Colleges as Transfer Credit Receiving InstitutionsWARUCC 2015 – VANCOUVER

CRAIG WOOD, DIRECTOR STUDENT SERVICES/REGISTRAR,

MEDICINE HAT COLLEGE

Context - Medicine Hat College • Located in Medicine Hat, Alberta (280 km southeast of Calgary, 50 km west of Saskatchewan)

Context• Founded in 1965 as Medicine Hat Junior College of the University of Alberta at

Calgary

• Enrolment of 2,500 FLE credit students

• 40% of students are over the age of 25

Origin of students

Local55%

Alberta15%

Saskatchewan10%

Other Canada10%

International10%

ProgrammingComprehensive Community Institution (CCI) – over 40 programs, including:

• Apprenticeships• ESL/ Academic Upgrading• Certificate, Diplomas• Applied Degrees• University Transfer• Collaborative degrees• Currently University of Calgary; Mount Royal University and Athabasca University

• Non credit and Conservatory of Music and Dance

Mobile students 40% of students over 25

30% from outside of province

30%-40% have prior post-secondary education

Students passing through the college◦ University –> College -> University◦ College -> University -> College -> University

Student Mobility ≠ Transferability

Advanced Credit Conundrum MHC as a transfer sending institution – University Transfer

No policy or procedures for granting transfer credit

“Advanced Credit” was provided to students enrolled in certificate / diploma programs on a request basis only. Students often repeated course work.

Work was done by the records clerk who was responsible for maintaining transfer agreements (ACAT)

Transfer credit was never granted towards University Transfer or collaborative degree programs.• Issues of prerequisites• University transferable courses as part of diploma which ladders into a degree

Issues of consistency ACAT guide sometimes used (reciprocal interpretation – not correct)

Evaluation of courses outside of transfer guide◦ “The course code is the same”◦ Evaluations outside of subject area expertise (Nurses evaluating Sociology courses)

Portability across college programs

No internal tracking – transfer credit entered as comments only on transcript.

Action 2010 - Created a new position “Articulation and PLAR Advisor”

◦ Catalogue all transfer agreements◦ Develop policy and processes to oversee granting of transfer credit◦ Coordinate workflows◦ Troubleshoot transfer problems for students◦ Letters of Permission

◦ About 100 a year granted◦ Not required◦ Expertise required in issuing

Policy and Procedures Implemented 2011

Guiding principles:• Consistent and predictable• Transparent and fair• Students should not need to repeat coursework in which they have already received credit• Flexible and scalable

ACAT Guide used as starting pointBilateral agreements Faculty evaluation of courses (issues remain)Database of transfer credits in SISCourse substitutions

Course substitutions Diploma program requires SOCI 201 but no other Sociology required for the diploma.

Student presents a Sociology course from another college which does not transfer to any university in ACAT guide.

The course has the necessary scope and breath and learning outcomes required for the diploma but it isn’t SOCI 201.

We can’t transcript this as SOCI 201 transfer credit.

SOCI 1XX is granted and the Chair and Dean sign-off on a course substitution allowing SOCI 1XX to fulfill the diploma requirements.

Has lead to curricular changes – i.e. any junior level Sociology instead of specific course.

Started slow…. At first we continued to only grant transfer credit upon student request.

In 2014 we decided to proactively evaluate for transfer credit◦ Currently once a applicant is offer admission we run a report to identify if they have post-secodnary

credits.◦ Transcripts are evaluated and transfer credit is assessed.

Percentage of new students granted transfer credit

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 20140%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

Chart Title

Challenges University transfer and Collaborative Degrees

Universities may evaluate differently – lost credits or issues with prerequisites.

Residency requirements

Work closely with university partners – (save emails)

International credentials◦ Have developed resources for common countries◦ IQAS◦ University partners

University courses too theoretical to be granted college credit.

Wish list Reciprocal agreements in ACAT

Pan-Canadian Agreements (BCAT/ACAT)

More research and tracking of transfer patterns

Discussion

Craig Wood

wood@mhc.ab.ca