Missouri Code of State Regulations › Title 6 - DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT › Division 10 - Commissioner of Higher Education › Chapter 3 - Residency and Transfer › Section 6 CSR 10-3.020 - Guidelines for Student Transfer and Articulation Among Missouri Higher Education Institutions

Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 14, July 15, 2024
PURPOSE: This amendment sets forth the revised
				  guidelines to promote and facilitate the transfer of students between public
				  institutions of higher education in Missouri.
(1) Introduction. The Coordinating Board for
				Higher Education is required by statute to "establish guidelines to promote and
				facilitate the transfer of students between institutions of higher education
				within the state." This rule sets forth those guidelines and is intended to
				assure that a student with a clear educational objective may complete a degree
				program in the shortest possible time, whether the student remains in one (1)
				institution or transfers to another. The coordinating board recognizes that
				each Missouri college and university has a responsibility for establishing and
				maintaining standards of expectations for students completing courses,
				programs, certificates, or degrees. It also recognizes that for effective and
				efficient transfer of credits between and among these colleges and
				universities, it is necessary to exercise this responsibility within the
				context of a statewide system of postsecondary education. Effective
				articulation is based upon interinstitutional communication, a mutual respect
				for institutional integrity, a high degree of flexibility, procedures for
				identifying problems, and a mechanism for implementing appropriate solutions.
				Harmonious and equitable consideration of any problem which a student may
				encounter in moving from one (1) college to another is an ultimate objective of
				these transfer guidelines.
(2)
				Definitions.
(A) Baccalaureate degree program
				means the major required for the awarding of a bachelor's degree.
(B) Bachelor's degree or baccalaureate degree
				means an award that normally requires no more than one hundred twenty (120)
				semester credit hours except as may be necessary for accreditation or
				licensure.
(C) Commissioner means
				the Commissioner of Higher Education as appointed by the Coordinating Board for
				Higher Education.
(D) Committee on
				Transfer and Articulation, (COTA) refers to an advisory committee established
				by the Coordinating Board for Higher Education with responsibility to oversee
				the implementation of the transfer guidelines and appeals process as set forth
				in this rule.
(E) Common Course
				Number Equivalency Matrix (Missouri Transfer Number or "MOTR" Number) refers to
				the statewide number assigned to the core transfer curriculum courses to
				promote consistency in course designation and course identification across
				individual institutions. This designation is to be used only for courses
				originating at a Missouri institution and reviewed by a faculty discipline
				group comprised of faculty from Missouri public and/or participating
				independent higher education institutions.
(F) Coordinating Board means the Coordinating
				Board for Higher Education created by article I V, section 52 of the Missouri
				Constitution.
(G) Core Curriculum
				Advisory Committee, (CCAC) refers to an advisory committee established by the
				Coordinating Board for Higher Education with primary responsibility for
				assuring course equivalencies and maintaining the core transfer curriculum
				(CORE 42) and corresponding courses, and shall be comprised of faculty members
				from Missouri public institutions and participating independent institutions of
				higher education, and one (1) two- (2-) year representative and one (1) four-
				(4-) year representative from the Missouri Association of Collegiate Registrars
				and Admissions Officers.
(H) Core
				Curriculum means the basic competencies to be met, which shall include
				communicating, higher-order thinking, managing information, valuing, and
				includes the knowledge areas of social and behavioral sciences, humanities and
				fine arts, mathematics, life and physical sciences, and
				communications.
(I) Degree or
				certificate means an award or title conferred upon an individual by a college,
				university, or other postsecondary education institution as official
				recognition for the successful completion of a program or course of
				study.
(J) Faculty Member refers to
				a person who is employed full time by a community college or other public or
				participating independent institution of higher education as a member of the
				faculty whose primary duties include teaching, research, academic service, or
				administration.
(K) Faculty
				Discipline Group refers to review panels comprised of faculty from Missouri's
				public and independent institutions and established to review courses submitted
				by Missouri institutions for inclusion in the Higher Education Core Transfer
				Curriculum (CORE 42).
(L) General
				education program means a prescribed course of study as defined by
				institutional faculty and validated by the institution's administration or
				governing board, distinct from a program major, required of all graduates, and
				intended to ensure that all graduates possess a common core of college-level
				skills and knowledge.
(M)
				Guidelines as used in this rule means the expected course of action or set of
				circumstances that apply to decision making in which transfer of credit is
				involved.
(N) Higher Education Core
				Transfer Curriculum (CORE 42) refers to a standard core curriculum and common
				course numbering equivalency matrix for lower-division courses to be used at
				community colleges and other public and participating independent institutions
				of higher education to facilitate student transfers as provided under sections
				178.785
				to
				178.789,
				RSMo, effective August 1, 2018.
(O)
				Independent Institution refers to an approved private institution of higher
				education meeting the requirements of section
				173.1102(2)
				RSMo, provided it is also either accredited
				or a candidate for accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission and provided
				it offers a postsecondary course of instruction at least two (2) years in
				length leading to the conferral of a degree. Participating independent
				institutions are those who have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to
				participate in the CORE 42.
(P)
				Institution of higher education as used in the context of this rule means an
				educational institution under either public or private control which provides a
				postsecondary course of instruction at least six (6) months in length leading
				to or directly creditable toward a degree or certificate and which is
				accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
(Q) Junior standing means the student level
				attained upon satisfactory completion of at least half of the credit hour
				requirements for completion of a bachelor's degree, usually at least sixty (60)
				but less than ninety (90) student credit hours.
(R) Lower division means courses at a level
				of comprehension usually associated with freshman and sophomore students and
				offered during the first two (2) years of a four- (4-) year baccalaureate
				degree program.
(S) Major means a
				prescribed course of study which constitutes an area of specialization leading
				to a recognized certificate or degree.
(T) Native student means a degree-seeking
				student who, after graduating from high school, and excluding the summer
				immediately preceding fall enrollment, begins post-secondary education for the
				first time at that institution, has not transferred to another institution, and
				has not earned more than eleven (11) credits at another institution.
(U) Receiving institution means the
				institution of higher education at which a transfer student currently desires
				to enroll and to have previously earned credit applied toward a degree program.
(V) Semester credit hour refers to
				a metric derived from the Carnegie Unit and based on the number of contact
				hours students spend in class per week in a given semester.
(W) Sending institution means the institution
				of higher education of most recent previous enrollment by a transfer student at
				which transferable academic credit was earned.
(X) Transfer student means a student entering
				an institution for the first time with academic credit earned at another
				institution which is applicable for credit at the institution the student is
				entering.
(Y) Upper division means
				courses at a level of comprehension usually associated with junior and senior
				students and offered during the last two (2) years of a four- (4-) year
				baccalaureate degree program.