Easing the Transfer of Students from College to University Programs: How Can Learning Outcomes Help?

Abstract Increasingly, students are seeking transfer from college to university educational programs. This challenges universities to assess the effectiveness of transfer policies and also challenges colleges to prepare students for continued education. This paper reviews the various transfer procedures used by Canadian universities, barriers experienced by students seeking transfer, and strategies for improving the transfer process. The authors propose the use of learning outcomes, which identify student knowledge and skills following an educational experience, to develop block transfer strategies that ease student transfer between educational programs. Resume Les etudiants cherchent de plus en plus a transferer leurs projets d’etudes collegiales vers un programme universitaire. Les universites doivent donc relever le defi d’evaluer l’efficacite de leurs politiques de transfert, tandis que les colleges doivent reflechir sur la facon de mieux preparer leurs etudiants aux programmes de formation continue. Le present article passe en revue les diverses procedures utilisees par les universites canadiennes, les obstacles que doivent surmonter les etudiants cherchant a effectuer un transfert et les strategies d’amelioration du processus de transfert. Les auteurs proposent l’utilisation de resultats d’apprentissage, qui identifient les connaissances et les competences acquises par les etudiants d’un programme donne, afin d’elaborer des strategies generales qui faciliteront le transfert d’etudiants entre programmes educatifs.