falls within the purview of the evaluator’s expertise, credit may be granted as an elective.  This type of prior learning credit is recorded on the transcript as GLEX 699 with the course name “Graduate Life Experience.”
• GLEX credits are awarded without a grade, so they are not calculated with the student’s GPA.
• Before  the GLEX portfolio is submitted to the program director or faculty member for review, the student must pay the associated costs.
• All GLEX documentation, including the portfolio and interview notes, are kept in the student’s permanent record.

CRITERIA FOR GRADUATE PRIOR LEARNING EXPERIENCE

Criteria for acceptance of prior learning experiences include:

• The experience must be relevant to the program’s learning goals.
• The experience must be comparable to graduate-level coursework.
• The experience must have taken place after the awarding of the bachelor’s degree and before enrollment in the graduate program.
• The student must document and apply for credit for the learning experience.

GLEX PROCESS

Below outlines the process by which a GLEX review begins and culminates with the awarding of credit:

Application for approval

A GLEX proposal is presented to the director with the following items:

• A current resume.
• Documentation supporting the student’s claim to prior learning (i.e., job descriptions and samples of work).
• A narrative explaining in detail the correlation of prior learning experience to a specific course

Initial Assessment

If the program director considers the proposal to be viable, the student is invited to interview with the director.  The program director, or assigned faculty member, meets with the student to review the initial documentation and to discuss strengths and weakness of the proposal.  The student and the Program Director, or faculty member, come to a clear understanding of the criteria that will be used to assess the specific area of expertise. They determine how the student can best demonstrate in a portfolio the kinds of knowledge, competencies, and skills he/she has acquired in prior experience.  A timeline is developed for completion of the portfolio. An agreement of expectations is developed and signed by the program director, or faculty member,  the student, and the dean, whose office requests that the assessment fee be posted to the student’s account.

Submission and Review

The student submits the portfolio for review by the agreed deadline.  The program director, or faculty member, conducts an interview with the student.  The program director, or faculty member, then completes the form and either approves or disapproves the student’s GLEX portfolio.  If approved, the dean’s office  requests that the Office of the Registrar post the awarded credits to the student’s transcript. The dean’s office forwards all portfolios approved for credit to the Office of the Registrar for inclusion in the student’s official academic file. If a portfolio is not approved for credit or if re-submission is requested, the dean’s office returns the portfolio to the student.

GLEX portfolio fee structure

Students who submit a GLEX portfolio must pay an assessment fee. This fee must be paid prior to the portfolio assessment and is non-refundable regardless of the outcome of the portfolio assessment. The fee is based on the number of credits requested in the portfolio. The current per-credit fee is posted on the College’s website along with the current tuition and other fees.

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