SECTIONS 66720-66722.5 - California Statutes

EDUCATION CODE

SECTION 66720-66722.5

66720. The Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges,
the Regents of the University of California, and the Trustees of the
California State University, with appropriate consultation with the
Academic Senates of the respective segments, shall jointly develop,
maintain, and disseminate a common core curriculum in general
education courses for the purposes of transfer. Any person who has
successfully completed the transfer core curriculum, shall be deemed
to have thereby completed all lower division general education
requirements for the University of California and the California
State University.

66721. Upon development of the transfer core curriculum pursuant to
Section 66720, and upon any subsequent joint revision of that
curriculum, the Board of Governors of the California Community
Colleges, the Regents of the University of California, and the
Trustees of the California State University shall jointly cause the
curriculum to be published and distributed to each public school in
this state that provides instruction in any of the grades 7 to 12,
inclusive, and to each community college in this state, with an
emphasis on the communication of that information to each school or
college having a high proportion of students who are members of one
or more ethnic minorities. In addition, the Board of Governors shall
distribute that transfer core curriculum to the State Board of
Education, which shall apply that information to ensure, through its
curriculum development activities, that public school pupils enrolled
in any of the grades 9 to 12, inclusive, are aware of the academic
requirements for preparation for higher education and may receive any
necessary academic remediation in a timely manner.

66721.4. (a) The California State University and the Office of the
Chancellor of the California Community Colleges shall work together
to establish the most effective methods to inform students, college
advisers, and the general public about the associate degree for
transfer and specific details that help students navigate this
transfer pathway, as successfully as possible, pursuant to Article 3
(commencing with Section 66745). The methods established by the
California State University and the Office of the Chancellor of the
California Community Colleges shall include, but not be limited to,
Internet notification. The final methods determined by the two
segments shall be completed prior to the beginning of the fall term
of the 2011-12 academic year and included as part of the report
required by subdivision (a) of Section 66749.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that community college
students be informed of the California State University majors that
are considered to be similar to community college majors or areas of
emphasis required to obtain an associate degree for transfer pursuant
to Article 3 (commencing with Section 66745).
(c) A community college district may use the methods established
by the California State University and the Office of the Chancellor
of the California Community Colleges, pursuant to subdivision (a), or
a community college district may use other methods to inform
community college students of the California State University majors
that are considered to be similar to community college majors or
areas of emphasis required to obtain an associate degree for transfer
pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 66745).
(d) It is the intent of the Legislature that the Office of the
Chancellor of the California Community Colleges not mandate community
college districts to perform any new state reimbursable activity or
program for purposes of implementing this section.

66721.5. (a) (1) The governing board of each community college
district shall direct the appropriate officials at their respective
campuses to provide each of their students with a copy of the current
transfer core curriculum.
(2) As used in this section, "transfer core curriculum" means the
lower-division, general education transfer curriculum that, pursuant
to Section 66720, is fully articulated between the California
Community Colleges and the California State University and University
of California.
(b) A copy of the current transfer core curriculum shall be
distributed to each newly admitted community college student who is
enrolled in a degree or certification program and is physically in
attendance at the institution.
(c) The governing board of a community college district shall
ensure that the text of the current transfer core curriculum is
included in the published class schedule for each academic term.
Copies of the transfer core curriculum may also be made available in
other locations on each campus, including, but not necessarily
limited to, all of the following:
(1) The admissions office.
(2) The bookstore.
(3) The career counseling center.
(4) The veteran's affairs office.
(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (c), the governing board of a
community college may, as an alternative to the methods of
distribution set forth in subdivision (c), distribute copies of the
current transfer core curriculum by any of the following means:
(1) During the registration process.
(2) By mail, with the registration materials or the enrollment
materials, or both, or with other items sent to students.
(3) During the issuance of student identification cards.
(4) During student orientation programs.
(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the
distribution of the transfer core curriculum to community college
students.

