CSCU joins a Design Accelerator to develop stronger transfer pathways

The Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) system announced today an eight-month initiative through Arizona State University’s (ASU) University Design Institute to enhance transfer pathways between CSCU’s two- and four-year colleges and universities.

The Design Accelerator is a grant-funded, eight-month, project-based leadership development program through the ASU University Design Institute. The initiative includes design sessions and mentoring to build capacity for innovation. Individual design teams from four CSCU institutions – CT State Community College (CT State), Charter Oak State College, Central Connecticut State University, and Western Connecticut State University – will work with design experts and mentors to structure, develop, and refine ideas for implementation.

Focusing on eliminating transfer barriers, CSCU design teams will work collaboratively on improving transfer between CSCU institutions to enhance student experience and outcomes.

“CSCU is committed to fostering student success and eliminating the challenges students face in transferring credits,” said Marty Guay, Chair of the Board of Regents. “Our engagement with the Design Accelerator represents a collective effort within our institutions to streamline the transfer process and ensure that every student has the opportunity to succeed regardless of where they started in their academic journeys.”

“For many of CSCU’s students, the path to a four-year degree does not begin at a university – it begins at a community college. As a result, many students are not sure which academic paths are open to them, or how their credits will be applied to their degree,” said CSCU Chancellor Terrence Cheng. “By collaborating with UDI’s Design Accelerator, we can design and implement innovative solutions that further enhance student experience and outcomes. This initiative is an opportunity for us to be bold, to reinvent, to innovate, and to shape the future of our students.”

“We are thrilled to work with UDI through the Design Accelerator,” said Juanita James, Vice Chair of the Board of Regents. “This initiative will help increase CSCU’s retention rates across the system by making it easier for students to transfer their credits from CT State to one of our four-year institutions. It will also help prospective transfer students make informed choices, while making higher education more accessible to students.”

The UDI Design Accelerator aims to strengthen capacity across state systems of higher education for community impact and regional stewardship. The Design Accelerator utilizes UDI’s IMPACT Framework and the ASU Principled Innovation Framework to guide design teams through facilitated sessions that lead to new models for implementation throughout the entire system.

The Design Accelerator builds on a series of initiatives CSCU has implemented to streamline credit transfers across the system.

CSCU offers the Strategic Transfer Engagement Plan (STEP) which allows students to begin at CT State Community College, and seamlessly transfer to any CSCU 4-year institution while receiving personalized support and resources, which helps reduce transfer barriers and increase opportunities for CT State students. In addition, the Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education recently implemented a new General Education Transfer Credit Alignment Policy that eliminates the barriers of transferring general education credits between the two- and four-year CSCU institutions and provides transparency on how courses will be applied to CSCU four-year institutions’ degrees.

This article was adapted from a press release issued by Connecticut State Colleges and Universities.