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What is an Out-of-State Learning Placement?

Out-of-State Learning Placements (abbreviated as OOSLPs) are defined by our State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) as "experiential learning placements such as, but not limited to, clinical rotations, internships or student teaching offered by SARA-participating Institutions in locations outside their Home State" (SARA Manual v. 19.2 §1.31).

How does our program determine if we have an OOSLP?

Answer the following questions:

Does your program offer one or more learning placements such as clinical rotations, practica, field research opportunities, internships, or student teaching programs?

Can one or more of these learning placements be completed for credit? Is one or more of these learning placements listed as a required or optional part of your degree program?

Can one or more of these learning placements be completed out-of-state*?

If your program answered "YES" to each of the three questions above, your program has an OOSLP!

* State Authorization is focused on national compliance efforts. If your learning placement takes place outside of the United States and its territories, it does not need to be reported to our office.

Why does having an OOSLP matter?

When the University of Utah offers an educational activity across state lines, we are legally obligated to secure authorization from the state in which the activity takes place. Our membership in SARA secures that authorization, allowing the U to offer educational activities to students in other SARA member states.

In order to maintain compliance with SARA, we are required to report data about our distance education offerings, including OOSLPs, back to the National Council for SARA (NC-SARA).

Curriculum Administration is responsible for reporting data back to NC-SARA, but we need help from your program to make sure the information we report is accurate and up-to-date!

We are asking each program to collect OOSLP data and submit it directly to our office so we can submit a complete institutional report to NC-SARA.

What OOSLP data should our program collect?

The requested information is listed below:

  1. Name of student participating in the OOSLP
  2. Student uID
  3. Student degree program
  4. Type of OOSLP (clinical rotation, practicum, field study/research, internship/externship, student teaching)
  5. College/School sponsoring the OOSLP
  6. Department/Program sponsoring the OOSLP
  7. Semester and year in which the OOSLP took place
  8. Location of the OOSLP (City & State/Territory)

Where should our program report OOSLP data?

Please submit your OOSLP data by downloading and completing the OOSLP Data Reporting Template and then emailing your completed form to stateauthorization@utah.edu.

Last Updated: 6/20/23