66721.7. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that
community college students who wish to earn the baccalaureate degree
at the University of California (UC) are provided with clear and
effective directions that specify curricular paths to this degree.
(b) This section shall not be construed to limit in any way the
ability of students to gain admission through alternative paths to
transfer, such as the Intersegmental General Education Transfer
Curriculum (IGETC) or any other means.
(c) The University of California is requested to address
deficiencies in the articulation of major preparation courses between
the California Community Colleges and the various UC campuses to
make it easier for prospective transfer students to identify which
community college courses meet major preparation requirements across
the various campuses of the university.
(d) The University of California is requested to identify
commonalities and differences in similar majors across all UC
campuses in order to accomplish all of the following:
(1) To provide students with general descriptions of each major.
(2) To identify lower division degree requirements that are common
across UC campuses.
(3) To identify additional academic requirements at each UC
campus.
(4) To describe additional criteria that students must achieve to
be admitted at the various UC campuses.
(e) (1) When four or more UC campuses that award undergraduate
degrees have articulated specific courses and course sequences of the
California Community Colleges for common requirements in similar
majors, the remaining UC campuses that offer undergraduate degrees
are requested to also articulate these specific community college
courses and course sequences. The Legislature recognizes that UC may
adopt provisions allowing individual UC campuses to opt out of this
articulation process on a case-by-case basis; however, these
provisions should be infrequently used. The Academic Senate of the
University of California is requested to notify the California
Community Colleges when an articulation request is denied, and to
provide information that will enable the California Community
Colleges to achieve course comparability with UC.
(2) For at least the 20 most high-demand undergraduate majors, and
with the ultimate goal of including all majors for which it is
feasible, UC is requested to specify lower division transfer paths
clearly identifying commonalities, as well as differences, on a
comparative basis across UC campuses offering specific major
programs. The Academic Senate of the University of California is
requested to review the existing differences in lower division major
preparation in each major across UC campuses, recognizing that one
goal of these requirements should be to achieve similarity to the
greatest degree that is academically appropriate.
(3) The University of California is requested to include all of
the following in the systemwide lower division transfer paths for the
high-demand baccalaureate major degree programs:
(A) Lower division general education requirements for the
university.
(B) Lower division major preparation requirements that are common
across undergraduate campuses.
(C) Additional lower division degree requirements that are unique
to an individual campus.
(D) Elective units, as appropriate.
(E) Additional criteria, such as grade point averages and minimum
grades, to ensure that students are competitive in selective majors.
(4) The systemwide lower division transfer paths shall be
specified in sufficient manner and detail so that existing and future
community college lower division courses may be articulated,
according to the usual procedures, to the corresponding UC courses or
course descriptions.
(f) (1) The University of California is requested to, and the
Chancellor of the California Community Colleges shall, in
consultation with the Academic Senate of the California Community
Colleges, on or before January 1, 2008, facilitate the articulation
of those lower division, baccalaureate-level courses at each campus
of the California Community Colleges that meet the lower division
transfer path requirements for each major specified by UC in
paragraph (1) of subdivision (e).
(2) The University of California is requested to annually review,
and update as appropriate, the lower division transfer paths and
articulation to ensure that they reflect current UC campus degree
requirements and community college curricula, and share the results
of that review with the Chancellor of the California Community
Colleges.
(g) As allowed by enrollment demand and available space, UC is
requested to develop transfer admission agreement programs for
students at each campus of the California Community Colleges who
demonstrate the intent to meet the requirements of this section,
including the declaration of a major and identification of a choice
of a destination campus. The transfer admission agreement shall
guarantee admission to the campus and major identified in the
agreement and transfer of all units specified in the agreement,
subject to the student's successful completion of the requirements of
the agreement. It is the intent of the Legislature that the transfer
admission agreements entered into under this section be made
available to students early in their academic coursework. However,
nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude or limit the
development or issuance of transfer admission agreements for students
at any appropriate time up to the point of application.
(h) A path to transfer, as specified in this section, shall be
available to any community college student who desires to transfer to
UC, and shall not be limited to students who secure a transfer
admission agreement as specified in subdivision (g). A student who
successfully completes a path to transfer, but who does not secure a
transfer admission agreement, shall be guaranteed the transferability
and degree applicability for all units that the student has earned
pursuant to the path to transfer. However, nothing in this section
shall be construed to guarantee admission to UC, or to a specific UC
campus, for a student who has not secured a transfer admission
agreement.
(i) The University of California is requested to, and the
California Community Colleges shall, on a three-year periodic cycle,
jointly conduct a review of a random representative sample of
transcripts of students who have transferred to UC and of students
preparing for transfer to determine the effectiveness of the transfer
preparation pathways referenced in this section.

66721.8. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that a transparent
process for transfer that is designed to assist students in
identifying and taking the community college courses that will
prepare them for success in specific University of California majors
is a state priority.
(b) The Legislature recognizes that, pursuant to Section 66721.7,
the University of California has been working with the California
Community Colleges to examine and seek improvements to the transfer
process. It is the intent of the Legislature that, as part of this
ongoing effort, the creation of various viable pathways to transfer,
including the development of an associate degree for transfer granted
by community college districts, be considered by the University of
California as it endeavors to enhance the transfer process.
(c) The University of California is requested to continue its
examination of articulation of lower division major prerequisites in
high-demand transfer majors with a goal of working in collaboration
with the California Community Colleges to design community college
transfer degrees that provide students adequate preparation for entry
into a major. The University of California is also requested to
consider offering guaranteed eligibility for admission into a
University of California campus that accepts a designated community
college transfer degree for admission into a designated University of
California major. Further, the University of California is requested
to implement pathways to qualify community college transfer courses
for a designated University of California major by designating a
series of community college courses that provide sufficient lower
division preparation for a designated University of California major
and that will be accepted by the University of California.
(d) The University of California is requested to provide an
interim progress report on its review of the various transfer
pathways discussed in this section to the relevant policy and fiscal
committees of the Legislature on or before June 30, 2011, and to
provide a final report to those committees, with specific findings
regarding the University of California's implementation of those
transfer pathways, no later than December 31, 2011.

66722. It is the intent of the Legislature that the transfer
function shall be a central institutional priority of all segments of
higher education in California, and that the segments shall have as
a fundamental policy and practice the maintenance of an effective
transfer system.

66722.5. It is the intent of the Legislature that the segments of
higher education shall pursue the development of transfer agreement
programs that specify the curricular requirements that must be met,
and the level of achievement that must be attained, by community
college students in order for those students to transfer to the
campus, undergraduate college, or major of choice in the public
four-year segments.