SF 2822

1st Engrossment - 86th Legislature (2009 - 2010) Posted on 03/11/2010 02:01pm

A bill for an act
relating to higher education; regulating the transfer of credits within institutions
belonging to the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system; proposing
coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 136F.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

new text begin [136F.302] CREDIT TRANSFER.
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new text begin The Board of Trustees must develop and maintain a systemwide effective and
efficient mechanism for seamless student transfer between system institutions that has a
goal of minimal loss of credits for transferring students. The Degree Audit and Reporting
System (DARS) and u.select database (and successor databases) housed within the office
of the chancellor shall be the official repository of course equivalencies between system
colleges and universities. Each system college and university shall be responsible for
ensuring the accuracy and completeness of course equivalencies listed for courses offered
by that college or university. The development and maintenance of the system must,
without limitation, address the following:
new text end

new text begin (1) alignment of institution curriculum and its communication to stakeholders;
new text end

new text begin (2) transfer between similar programs;
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new text begin (3) documentation for transfer-related agreements between institutions;
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new text begin (4) systemwide transfer information on the Internet that is easily accessible and
maintained in a current and accurate status. Each system college and university shall post
course descriptions and course outlines for all courses on their institutional Web sites. The
links for current course outlines and course descriptions shall be submitted to the office of
the chancellor for publication on the MinnesotaTransfer.org Web site;
new text end

new text begin (5) training for campus-level staff to provide accurate and consistent advice to
students;
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new text begin (6) institutional rather than student obligation to provide prompt required
documentation for course equivalency determinations; and
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new text begin (7) consistency of transfer policies among institutions in compliance with a system
policy.
new text end

Sec. 2. new text begin REPORT OF CREDIT TRANSFER ACTIVITIES.
new text end

new text begin The Board of Trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities shall report
on February 15, 2011, and annually thereafter through 2015, on its activities to achieve
the credit transfer goals of Minnesota Statutes, section 136F.302, and the results of those
activities. The report shall be made to the chairs and ranking minority members of the
legislative committees with primary jurisdiction over higher education policy and finance.
The goals of Minnesota Statutes, section 136F.302, should be fully achieved as soon as
possible, but no later than the start of the 2015-2016 academic year.
new text end