Core Curriculum
Fields of Study
Associate's Degree
What’s it all about?
Council of Undergraduate Advisors
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Core Curriculum - The Basics
• Since 1987, every student who received a
baccalaureate degree from a Texas public
institution of higher education has been required
to complete the state’s general education core
curriculum as part of their degree requirements
• The Texas General Education Core Curriculum
assures students high-quality undergraduate
educational experiences across a broad range of
intellectual and practical areas of inquiry.
Core Curriculum - The Basics
• Far from being those "basics" that students are
frequently advised to "get out of the way," the
Texas General Education Core Curriculum
embodies a carefully-designed set of significant
intellectual skills and content intended to
contribute in specific ways to excellence within
the undergraduate experience for all students.
Core Curriculum - The Basics
• Every institution of higher education is required by
law to adopt a core curriculum of no less than
42 semester credit hours (up to 48 with special
permission) which is consistent with the Texas
Common Course Numbering System and the
statement, recommendations, and rules issued by
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
• Chapter 4. Rules Applying to All Public Institutions of Higher Education in
Texas - Subchapter B. Transfer of Credit, Core Curriculum and Field of Study
Curricula
• http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/Rules/tac3.cfm?Chapter_ID=4&Subchapter=B
Core Curriculum - The Basics
• Coordinating Board Rules, Chapter 4,
Subchapter B
• Institutions must evaluate the effectiveness of
their core curricula at regular intervals (usually
once every five years) and report the results of
those evaluations to the Board.
Transfer of Core Courses
(a)All successfully completed lowerdivision academic courses that are
identified by the Texas Common Course
Numbering System (TCCNS) and published in
the Lower Division Academic Course Guide
Manual (ACGM) shall be fully transferable
among public institutions and shall be
substituted for the equivalent course at
the receiving institution.
Texas Common Course Numbering
System (TCCNS)
• A voluntary, co-operative effort among Texas community
colleges and universities to facilitate transfer of
freshman- and sophomore-level general academic
coursework.
• The TCCNS System provides a shared, uniform set of
course designations for students and their advisors to use in
determining both course equivalency and degree applicability
of transfer credit on a statewide basis.
• When students transfer between two participating TCCNS
institutions, a course taken at the sending institution transfers
as the course carrying, or cross-referenced with, the same
TCCNS designation at the receiving institution.
• To date, 110 institutions of higher learning in Texas participate
in the TCCNS project
Upcoming Evaluation of the Core
• Coordinating Board rules specify that each institution’s
evaluation must, at a minimum, address four issues:
▫ the extent to which the curriculum is consistent with the
elements of the core curriculum recommended by the
Board;
▫ the extent to which the curriculum is consistent with the
Texas Common Course Numbering System;
▫ the extent to which the curriculum is consistent with the
elements of the core curriculum component areas,
intellectual competencies, and perspectives as expressed in
Core Curriculum: Assumptions and Defining
Characteristics adopted by the Board; and
▫ the extent to which the institution's educational goals
and the exemplary educational objectives of the core
curriculum recommended by the Board are being
achieved (to be fully addressed in the 2009 evaluation).
Lower Division Academic Course
Guide Manual (ACGM)
• http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/PDF/1698
.PDF
• The official list of approved courses for general
academic transfer that may be offered by public
community and technical colleges in Texas for
state funding.
For example,
AGRI 1315 Horticulture (3 SCH version)
AGRI 1415 Horticulture (4 SCH version)
(Also see HORT 1301 or 1401)
Structure, growth, and development of horticultural plants
from a practical and scientific approach. Environmental
effects, basic principles of propagation, greenhouse and
outdoor production, nutrition, pruning, chemical control of
growth, pest control, and landscaping. (Crosslisted as
HORT 1301 or 1401)
Approval Number ....................................................................................... 01.0601.51 01
CIP Area ................................................................Agribusiness & Agriculture Production
maximum SCH per student ............................................................................................ 4
maximum SCH per course .............................................................................................. 4
maximum contact hours per course ............................................................................. 96
Transfer of Complete Core
• If a student successfully completes the 42-hour core
at an institution of higher education, that block of
courses must be substituted for the receiving
institution's core curriculum.
