Agreement formalizes credits transfer among South Carolina technical colleges, universities

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The academic requirements of South Carolina’s technical colleges and research universities were woven together this week with a thread that has joined some of the schools in individual pairings over the last several years.

University and college officials joined key state lawmakers Thursday to celebrate a statewide transfer agreement between the South Carolina Technical College System and the state’s public research universities, including Clemson University and the University of South Carolina.

The agreement marks a significant milestone in refining the transfer process between the technical colleges and universities, according to a news release. It is “intentionally designed to be dynamic with ongoing assessment and evaluation to optimize student educational opportunities.”

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, House Speaker Murrell Smith and Sen. Thomas Alexander, president of the Senate, celebrated the agreement with academic representatives that included Clemson University President Jim Clements, Clemson Provost Bob Jones, University of South Carolina President Michael Amiridis and USC Provost Donna Arnett. Tim Hardee, president of the technical college system, was also there along with all 16 presidents of the technical colleges, according to the release.

The partnership represents a concerted, collaborative effort to streamline the transfer experience to the benefit of student success, the release stated. Its primary objective is to strengthen the seamless transfer of credits from technical colleges to public research universities within the state.

Transfer agreements are not new, but most of them in the past have been hammered out between two schools, such as an agreement last year that smoothed out the transfer process between Midlands Technical College and Clemson’s architecture program.

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“I am thrilled to celebrate the signing of the statewide transfer agreement, an endeavor I have wholeheartedly supported for many years,” Smith said in the release. “I applaud the institutions of higher education and their leaders for helping this to finally become a reality. I know that this is a great first step in what I hope will be a continued commitment to making education more accessible, affordable and adaptable to our state’s students.

Key components of the agreement include:

• Establishment of 30 or more credit hours of guaranteed acceptance and applicability to the student’s major designed to reduce credit loss at the time of transfer.
• Maintenance of the acceptance of a minimum of 60 credit hours for students completing an Associate in Arts or Associate in Science.
• A reverse transfer credit option enabling credits earned at the university to be transferred back to the technical college for the completion of an associate degree.
• Establishment of annual data sharing in an effort to highlight successes and opportunities for further collaboration to increase transfer student success.
• A commitment to ongoing, regular collaboration through the facilitation of faculty and staff convenings to promote better advising, pedagogy and resources.

State lawmakers taking part in the ceremony included Sen. Greg Hembree and Rep. Shannon Erickson.