Technical College System of Georgia
The Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), formerly known as the Department of Technical and Adult Education (DTAE), is the State of Georgia Government Agency which supervises the U.S. state of Georgia's 22 technical colleges, while also surveying the adult literacy program and economic and workforce development programs. The system operates the Georgia Virtual Technical Connection, a clearinghouse for online technical courses. The TCSG serves the people and the state by creating a system of technical education whose purpose is to use the latest technology and easy access for all adult Georgians and corporate  citizens. The Technical College System and the University System of Georgia (USG) are completely separate agencies and work entirely independently of each other, except for certain cooperative efforts. Some core courses are transferable between the two, though this was made more difficult when the USG moved to the semester system in 1997, while the TCSG remained on the quarter system. The TCSG changed to the semester system in Fall (August) 2011. The TCSG worked with the state budget office to minimize the economic impact of the conversion, believing a move is in the best interests of TCSG students. Beginning in  2008, it was being studied whether some schools should merge. The first was the merger of Georgia Aviation Technical College in Eastman into the USG's Middle Georgia College (now known as Middle Georgia State University) in 2007, effective July 1. In September 2008, the State Board of Technical and Adult Education voted to merge 13 colleges into six. The board stated that the mergers only affect the administrative functions of the colleges. When the University System of Georgia mandated semesters in 1998, enrollment fell by several thousand students, and those that remained took fewer courses, causing budget shortfalls which  the state legislature had to make up for. List of technical colleges. Former units of the TCSG. These institutions were independent units of the TCSG; however, they were merged with other institutions, with most of the mergers occurring during the Technical College System consolidation of 2009.