SGPS is not an accredited program and, if you intend to receive credit for participating in our program, it is important that you verify your eligibility for receiving credit before you complete your application. Our courses are rated by units (equivalent to academic credit units). Participants receive a letter-graded evaluation and, if requested, an official certificate of completion ($20 fee to cover postage). Many students can get independent study credit through their home universities and applicants should consult their professors and/or student advisers to see if that option is available to them.

SGPS was originally part of the university program at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee for many years and became an independent study program in 2010. Since then, many of our students have successfully arranged to get independent study credit through their home universities. In 2018, SGPS established relations with West Virginia University through which students participating in some of our courses were able to receive accreditation through the WVU Art History Department. After eight years, this arrangement has been discontinued.

We can furnish your professor and university with any information they require about our courses in order to approve it as an independent course, or any other form of accreditation that you are considering, including internships. The number of units listed on our website, e.g. 6 units for Programs A, B, D, E and F and 1 unit for the Intersession Tour, is the equivalent credit level at which students were credited when SGPS was part of a university and what we currently recommend for independent study credit. Please note: It is important to verify your eligibility to receive credit with your university before participating in our program.

West Virginia University

Between 2018 and 2026, SGPS students participating in our courses were able to receive accreditation through the WVU Art History Department. You can read about the experience one summer of students from WVU in the following article:
New GPS Program Teaches Restoration, Preservation in Italy

University of Notre Dame

Also in 2018 we began a new collaboration with the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture on a new research project: the architectural and structural survey of the excavation site of the baths at the ancient Roman city of Carsulae. For more information on this project please visit our page: Program F 2020.

For further information about this collaboration with UND, please contact Polly Withers, IIRPS/SGPS program manager email: pwithers@iirpsemail.org.