Schools Streamline Transfer Pathways with Cloud-Based Tech

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 06/02/21

Two institutions have expanded their use of technology to make the transfer process more effective. Connecticut's Goodwin University and Vermont-based Norwich University have adopted Transferology, an online service developed by CollegeSource. Both institutions were already using CollegeSource's transfer evaluation and articulation system, TES.

Transferology is a cloud-based program that helps students access course-to-course and program-to-program transfer equivalencies, to help them and their families understand what's involved in transferring higher education and advanced high school credits.

TES is used by the institution to enable registrars, transfer coordinators, faculty and department chairs to research transfer credit, track evaluations and manage equivalencies through a built-in workflow. Staff can use TES to locate course descriptions; route and track through the evaluation process; store, manage, group and publicize the resulting equivalencies; and tap algorithms to generate lists of equivalencies among different institutions. According to the company, integration of the two programs helps credit evaluators in decision-making based on actual student usage data and makes the process more transparent to those involved.

"Priding ourselves as a college that supports course transferability, it is incredibly important to offer solutions that provide transparency for students, enabling them to make educated decisions when transferring higher education and prior learning credits," said Cynthia Suter, registrar for Norwich, in a press release. "TES and Transferology afford us the ability to track and manage evaluations and equivalencies more efficiently while providing students a clear picture of their earned and transferred credits."

"As the first Connecticut institution to adopt Transferology, Goodwin is able to efficiently manage approximately 1,000 equivalency decisions per month and give students an accurate view of what credits will actually transfer through a self-service tool," added Goodwin Registrar Allison Misky. "Students want to know how long it will be until they can walk across the graduation stage. With TES and Transferology, we can give them a clearer picture of how their already earned achievements are contributing toward a degree."

The two applications act as complementary tools for institutions participating in the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) grant-funded initiative, the New England Independent College Transfer Guarantee. This program is developing systematic pathways from community colleges into independent institutions in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island for students who hold associate degrees. CollegeSource is working with NEBHE to simplify transfer pathways.