ecsu-aaup

The demand on public higher education to produce a robust and appropriately educated workforce has been widely discussed throughout our nation, and agreement has emerged in Connecticut that this is a priority goal for public higher education. To achieve our goal, we, in the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, must help dramatically increase the post secondary degree and certification attainment of our population. We must create a wide and transparent pathway to attainment for all of our students, and that means we must streamline the transfer processes and structures in our state colleges and universities.

The primary characteristics of the statewide initiatives that have proven successful are the following – with thanks to “Implementing Statewide Transfer and Articulation Reform” by the Center for the Study of Community Colleges:

• A common general education package
• Common lower division pre-major pathways
• A focus on credit applicability to degree
• Junior status upon transfer
• Guaranteed or priority university admission
• Associate and bachelor degree credit limits

This proposal seeks to achieve Board of Regents approval to require coordination of the transfer policy from the state’s community colleges to the state universities and Charter Oak State College to create pathways for students

• that are well publicized,
• include appropriate lower division general education,
• move students toward the competencies the states employers are looking for,
• and relate to specific majors offered at the state universities.

We recognize that these pathways will not meet the needs of all students, and that there remains an important mission for the community colleges to provide workforce ready certificates and degrees, not designed for transfer.  The state universities will also continue to provide baccalaureate and graduate education for students who begin their career at a state university.

Connecticut Board of Regents:  Resolution Concerning Common Core and Transfer

Each Board of Regents institution that offers an undergraduate degree program shall develop its core curriculum consistent with the purpose adopted by the Board of Regents. The purpose of the core curriculum is to enable students to gain a foundation of knowledge both of human culture and the natural world and to develop their intellectual and practical skills. The goal of this education is that all graduating students are prepared to take their place as contributing members of society. Students will demonstrate their competency both in their major field of study and in the following areas:

• Communication: written, oral and visual – including second language competency
• Quantitative and statistical reasoning
• Critical thinking: including creative thinking, innovation, scientific inquiry and analysis
• Empirical Problem Solving Skills: including demonstration of technical competency and teamwork
• Personal and Social Responsibility

There shall be a transfer associate degree of 60-64 credits common to all of the Connecticut Community Colleges that shall include at least 36 credits of transferrable general education, liberal arts core (LAC) or liberal education program (LEP) courses, and earning that degree will grant its recipients junior status at each of the Connecticut State Universities and Charter Oak State College.

Successful completion of the transfer associate degree will offer the student guaranteed admission and junior status at the receiving university without ‘course by course’ transfer.

Students who complete the transfer associate degree at a Connecticut Community College will be admitted to a Connecticut State University as a junior and they will have demonstrated competency at the associate degree level in the above areas. Associate degrees will include no more than 64 credits and baccalaureate degrees will include no more than 128 credits unless by Board of Regents approved exception. To complete a baccalaureate degree at a State University, students will be required to complete no more than half of the requirements for the baccalaureate degree. These additional university requirements will be clearly spelled out and included in degree by degree articulations that are created.

The faculties of the Connecticut Community Colleges and the Connecticut State Universities will agree on the transfer associate degree with its attendant competency outcomes and major by major articulations that will create a single pathway from any Connecticut Community College to a Connecticut State University for every baccalaureate major.

These articulations will be completed for all majors by July 1, 2013. However, the top five majors by enrollment will have the articulations completed, approved by the relevant curricular committees and publicized by July 1, 2012. The major program articulations will be reviewed by faculty committees from the community colleges and the universities on a five year cycle, beginning in the fall of 2013.

The Board of Regents will publicize the transfer agreements major by major and will offer students in the state an interactive web based vehicle to both access these specific degree requirements and to check on the transferability of any courses they may have already taken.

TIMELINE:

Phase 1:

Spring, 2012 ending July 1, 2012:                 

Agree on common general education competency outcomes
Align top five majors to meet the above conditions*

Phase 2:

Academic Year 2012-2013:                           

Complete alignment for all majors offered in the state universities
Agree on assessment of common core competencies

Phase 3:

Summer 2013:          Create and mount state-wide interactive transfer website

Phase 4:

Academic Year 2013-2014:                          

Begin periodic program review
Begin assessment of impact on transfer patterns

 
*TOP FIVE BACCALAUREATE MAJORS TO ARTICULATE BY JULY 1, 2012

MAJOR PROGRAM                                          CURRENT CSU ENROLLMENT

Business Administration and Accounting                              approx. 3500

Psychology                                                                       approx. 2200

Communication/Media Studies                                           approx. 1400

Criminal Justice/Justice Studies/Criminology                        approx. 1200

Biology                                                                            approx. 1100

N.B.: Nursing, with approximately 1650 majors, was not included because the RN at the community colleges already aligns with the BSN at the universities. Education majors were also not included, as they all have “double majors”.  Completion of alignment for all content majors will take place in Phase 2 (including education), utilizing existing pathways where possible.