Transfer and Articulation Links
Annual Report on Transfer and Articulation, October 2008
In 2008’s Public Chapter 863, the General Assembly directed the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) to work with the University of Tennessee and the Tennessee Board of Regents to facilitate “universal articulation” of lower division “transfer paths” to baccalaureate majors.
This legislation builds on a 2000 Act requiring establishment of a community
college transfer track of 60 semester credit hours. The 60-hour limit on
associate degrees had been achieved. Furthermore, the Tennessee Board of
Regents restricted 41 of the 60 hours in the university parallel associate to a
General Education Core and made the learning outcomes and distribution
requirements for the core common to all universities and community colleges in
the system. The University of Tennessee is moving forward with a similar
General Education core commonality across its institutions.
The 2008 legislation addresses the remaining 19 semester credit hours of the
60-hour university parallel associate and the assurance of direct articulation of
these pre-major courses to specific baccalaureate majors. The legislation
directs universal articulation of 19-hour community college transfer paths to all
state universities. For example, a transfer path to the B.S. in Criminal Justice
will be the same at all community colleges, and all universities will accept in
transfer these hours toward degree requirements of the Criminal Justice major.
Universal lower division transfer path articulation will be built first for
baccalaureate programs showing the highest transfer rate. The two systems
will be accountable for implementing these articulation and transfer procedures
and providing clear and effective information to community college students
about curricular paths to the degree.
Public Chapter 863 extends the directive of the previous PC 795. Public
Chapter 795 requires the Tennessee Higher Education Commission to report to
the Joint Education Oversight Committee and the chairs of the House and
Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committees on the progress made toward full
articulation on October 1 of each year.
In previous years, the Commission has reported on progress made by the
coalition of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, the Tennessee Board
of Regents, and the University of Tennessee system that addresses articulation
agreements among the public institutions. With articulation agreements now in
place and the university track program adopted by both systems, the
Commission will begin assessment on the success of these arrangements and
will also report on the implementation of “universal transfer” of lower division
sub-major courses.
The remainder of this year’s annual report continues an approach begun last
year, providing analysis of recent transfer activity at public institutions: its
Tennessee Higher Education Commission Fall 2008 Transfer and Articulation Report
volume, timing, and directionality. Taken together, last year’s and this year’s
annual reports will create a baseline for future trend analyses.
Notable findings include the following:
Transfer remains a way of life for today’s Tennessee college students.
Of the 183,857 undergraduate students enrolled for college credit in Tennessee’s public universities and community colleges in Fall 2007, 31.2 percent had transferred at some point in their collegiate career. Forty-three percent of the public university bachelor’s degree graduates in 2006-07 started at an institution other than the one from which they graduated.
Tennessee’s public institutions vary greatly in their reliance on transfer student enrollment.
The percentage of the Fall 2007 enrollment
represented by transfer students ranged from 20.3 percent at the UT
Medical Health Science Center to 4.2 percent at Walters State
Community College.
Transfer is multi-directional.
Taken together, transfers from public
universities to community colleges, between community colleges, and
between universities accounted for more transfer activity in Fall 2007
than did transfers from community colleges to universities.
Most students transferring to a public university do so without an associate degree.
Nearly two-thirds of transfers to public universities in Fall 2007 did so with fewer than 60 credit hours. Even among those who transferred 60 or more credits, 68.8 percent transferred without an associate degree.
Hours to degree are generally lower for students who graduated from the same institution at which they started.
Average hours to degree were
highest for students who began at a Tennessee for-profit institution or an
out-of-state institution. Average hours to degree were higher for
community college students who transferred with an associate degree
than for such students who transferred without one.
The full report can be found at http://state.tn.us/thec/Legislative/Reports.html.
