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The
College has defined and published policies for evaluating,
awarding, and accepting credit for transfer, experiential
learning, advanced placement, and professional certificates.
These policies are consistent with the values of the
College, as expressed in the College’s goal of
seeking “excellence in learning and teaching for
transfer, vocational and technical education, literacy
development, business and industry training and life
long learning in an accessible format to serve a diverse
population (1).”
Transfer
of Credit
The
“Transfer of Credit/Previously Earned Credit”
Policy defines the transfer of earned credit on courses
with a grade of “C” or better and outlines
how the credit is processed and applied to students’
records. This policy is published in the Policies and
Procedures Manual, the College Catalog, and on the College
website as follows (2,
3):
Applicants
to degree, diploma or certificate programs who
want credit for coursework completed at other
post-secondary institutions are responsible for
having an official transcript from each institution
submitted directly to the Registrar’s Office.
Courses with a grade of “C” or higher
may be accepted if the courses are applicable
to the program selected at this college and were
earned at an accredited college, university, community
college or technical institute.
Credits
transferred to Southwestern Community College
from another institution will be recognized as
hours toward the appropriate degree, diploma or
certificate but will not be calculated toward
the cumulative grade point average (GPA) for that
program.
All
official transcripts submitted to the Registrar’s
Office prior to a student’s enrollment will
be evaluated for transfer credit before registration,
if possible, and no later than the end of the
first semester of enrollment.
Transfer
of “Credit by Exam” will not exceed
more than one-half of degree requirements and
must be approved by the dean or coordinator of
the appropriate program. |
The
policy continues to specify that students must meet
the College’s requirement for “Credit in
Residence.” For an Associate Degree to be awarded
by the College, a minimum of 25% of total course work
and a minimum of 25% of required major courses must
be completed at the College. Credit in Residence in
certificate and diploma programs is determined on an
individual basis by the vice president for Instruction
and Student Services. The Registrar’s Office is
responsible for the evaluation and award of credit and
for the credit in residence determination.
Credit/Advanced
Placement for Licensure/Certification
Students
who have completed training, passed a national or state
registry examination for licensure, certification or
equivalent, and hold a current license or certification
may be eligible to earn credit toward a certificate,
diploma or Associate of Applied Science degree. The
“Course Credit/Advanced Placement for Licensure/Certification
Attained through National or State Examination”
policy is published in the College Policy and Procedures
Manual as follows (4a)
:
| A
student who has completed training and passed
a national or state registry examination for
licensure, certification or equivalent may
be eligible to earn/complete a certificate,
diploma or Associate of Applied Science Degree
by: |
| • |
Providing
a copy of the current/active licensure, certification
or its equivalent (licenses or certifications
that have expired will not be considered); |
| • |
Providing
a proof of training completed prior to the
examination; and |
| • |
Successfully
completing a series of courses from a degree
specific program of study as outlined in the
college catalog. |
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An accompanying procedure (4b)
outlines how the credit for advanced placement/licensure
certification is processed. A grade of “S”
is awarded for all courses that cover subject matter
demonstrated as mastered by the attainment and proof
of current/active licensure or certification. The dean
of the division that supervises the program of study
reviews the student’s eligibility and certifies
course credit to be awarded.
Credit
for Advanced Placement and CLEP
The “Credit for Advanced Placement and CLEP”
policy is published in the College Policies and Procedures
Manual. The policy outlines the requirements for students
to be awarded credit for official Advanced Placement
(AP) scores and College Level Examination Program (CLEP)
scores as follows (5):
| Southwestern
Community College awards credit for official Advanced
Placement (AP) and College Level Examination Program
(CLEP) scores. Any student seeking credit for AP
or CLEP examinations must have an original test
score sent to the college registrar. In cases where
the credit is for a prerequisite course, the student
must have the official scores on file with the registrar
before registering for the next highest course. |
A
separate set of procedures include a list of the exams
accepted, the minimum scores and the SCC course credit
to be awarded (6).
AP and CLEP score information is published.
Credit
by Examination
“Credit
by Examination” is offered to students who, because
of their demonstrated abilities, are qualified to accelerate
their studies. The “Course Credit by Examination”
policy is published in the College Catalog and outlines
the process to be used for gaining credit and the award
of a grade of “S” (7).
