Six more courses have been added to Missouri's new "transfer course library" to assist students with the transfer of specific courses at all public colleges and universities in the state.
The additional courses, approved last week by the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education, brings the current number of courses in the library to 26, surpassing the minimum 25 courses required by legislation approved in 2012. The board plans to continue expanding the library as new courses are approved.
The library will help thousands of students who transfer college credit each year by simplifying the transfer process. Higher education officials say it also could improve college completion rates.
"The transfer library will make it easier for students to transfer credit they have earned from one college to another," said Rusty Monhollon, assistant commissioner for academic affairs at the Missouri Department of Higher Education. "Making the transfer process more effective and efficient is one way we are working to increase degree completion in our state."
The Missouri Legislature directed the board to establish by July 1 a library of at least 25 lower-division courses that transfer as equivalents at all public two- and four-year institutions and participating private colleges and universities.
Nearly 10,000 undergraduate students transferred credit from one Missouri postsecondary institution to another in 2011. The transfer library will help students save time and money by ensuring that specific courses can be transferred on a one-to-one basis among higher education institutions in the state. The library also will help students make more informed choices about the courses they take as they work toward a degree.
In the coming months, department officials will develop policies and procedures for the submission and review of additional courses for the library. An electronic database will be created to provide information about the library to students.
The six new courses added to the transfer library include:
- Biology lecture for non-majors
- Biology laboratory for non-majors
- French I
- French II
- Spanish I
- Spanish II
The following courses were previously approved for inclusion in the library:
- American government
- American history I
- American history II
- Anthropology
- Art appreciation
- Astronomy
- Calculus I
- College algebra
- Drawing I
- Introduction to sociology
- Introduction to statistics
- Macroeconomics
- Microeconomics
- Music appreciation
- Oral communication
- Philosophy
- Psychology
- Public speaking
- Western civilization
- World religions