MCC Launches Program to Enhance College Transfer | MCC

    MCC Launches Program to Enhance College Transfer

    Madisonville Community College (MCC) is partnering with the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education as part of its effort to improve the rates of successful transfer of students to four-year institutions. MCC will utilize the Institute s signature Foundations of Excellence Transfer Focus process to conduct a self-study and action-planning process. Since 2003, the not-for-profit Gardner Institute has worked with nearly 240 colleges and universities including more than 110 community colleges.

    During the 2011-12 academic year, Madisonville Community College, along with the other 15 colleges of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), will work with the Gardner Institute to examine institutional performance in encouraging and supporting students who plan to transfer from a KCTCS institution to a four-year institution to continue their studies. These efforts will yield institution-specific action plans that the Colleges will respectively implement to improve rates of KCTCS college student success and transfer to four-year institutions during the three-to-five years that follow.

    KCTCS is the first community and technical college system in the nation to implement this unique process statewide to transform the transfer experience at its colleges. By using and implementing the Foundations of Excellence Transfer Focus process Madisonville Community College hopes to:

    • Improve the educational preparation and experience of KCTCS students;
    • Increase the numbers of students completing associate degrees, and pursuing baccalaureate degrees at four-year institutions; and
    • Facilitate the effective collaboration between academic and student services to create a culture for transfer within KCTCS beginning with entering students through transition to a baccalaureate degree program.

    According to MCC President Judith Rhoads, "We need to focus more attention on preparing students to transfer from our community colleges to 4-year universities to complete their baccalaureate degrees, and we are committed to preparing transfer students for this important transition. National studies show that large numbers of community college students intend to transfer and earn a baccalaureate degree, but the rate at which they actually do so is comparatively and unacceptably low. The Foundations of Excellence Transfer Focus will help the college do a better job in preparing these students to meet their goals."

    In 2010 KCTCS led the effort to get a revolutionary transfer bill (House Bill 160) signed into law. This legislation was enacted to ease the transfer of community college credits to four-year universities within the state. House Bill 160 provided the framework for facilitating the success of KCTCS students as they transfer to four-year institutions, and to providing a foundation for a renewed commitment to working collaboratively across higher education in Kentucky to increase the educational attainment of citizens.