Located in:
b. 5. The State Plan Must Describe Efforts That the Eligible State Agency and Eligible Recipients Will Make to Improve the Transition of Subbaccalaureate Career and Technical Education Students into Baccalaureate Degree Programs at Institutions of Higher Education. (section 122(c)(4))
Current Narrative:
The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system has 37 state colleges and universities. Since its constitution in 1995, The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Office of the Chancellor has sought to establish consistent practices for accepting credit for undergraduate college-level courses transferred into a system college or university. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system has established a policy (http://www.minnstate.edu/board/policy/321.html) and a procedure (http://www.minnstate.edu/board/procedure/321pl.html) for undergraduate course credit transfer. A website www.minnstate.edu/admissions/pathways.html has considerable information about transfer from sub-baccalaureate to baccalaureate programs.
Initiatives are currently underway for improving the transition of students from sub-baccalaureate to baccalaureate programs include The Transfer Pathways project.
The Transfer Pathways project is a Minnesota State system wide effort to respond to transfer challenges through the implementation of multi-campus articulation agreements for students pursuing associate in arts, associate in science, and associate in fine arts degrees to complete baccalaureate degrees at the system's universities without accumulating excess course credits. The goals of the project include:
- Create opportunities to streamline transfer for all students who intend to prepare for the bachelor's degree by completing an associate degree at a two-year college.
- Facilitate communication and collaboration among faculty in the same discipline at all of the system's institutions
- Generate savings on many levels, including cost to students, time to degree completion, and administrative overhead to maintain articulation agreements.
- Improve information and services to military personnel and veterans.
The project was prompted by legislation completed in 2014, directing Minnesota State Colleges and Universities to develop a plan to address certain transfer problems through the implementation of articulation agreements to aid students in transfer. Minnesota State provided a plan in March 2015, which the legislature responded to with a session law requiring Minnesota State to implement the transfer pathways plan.
Minnesota has established a separate policy (http://www.minnstate.edu/board/policy/337.html) for general education courses reflecting competencies adopted by the public higher education entities in Minnesota. The 1994 "Minnesota Transfer Curriculum Agreement" is a document developed by faculty representatives of Minnesota public colleges and universities outlining the conditions by which students transfer their completed general education work at one public college or university to meet lower division general or liberal education requirements at any public college or university in Minnesota. The agreement was signed by the chief executive officers of the existing public higher education systems in 1994. The agreement identifies ten areas of emphasis and goals and student competencies in each area of emphasis. The ten "goal areas" refer to the areas of emphasis identified in the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum Agreement: 1) Communication, 2) Critical Thinking, 3) Natural Sciences, 4) Mathematical and Logical Reasoning, 5) History, Social and Behavioral Sciences, 6) Humanities and Fine Arts, 7) Human Diversity, 8) Global Perspective, 9) Civic and Ethical Responsibility, and 10) People and the Environment.
Colleges and universities within the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system have policies and procedures with regard to the development, approval and management of academic programs to meet Minnesota’s educational needs (see above discussion regarding the academic programs policy and procedure). The Minnesota Transfer Curriculum policy and procedure has been developed in such a manner that they are consistent with academic programs policy and procedure. Unlike the undergraduate course credit transfer policy and procedure (see above) where the receiving institution determines criteria for accepting credit, each receiving system college and university shall accept a Minnesota Transfer Curriculum course, goal area, or the entire curriculum as determined and documented by the sending system college or university. Each system college and university shall publish its Minnesota Transfer Curriculum requirements and policies. A corresponding procedure must be developed to implement the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum policy (http://www.minnstate.edu/board/procedure/337pl.html).