Preamble

A major resource of the State of Ohio is its diverse system of higher education within which students may seek and obtain advanced education for their personal and professional improvement. Utilization of this resource helps produce a more educated citizenry which is foundational to improvement in both the quality of life and economic vitality of Ohio.

In this interest, the many public and independent colleges and universities residing in Ohio offer a variety of courses, programs and undergraduate degrees. Students use these educational resources in a wide variety of ways, choosing a few courses, a few terms, a full degree or multiple degrees to meet their educational goals.

While some students may begin and complete their education all within one institution, many find itnecessary to take course(s) as a guest/transient student in other institutions along the way. Some have also taken transferable college level courses while still enrolled in high school under the Postsecondary Enrollment Option Program (PSEOP).

Annually, a large contingent of students find that personal, professional, or academic reasons prompt their formal transfer from one collegiate institution to another in pursuit of their educational aspirations. Student movement from one institution to another also may be multi-directional among 2-year and 4-year institutions as students make use of these educational resources in the variety of ways outlined above.

The Ohio General Assembly, the Ohio Board of Regents, and Ohio's universities and community and technical colleges support multiple educational pathways to meet the full spectrum of student needs and educational aspirations. They further affirm that improved transfer student mobility will increase student satisfaction, degree completion and the efficient use of tax dollars. In this interest sound public policy to improve student mobility must include provisions to maximize the award and application of credit for prior learning and equitable treatment for transfer students. Inter-institutional cooperation within this diverse system of higher education is essential to facilitate the necessary transfer of students and application of credit hours.

The policy provides basic concepts, requirements and guidelines for assuring efficient and appropriate transfer from one post-secondary institution to another during the course of students’ undergraduate education. The overall goal is to continue to provide a high quality educational experience for transfer students as well as native students.

The Ohio Articulation and Transfer Policy which follows is a living document originally approved by the Ohio Board of Regents in 1990. It has undergone many changes over the years to incrementally improve articulation and transfer. While some of the changes have been relatively minor adjustments, others like H.B. 95 and H.B. 66 have prompted significant curricular and administrative changes across the public higher education institutions of Ohio.

Multiple provisions of H.B. 95 (ORC 3333.16) have prompted significant enhancements in student opportunities to transfer credit among Ohio’s state-assisted colleges and universities. Some of the enhancements include the following:

Application of the Ohio Transfer Module on a course-by-course basis has made it more flexible in meeting students’ needs.

Transfer Assurance Guides were developed to create discipline-specific pathways from any state-assisted institution to another. In this process course equivalency miss-matches were rectified by curricular enhancement of the deficient course.

Full implementation of the Course Applicability System at all state-assisted institutions is now mandated.

Transfer admission to a state-assisted university and technical and community college is now guaranteed for Ohio residents who have completed an associate degree and a transfer module.

A universal course equivalency system will be used to improve transfer credit articulation and reduce undesired variability in the transfer credit evaluation process.

Provisions of H.B. 66 (ORC 3333.162) also call for a new articulation and transfer initiative. Some of those provisions include the following:

Establish criteria, policies, and procedures whereby students will be able to transfer a wider range of agreed-upon equivalent technical courses.

Establish a collaborative effort among the Ohio Board of Regents, the office of career-technical & adult education of the Ohio Department of Education, public secondary/adult career-technical education institutions, and state-supported institutions of higher education.

Further reduce institutional barriers and unnecessary course duplication by articulating courses that adhere to recognized industry standards and are deemed equivalent and common to the aforementioned educational institutions.

The long view from the past through the present and into the future reveals a four-phase model of articulation and transfer development evolving in Ohio.

The initial articulation and transfer policy and the curricular structure of the transfer module laid a firm foundation for the equitable treatment of transfer and native students.

The faculty-developed transfer assurance guides are extending curricular connections beyond general education course work and into pathways to specific disciplines. Faculty used a 70% standard for equivalency when matching learning outcomes. However, some specific exceptions required a higher level of congruence than the 70% standard. (see attachment: Defining The 70% Standard In Transfer Assurance Guide Learning Outcomes)

A future phase of articulation expansion will include the encoding of all bi-lateral transfer agreements between Ohio public institutions. The Ohio Board of Regents will then work to appropriately include electronic submissions of this information on the universal course equivalency system.

Ultimately articulation and transfer will move away from the traditional process of constructing course equivalencies on the basis of course descriptions, credits, and seat time. The new equivalency development model, competencies to competencies, will focus on matching learning outcomes to articulate specific levels of learning mastery.

Information management systems that have been developed and will be expanded to collect and communicate the course equivalency and degree applicability information students and advisors need to make informed course selections and future transfer plans.

The full course applicability system (CAS) implementation mandated by H.B. 95 provides a state-of-the-art electronic advisory system enabling students and potential students to examine various routes to a college degree using the World Wide Web.

The Universal Course Equivalency System is a mechanism through which transcripts will pass when moving from the sending to the receiving institution. Transcripts passing through will be annotated with equivalency information to improve course transferability and decrease undesirable variability in the credit evaluation process.