TransferVA Initiative
The TransferVA Initiative
Transfer Virginia began in 2018 with legislation addressing transfer policies; the creation of a portal; common course learning outcomes; and collaboration among the Commonwealth's two- and four-year colleges and universities, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), and the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program. Transfer Virginia works to remove gateway barriers and improve credit efficiency, time to transfer, and degree attainment rates.
The information and resources in this Transfer Virginia portal represent the results of the collaborative efforts between the institutions and state bodies that participate in Transfer Virginia in support of the above legislation and its objectives.
- Engaging key stakeholders to improve communication and facilitate collaboration.
- Engaging faculty across institutions to better align academic expectations at two-year and four-year schools.
- Developing program maps that will guide students from high school to community college to university degree completion.
- Streamlining transfer articulation agreements and improving guaranteed admission agreements.
- Creating models for regional dual-admission and co-enrollment programs.
- Developing an online transfer portal that serves all students.
As a result of this work, Virginia's transfer students will find their college education more affordable, efficient, equitable, and relevant.
The work of this initiative focuses on the following areas:
Transfer Policies and Implementation Guides
Transfer VA partners closely with the State Council of Higher Education (SCHEV) policy team to engage key stakeholders in informing policy development. This collective work has resulted in strong policy recommendations based on practices and strategies identified as critical to improving transfer. The SCHEV policy team, in partnership with other stakeholders in the state, has developed policies that not only answered the legislative requirements but support additional transfer practices necessary for improving the transfer paradigm for all students.
Collaborative Course Development
The community colleges, Richard Bland College, and university faculty have partnered to revise and/or develop the course content summaries for transfer-level courses that include the course description, common learning outcomes, course credits, prerequisite requirements, technology requirements, and pedagogical and course material recommendations. This effort is intended to create uniformity of content and outcomes for transfer courses to enable consistent transferability of these courses between institutions.
Transfer Guides
University partners, in consultation with the two-year partners, have developed degree program recommendations to guide students beginning at a two-year college. The transfer guides provide a path for students to an associate degree and then on to a bachelor's degree at the four-year college. Four-year institutions will create a transfer guide for each degree program awarded that is accessible to transfer students and supportable by the two-year institutions.
Passport & Uniform Certificate of General Studies
Universities and colleges have partnered to develop a Passport and Uniform Certificate of General Studies (UCGS). The Passport is a 16-credit hour community college program in which all courses are transferable and shall satisfy a lower-division general education requirement at any public institution of higher education. The Uniform Certificate of General Studies is a 31-credit hour program in which all courses shall be transferable and satisfy a lower-division general education requirement at any public institution of higher education.
Creating Common Curricula
The Virginia Community College System has common degree requirements and is developing common curricula for each transfer degree discipline. In collaboration with four-year faculty from receiving departments, the major-specific curriculum in each discipline includes both universal requirements as well as institution-specific requirements with the minimum amount of variability. Over 25 different common curricula will be developed and ready for implementation by Fall 2025.
Transfer Virginia Portal
Through the Transfer Virginia Portal, we present consistent and current information from over 60 transfer partners as you research, plan, and organize your transfer journey. The state-developed common course summaries and transfer guides live in the Resource Center. The transfer partners provide data for each update so a user can find information for partner institutions, a list of programs, many course-by-course program requirements, and equivalencies for exams, college courses, and industry credentials. Students can also ask questions to colleges of interest using College Connect.