The methods and measures used to determine course equivalency vary by institution, state, region and country.
Unless the receiving institution maintains an online public reference to the course equivalency tables, students have difficulty ascertaining transferability of their credit experiences.
This has led a number of states to initiate legislate reforms, regulations and mandates to augment the tracking of course equivalencies.
The most common course attributes evaluated to determine course equivalency are description, academic credits, accreditation, type of instructor, method of instruction, level of instruction, learning outcomes, grade scale and grade earned, pre-requisites, co-requisites and textbook.
Course equivalency decisions can often be appealed by presenting evidence to an academic department.