Accreditation

SIL courses are fully integrated in UND's academic program and fully accredited by UND. Up to ten semester credits may be earned in a summer session and applied to a degree program at UND or transferred to another institution (undergraduate or graduate degree, as appropriate).

Graduate vs. undergraduate

SIL students who do not have an accredited 4-year undergraduate degree must register with UND as undergraduate students. Those who do have such a degree may register as either undergraduate or graduate students.

At UND, in order to take a course for graduate credit, the student must be enrolled as a graduate student and the course must be approved for graduate credit. All 500-level courses are graduate-level; some 400-level courses have also been approved for graduate credit (see course listings).

Degree vs. non-degree status

Graduate students may take courses in either "degree" or "non-degree" status; most SIL-UND students choose the "non-degree" option, which allows them to take courses without entering a degree program.

SIL undergraduate students, unless they are already pursuing a degree at UND, generally register in non-degree status.

The Master of Arts in linguistics

For students who want a Master of Arts in linguistics from UND, most SIL courses can be applied toward the degree. Indeed, the M.A. in linguistics may be completed entirely during the summers using courses offered by SIL; a small number of courses are also available in the fall and spring semesters for those who wish to attend year-round.

Application to the M.A. program may be postponed until after one summer of graduate courses as a non-degree graduate student; those courses can still be used as part of the degree. Up to 8 credits (¼ of the total) may be transferred in from other institutions. A thesis is required.

Transfer credit

If you are interested in using courses from SIL-UND as part of a degree at another institution, you should check with that institution about their policies on transferring courses. It is the institution that receives the credits that decides whether they will transfer at all and whether they are usable as undergraduate vs. graduate credit, as major vs. elective courses, and so forth. Because graduate programs vary considerably in their specializations and emphases, credits do not transfer to graduate programs as easily as they do at the undergraduate level. Even though SIL-UND courses are fully accredited, this is not sufficient to guarantee that they will be accepted by any particular university. If you want help in trying to transfer SIL-UND courses elsewhere (e.g., copies of syllabi), contact the SIL-UND Director.

Transcripts

Transcripts for SIL-UND courses are issued by UND. See UND's page of transcript information.