Published in partnership with the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students. Analysis of bachelor’s degree completion suggests that only about a third of college graduates attend a single institution from start to finish. More than one quarter earn college credits from three or more schools before completing a degree. For most, these student-defined pathways lead to increased time-to-degree and higher costs. Many will simply drop out long before crossing the finish line. Ensuring college completion and success requires an understanding of the evolving nature of transfer transitions and a system-wide approach that reaches beyond two-year and four-year institutions to include high schools participating in dual enrollment programs and military college initiatives. A new edited collection offers insight into institutional and statewide partnerships that create clearly defined pathways to college graduation and career success for all students.

This is a good start to an accessible credit transfer system because nearly half of college and university students across the country do not graduate from the program and school at which they began their studies.11 The CSA implores institutions to work with one another to become more streamlined in their approach to credit recognition and move away from a piecemeal approach in which a variety of [...] These funds are being used to support the Student Credit Transfer portal, ONTransfer, which is managed by ONCAT, to establish new and enhanced transfer pathways from college to university, college to college, university to college and university to university, and to facilitate the provision of support services for transfer applicants and students in colleges and universities through a system of i [...] The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities has entered into a transfer payment agreement with each of the 44 publicly assisted postsecondary education institutions in Ontario, and institutions report to the Ministry to outline the institution's credit transfer activities.15 The third initiative, the Credit Transfer Accountability Framework, will include both a funding model and a set of p [...] This will allow the Ministry to monitor and evaluate the success of the credit transfer system, conduct policy analysis and research, and pursue continuous improvement in the design and implementation of the province's credit transfer system. [...] The vast majority of systems and processes are people processes, and the institution must provide training and support to the administration and staff in order to ensure a robust and healthy credit transfer system.

There is increasing interest in the use of learning outcomes in postsecondary education, and deliberations have surfaced with regard to their potential to serve as a tool for advancing credit transfer. Learning Outcomes, Academic Credit, and Student Mobility assesses the conceptual foundations, assumptions, and implications of using learning outcomes for the purposes of postsecondary credit transfer and student mobility. Through a critical review of current approaches to the use of learning outcomes across national and international jurisdictions, scholars and practitioners in postsecondary education provide a multivalent examination of their potential impacts in the unique context of Ontario and recommend future directions for the system. The collected works are the culmination of a multi-year study entitled Learning Outcomes for Transfer, funded by the Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer. Contributions are authored by prominent international scholars across countries with significant outcomes-based experience and education reforms (South Africa, the United States, Australia, Europe, and the United Kingdom) and an Ontario research consortium comprising college and university experts working to advance student pathways.