• A student shall receive academic credit for each of the
courses transferred and may not be required to
take additional core curriculum courses at the
receiving institution unless the Board has approved a
larger core curriculum at the receiving institution.
Transfer of Partial Core
Students who transfer without completing the core
curriculum shall receive academic credit in
the core curriculum of the receiving
institution for each of the courses that the
student has successfully completed in the
core curriculum of the sending institution, with
certain exceptions noted in the rules [Chapter 5,
Subchapter S, Section 5.403 (h)].
Transfer and Native Students
(b) Nothing in this subchapter restricts the
authority of an institution of higher education to
adopt its own admission standards in
compliance with this subchapter or its own
grading policies so long as it treats transfer
students and native students in the same
manner.
Components of the Core
I. Communication (6 required / up to 6 optional)
(composition, speech, modern language)
II. Mathematics (3 /3)
III. Natural Sciences (6 /3)
IV. Humanities and the Visual &
Performing Arts (6/3)
V. Social and Behavioral Sciences (15/3)
VI. Institutionally Designated Options (0/6)
• The Texas General Education Core Web
Center
• http://statecore.its.txstate.edu/
§4.26 Penalty for Noncompliance
with Transfer Rules
• If it is determined by the Board that an
institution inappropriately or unnecessarily
required a student to retake a course that is
substantially equivalent to a course already
taken at another institution, in violation of the
provisions of §4.25 of this title (relating to
Requirements and Limitations), formula
funding for credit hours in the repeated
course will be deducted from the
institution's appropriation.
And, finally …
(j) Substitutions and Waivers. No institution or
institutional representative may approve course
substitutions or waivers of the institution's core
curriculum requirements for any currently
enrolled student.
Next … Fields of Study
Fields of Study
• Field of Study Curricula are designed to assist
students by facilitating transfer of academic
credit from institution to institution.
• As of December 2002, the Board has approved
field of study curricula in 37 individual program
areas to help meet the need in high demand
areas
FoS High Demand Areas
• Coordinating Board staff identified any general
degree program areas that had produced at least
1,000 bachelor’s-level graduates for each year
from 1992-1997 cross listed with general degree
areas with more than 1,000 transfers from
community colleges to universities each year
during the same period were identified
Fields of Study at EPCC - 14
• Business
• Communication/Advertising/Public Relations
• Communication/Journalism/Mass
Communication
• Communication/Radio & Television
Broadcasting/Broadcast Journalism/Cinematic
Production
• Computer Science
• Criminal Justice
Fields of Study at EPCC
•
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•
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Civil Engineering
Computer Engineering
Electrical / Electronic Engineering
Industrial/Mechanical/Metallurgical/Materials
Engineering
Music
Nursing
Child Development/Early Childhood Education
Grade 4-8 Certification
Fields of Study
• A field of study curriculum is comprised of “a set of
courses that will satisfy the lower division
requirements for a bachelor's degree in a specific
academic area at a general academic teaching
institution.”
• The Coordinating Board was charged in the statute
to develop field of study curricula, which include the
lower-division courses in the major (exclusive of
core curriculum and free elective courses) that a
student would complete to be allowed to register for
upper-division courses.
Completed Field of Study Curriculum
• A completed field of study curriculum (FOSC) is
transferable as a block, and must be accepted
in lieu of the lower-division courses in the
specific academic area of a student’s
intended “major.”
• Students who have completed a FOSC should not
be required to complete additional lowerdivision courses in their specific academic area,
or “field of study,” before being allowed to register
for upper-division courses in the field of study, also
known as the “major.”
FOSC
• When a student has successfully completed the
courses that fulfill a Board approved core
curriculum and a Board-approved FOSC, the
student is guaranteed that those courses
will transfer and that FOSC courses will
apply to the degree program to which the
FOSC has been designated to apply.
