The Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education has approved 16 courses for a new statewide “transfer course library” that will assist students with the transfer of selected courses for credit at public colleges and universities in the state. The higher education board’s action brings to 20 the number of approved courses in the transfer library.
Thousands of students in Missouri transfer college credit every year. In 2011, nearly 10,000 undergraduate students transferred credit from one public postsecondary institution in the state to another.
Higher education officials say the library will make the transfer process easier for more students and could help improve college completion rates. The avoidance of duplication will save transfer students time and money.
“We want to make it easier for students to transfer credits they have earned at one college or university to any other public institution and have those credits count toward a degree,” said David Russell, Missouri commissioner of higher education. “Missouri’s growing transfer library of courses can help students earn degrees by making sure that some basic entry level courses need not be taken twice just because the student transferred to a new institution.”
The library is being developed by the Department of Higher Education in cooperation with the state’s public four-year and two-year institutions. The library listing will provide information about courses that transfer on a one-to-one equivalent basis among all public colleges and universities in Missouri. For example, a student who has successfully completed American history at one college can receive credit for American history when transferring to another college in the state.
State legislation approved in 2012 called on the department to create a transfer library of 25 courses by July 1. The board approved the first four courses for the library in September 2013.
The department is currently working with higher education institutions in the state to identify five additional courses for board approval by mid-summer. The department plans to eventually increase the library beyond the minimum 25 courses required by state law.
An electronic database is currently being developed to make the library easily accessible for students.
The new courses approved for the transfer library are:
- American government
- American history I
- American history II
- Anthropology
- Art appreciation
- Astronomy
- Calculus I
- Drawing I
- Introduction to statistics
- Music appreciation
- Oral communication
- Philosophy
- Psychology
- Public speaking
- Western civilization
- World religions
The four courses approved in September 2013 are:
- Microeconomics
- Macroeconomics
- College algebra
- Sociology