Developing and negotiating transfer agreements in allied health.

: The Kentucky Council on Higher Education has developed a statewide articulated system for allied health education. The articulated system permits entry and exit of prepared professionals at a variety of levels. The six disciplinary clusters included in the system are clinical laboratory sciences, dental auxiliaries, dietetics/nutrition, rehabilitation therapies, radiological sciences, and respiratory therapy. Competency-based education was used as the theoretical framework for developing and negotiating transfer agreements. Types of agreements included the block credit transfer agreement and the course specific transfer agreement. Agreements were negotiated between education systems and between specific programs/institutions. To date, approximately 30 transfer agreements have been negotiated. The process for negotiating transfer agreements included the following sequence: identify programs, develop a theoretical articulation model, rank order transfer agreements, determine the type of agreement, review respective curricula, determine the existing amount of transferable coursework, draft a pre-articulation agreement, schedule a meeting between faculty and administrators to discuss the agreement, and secure authorizing signatures on the final transfer agreement. Facilitators and barriers to negotiating agreements are discussed and recommendations offered for others who may be interested in developing transfer agreements.