Special Programs and Opportunities

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Army Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC)

Cooperative Education

The Cooperative Education Program (CO-OP) is a documented internship which appears on a currently enrolled student’s university transcript. CO-OP experience enables students to receive valuable educational training with pay in the student’s major field of study either part-time (parallel) or full-time (rotational). Students are eligible to participate in CO-OP after completing a minimum of two semesters within their major field of study, including transfer, graduate and international students on F1-Visas. Students are required to submit work report at the end of each CO-OP semester to document receiving work experience in their major field of study and to receive a letter grade on the official transcript. CO-OP positions are available in must college disciplines, especially engineering, business, natural science and mathematics, government and human services.

For further information, contact:
University of Houston
Director of Cooperative Education
Engineering Bldg 1
4726 Calhoun Rd, Room 302
Houston, TX 77204-4028
713-743-4230
career.egr.uh.edu/students/coop

Distance Education/Off-Campus Programs

•UH Northwest Campus (20515 SH 249, Houston, Texas), serves the northwest Houston area,
•UH Sugar Land (14000 University Boulevard, Sugar Land), serves Fort Bend county and southwest Houston,
•UH System at Cinco Ranch (4242 S. Mason Road, Katy) serves the west Houston area.

Credit courses offered online and at these locations graduate level courses from selected degree programs and are taught by University of Houston faculty. Credit courses and programs offered online and at these locations have the same prerequisites, content, and requirements as on the University of Houston main campus.  UH Distance Education coordinates the delivery of courses off-campus and online.  For further information about credit courses offered by UH Distance Education, visit www.distance.uh.edu or call 713-743-3327.

You may also call the sites: UH Northwest Campus (832-842-5700), UH Sugar Land (281-275-3300), or UH System at Cinco Ranch (832-842-2800).

Graduate-Level Inter-institutional Agreement

The University of Houston has a reciprocal arrangement with selected regional universities that enables enrolled, full-time graduate students from participating institutions to take a maximum six hours of graduate-level course work per semester at the University of Houston for residence credit. Similar benefits are available to University of Houston students at those participating institutions.  

Other graduate institutions participating in the inter-institutional agreement are Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University.  The University of Houston also has concurrent enrollment agreements only with the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and the University of Texas Medical Branch.

The program agreement with other institutions specifies services to be provided, including special admission arrangements, institutional liaison, and arrangements for registration.  Student wishing to participate in this program must be enrolled full‐time.  The requested class(es) must not be offered by the University of Houston during the term in question and the requested class(es) must be necessary for completion of graduate degree.  Institutional guidelines for program agreements provide for registration and departmental advisor and chairperson approvals of combined university course loads.

Students should initiate this process by obtaining an interinstitutional agreement program form from the website www.uh.edu/academics/forms and submitting to the Office of the University Registrar in room 128 Welcome Center.  Students enrolling in courses at the University of Houston will be billed according to the legal requirements of the Texas Education Code. University of Houston graduate students enrolled through the interinstitutional agreement at other participating institutions will be billed according to the rules adopted by that institution’s governing board as part of the inter-institutional agreement.

Language and Culture Center

The Language and Culture Center (LCC), housed in the Department of English, is an intensive English program providing noncredit English language instruction to undergraduate and graduate international students who have not yet been admitted to degree programs because they need to improve their reading, writing, grammar, or spoken English skills to compete successfully in the university classroom.

International Graduate Teaching Assistants who score low on the Test of Spoken English (TSE), the Speaking Proficiency English Assessment Kit (SPEAK), or other nationally standardized tests may enroll (register) for LCC 6034: English for International Teaching Assistants and Faculty, a noncredit course on English pronunciation and U.S. academic culture.

LCC courses do not count toward degrees, but do count toward full-time student status for immigration reporting purposes and for calculation of building use and student service fees.

For further information, contact:

University of Houston
Department of English
Language and Culture Center
116 Roy Cullen Building
Houston, TX 77204-3014
Office: 713-743-3030
Fax: 713-743-3029
E-mail: lcc@uh.edu
Internet: lcc.uh.edu

Learning Abroad

Learning Abroad (LA) facilitates opportunities for UH students to participate in a variety of academic and non-academic programs abroad. It is located in suite 105 of the Ezekiel W. Cullen Building. Learning Abroad is responsible for designing the policies and procedures for students participating in learning abroad programs and in assisting the colleges, departments, faculty and students in fulfilling academic requirements.

Undergraduate and graduate students interested in learning abroad have a wide variety of resources available. Students are able to enroll in any one of the following programs:  Faculty-Led Programs, Reciprocal Educational Exchange Programs, Affiliated Programs, Visiting International Studies Program, Research Collaboratives, Internships, and Experiential Learning, Service Learning Programs. 

Learning Abroad advisors and support staff are available at the LA to assist students in finding the right programs, equating foreign coursework to UH courses, evaluation of foreign transcripts, and assuring students’ health and safety abroad.  LA operates a U.S. Passport Acceptance Facility where U.S. students, faculty and staff can have their passport applications processed. LA staff have been trained as Acceptance Agents who meet all U.S. Department of State requirements for operating a Passport Acceptance Facility.

Contact Information
713-743-9167  
Internet: www.uh.edu/learningabroad

Noncredit Programs and Courses

• UH Continuing Studies provides a broad array of noncredit certificate programs, courses, and activities at the main campus, at other UH System locations, and on-site for corporate clients. Focusing on career and professional development, these opportunities are designed to respond to the expressed needs of Houston’s business community. http://continuingstudies.uh.edu/. 
• The Moores School of Music Preparatory and Continuing Studies Department offers private music instruction and classes to students of all ages. Professional Development workshops for music educators are offered on a variety of topics through the year. For more information, call 713-743-3398 or visit www.pcs.uh.edu.

Oak Ridge Associated Universities Consortium

The University of Houston is a member of Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), a consortium of colleges and universities and a management and operating contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. ORAU works with its member institutions to help their students and faculty gain access to federal research facilities throughout the country; to keep its members informed about opportunities for fellowship, scholarship, and research appointments; and to organize research alliances among its members. Undergraduates, graduates, postgraduates and faculty have access to a multitude of opportunities for study and research. Students can participate in programs covering a wide variety of disciplines including business, earth sciences epidemiology, engineering, physics, pharmacology, ocean sciences, biomedical sciences, nuclear chemistry, and mathematics.  For more information about ORAU and its programs, visit www.orau.org.

Phi Kappa Phi

Phi Kappa Phi is a national honor society that recognizes superior scholarship in all academic disciplines at the university.

Founded in 1897, Phi Kappa Phi has as its primary objective the recognition and encouragement of superior scholarship. The University of Houston chapter, chartered in November 1949, is the only honor society on campus that is wholly university-wide and includes faculty members, administrators, and undergraduate and graduate students in every division of the university.

Each year Phi Kappa Phi elects to membership a limited number of juniors, seniors, and graduate or professional students who are of good character and have attained outstanding records of academic excellence at the university.

Veterans and Dependents G.I. Bill

The Office of the University Registrar is responsible for submitting certifications for educational benefits to the Veterans Administration under federal guidelines. Requests for enrollment certification including all documentation should be made in room 128 Welcome Center. Requests for certification may be made in 128 Welcome Center during regular office hours, 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.