IV. Guiding Principles

The members of the Commonwealth Transfer Advisory Group developed the following set of guiding principles to guide discussion about the recommendations. These guiding principles were established based upon the extensive review of the literature and data as well as through discussions that took place over the course of the meetings:

• The primary goal of removing obstacles to transfer and creating a coherent transfer process is to help students succeed in meeting their educational goals.
• Transfer is a shared responsibility amongst higher education institution leaders, faculty, and administrators; by state agencies and legislators, and by students.
• A statewide transfer policy compatible with academic quality and institutional integrity can be instrumental in improving student success.
• The student learning outcomes associated with the general education programs at the Massachusetts public institutions of higher education as a whole are comparable and are more important than individual courses.
• Any transfer student within the system of Massachusetts public higher education who earns a degree should be deemed successfuland the respective institutions should be counted as contributors to the student’s educational achievement.
• The development and assessment of program-to-program and course-to-course transfer across institutions is best accomplished by regular and sustainable faculty collaboration focused on the establishment of common student learning outcomes.

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