Credit
from Consortia/Collaborative Arrangements
The
College offers several programs/courses of study through
consortia/collaborative agreements with other regionally
accredited North Carolina community colleges. In each
case the agreements are reviewed periodically to ensure
ongoing compliance and agreement with the purpose of
the institution. The use of contractual agreements is
governed by the North Carolina Administrative Code (8).
The guidelines also specify that resources, facilities,
equipment, and faculty are available and that the curriculum
program meets the standards of the appropriate accrediting
agency or licensing authority (9).
Consistency among courses and programs is enhanced through
common curriculum standards and courses. The North Carolina
Community College System has established curriculum
standards that outline degree requirements for all programs
of study offered by colleges in the system. Courses
offered in a program of study at any North Carolina
community college are selected from the Common Course
Library (CCL) that contains common titles, descriptions,
and credit hours for all courses.
The
College has joined with Haywood Community College and
Tri-County Community College to form the Region A Nursing
Consortium to provide course work leading to an Associate
in Applied Science in Nursing degree (10).
The consortium allows member colleges to attract and
share qualified nursing faculty in a discipline that
is often difficult to staff. Further, clinical sites/resources
are shared among the consortium members so that all
Nursing Associate Degree students in western North Carolina
are exposed to aspects of patient care that may not
be readily available in their local college service
areas. The college has been a member of the consortium
for over 20 years.
For
completion of the Associate in Applied Sciences degree,
all consortium courses taken by a student admitted to
the College in the nursing curriculum are considered
Southwestern-offered courses, regardless of which campus
the instruction occurred, (11).
The
design of the consortium agreement allows for thorough
involvement from all three member colleges throughout
the program of study. All courses in the first two semesters
are defined in the consortium agreement as Level I courses
and are taught at each institution. Level II consortium
courses occur in semesters three through five or six
and may be taught on any one of the member colleges’
campuses. These courses are highlighted in blue in the
supporting documentation (12).
The
chief academic officer from each member college serves
on an active steering committee for oversight of the
program. This committee meets a minimum of once each
semester. Faculty also meet at least once each semester
to discuss all aspects of program development, administration,
instruction, and evaluation. In fall of 2005, the two
groups, the Steering Committee and the Consortium Faculty
Committee, held a joint meeting (13).
Faculty also work in subcommittees on activities such
as revision of course syllabi (14).
In
this consortium relationship, the program is evaluated
each year for effectiveness and quality of instruction
through an annual program review process. As a part
of this process all graduates and employers of graduates
are surveyed. The results of these surveys are reviewed
as part of the annual program audit and used to ensure
quality and compliance of curriculum coursework. In
the 2004 annual program review (15)
100% of graduate respondents were satisfied or very
satisfied with the quality of instruction in program
area courses in both the first and the second year of
the academic program and in the overall quality of the
academic program. 100% of employers who completed the
survey were very satisfied with the overall quality
of the employee’s (graduate’s) entry level
skills.
The
performance of graduates on the licensing exam with
the Board of Nursing provides an additional indicator
of program effectiveness of the nursing degree consortium.
From 2001-2005, the performance of the College’s
nursing graduates on the state licensing exam exceeded
the standard established through the North Carolina
Community College Performance Measure for licensing
exam results.
The
North Carolina Board of Nursing has approved the Nursing
Associate Degree program offered through this consortium.
The Board of Nursing monitors nursing degree programs
for consistency of nursing curricula among colleges
| The
College partners with two other colleges in collaborative
agreements for joint degree programs in Criminal
Justice and Cyber Crime Technology (16): |
| • |
Criminal
Justice Cooperative Agreement with Tri-County Community
College (17) |
| • |
Cyber
Crime Technology Agreement with Catawba Valley Community
College (18) |
In
each of these programs, quality is assured through administration
and evaluation of graduate and employer surveys. The
results of these surveys are reviewed as part of the
annual program review and used to ensure quality and
compliance of curriculum coursework. In the 2004 Cyber
Crime Program Review, 100% of graduates who responded
to the graduate survey said they were satisfied or very
satisfied with the quality of instruction, the quality
of the academic program, and the overall quality of
the college (19).
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Compliance
Partial
Compliance