Streamlining the transfer of college credits: here’s Missouri’s plan

It could soon be easier to transfer credits across public universities in the state of Missouri.

It’s all part of the Core Curriculum Transfer Program, one of the measures in Senate Bill 997, which was signed into law on June 2 with a goal of improving higher education in Missouri.

According to the Missouri Department of Higher Education, the goal of core curriculum transfer is to establish a core curriculum of at least 42 semester credit hours that will transfer to any public college or university in Missouri. The recommended core curriculum will be established by the Coordinating Board and an advisory committee of members from Missouri’s two and four year colleges.

One of the members on the committee, Cooper Drury, Associate Dean of College and Arts & Science at the University of Missouri, will be speaking at Thursday’s faculty council meeting.

The Missouri Department of Higher Education says the core curriculum will “cover courses in math, English, communications, humanities, biological and physical science, social science and computer technology.” The board must also approve “a common course matrix for lower-division courses at all public two and four-year colleges and universities in the state and evaluate the transfer practices at each public college and university.”

The core curriculum and common course matrix is intended to “streamline the transfer of college credit to help students earn a degree in less time and less cost.”

A core curriculum at all public higher education institutions in Missouri is scheduled to be implemented by August 2018.