What does that mean for us?
• For the identified FOSC areas:
▫ Must accept the full core of 42 SCH as transfer
▫ Must accept the 15 -18 SCH as fully
transferable and applicable lower-division
courses
▫ Must offer 60 hours of coursework to complete
the degree
Next: Associate’s Degrees
Associate’s Degrees
• http://www.epcc.edu/curriculum/catalogs/tabi
d/5307/Default.aspx
• Not required to accept the 15 – 18 content hours
as in a Field of Study but certainly encouraged to
do so
Associate’s Degrees at EPCC
• http://www.epcc.edu/Portals/
227/Catalogs/Catalog20082010.pdf
• Core Curriculum + 18 hours
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Art
Dance
Drama
English
General Studies
Philosophy
Psychology
Speech
Communication
So, what’s next?
• Field of Study areas need a transfer plan
• Associate Degree areas are strongly encouraged
to develop a transfer plan
• How do we do that?
Field of Study & Associate’s Degree
EPCC / UTEP Alignment Procedure
Goals:
• Develop a procedure that standardizes our
ability to align EPCC and UTEP degree plans
• Promote the efficient transfer of courses for our
students
• Meet all state and institutional guidelines
• Inform all appropriate parties
Proposed Procedure:
• Departments which intersect with a Field of
Study and/or Associate’s Degree should appoint
a working group of at least two individuals:
▫ The Chair or Associate/Assistant Chair of the
Department
▫ A faculty member in the relevant discipline
▫ An Academic Advisor or additional Faculty
member (optional)
Proposed Procedure:
• In addition, the working group should include a
UTEP representative from the EPCC / UTEP
Articulation committee who can be the liaison to
the Committee. Contact Donna Ekal
(dekal@utep.edu) or Amanda Vasquez
(avasquez6@utep.edu)
EPCC / UTEP Articulation Committee
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•
•
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Meets once per month (4/22/09)
Comprised of faculty, advisors, administrators
Co-chaired by EPCC and UTEP representatives
Mission is to resolve these kinds of transfer
issues
• Presidents are signed an MOU last week
formalizing the efforts
Proposed Procedure:
• This Working Group will use the THECB
approved Field of Study degree plan or the EPCC
Associate’s Degree plan to develop a proposed
Course Transfer Alignment for the Department.
• The proposal will then be sent to the College
Dean for approval.
• Then to the Undergraduate Curriculum
Committee
Proposed Procedure:
• Once approved, the Course Transfer Alignment
will be sent to:
▫ the EPCC / UTEP Articulation committee so it can
be entered officially into the minutes
▫ Enrollment Services so that it can put into Banner
and the online catalog
▫ The appropriate Academic Advisors at both EPCC
and UTEP so that they can accurately advise
students
Role of CAPP
• Helps students stay on track
• Will change the conversation with students from
prescriptive to developmental advising
• Degree plans MUST be up to date for CAPP to be
effective
• Meetings with your college CAPP contact
How can we help?
Do
Not Do
• Facilitator
• Make your curricular decisions
• Intermediary
• Resource
Transfer of Academic Credit
• Transferring more than Lower
Division Coursework
• What can we do?
THECB
• No institution of higher education shall be
required to accept in transfer, or apply toward a
degree program, more than 66 semester credit
hours of lower-division of academic credit.
Institutions of higher education, however, may
choose to accept additional credit hours
SACS
• At least 25% of the credit hours required for the
degree are earned through instruction offered by
the Institution awarding the degree.
• http://www.sacs.org/
• http://www.sacscoc.org/pdf/081705/transfertranscripting.pdf
Our Catalog
1. A total of at least 25% of the semester hours (a
minimum of 30 semester hours)
2. Twenty-four of the last 30 semester hours*
3. Twelve semester hours of advanced courses in
the major subject must have been completed
not more than three years prior to the date of
graduate
Questions?