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03:01:01

 

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS:

TRANSFER PROGRAMS                            

 

Please refer to Tennessee Board of Regents Policy No. 2:01:00:00

 

It is the intent of Pellissippi State Technical Community College that transfer programs will fully comply with the applicable Criteria for Accreditation of the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Accordingly, Pellissippi State will adhere to the following minimum degree requirements for associate’s degrees designed for transfer purposes. Any course for which a student receives degree credit should presume and not replicate the Basic Academic Competencies defined by the Educational Equality Project of the College Board (Green Book) as what a student needs to know and be able to do upon college entry. A student will demonstrate academic readiness for college-level courses by meeting or surpassing established scores on specified assessment instrument(s).

 

Minimum Degree Requirements

 

I.  The degree requirement for associate’s degrees designed for transfer purposes (Associate of Arts and Associate of Science*) will be comprised of a minimum of 60 semester credit hours (excluding developmental hours).

 

II.  Effective Fall Semester 2004, each institution in the State University and Community College System of Tennessee (The Tennessee Board of Regents System) will share a common lower-division general education core curriculum of forty-one (41) semester hours for baccalaureate degrees and the Associate of Arts and the Associate of Science degrees.   Lower-division means freshman and sophomore courses.  The courses comprising the general education curriculum are contained within the following subject categories:

 

A.  Communication Nine (9) hours**

B.  Humanities and/or Fine Arts Nine (9) hours (At least one course must be in literature.)

C.  History Six (6) hours***

D.  Natural Sciences Eight (8) hours

E.  Social/Behavioral Sciences Six (6) hours

F.  Mathematics Three (3) hours

 

 

*Foreign language courses are an additional requirement for the Associate of Arts (A.A.) and Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degrees. The B.A. degree requires proficiency in a foreign language equivalent to completion of two years of college-level work. The A.A. degree requires proficiency in a foreign language equivalent to completion of one year of college-level work.

 

**Six hours of English Composition and three hours in English oral presentational communication are required.

 

***Students who plan to transfer to Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) universities should take six hours of United States History (three hours of Tennessee History may substitute).  Students who plan to transfer to University of Tennessee System universities or to out-of-state or private universities should check requirements and take the appropriate courses. 

 

 

III.  College courses that are taken as electives to address course deficiencies in high school preparation and that are taken to meet minimum admission requirements effective fall 1989, may not be used to meet the degree requirements specified above.

 

Although the courses designated by Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) institutions to fulfill the requirements of the general education subject categories vary, transfer of the courses is assured through the following means:

A.  Upon completion of an A.A or A.S. degree, the requirements of the lower-division general education core will be complete and accepted by a TBR university in the transfer process.

B.   If an A.A. or A.S. is not obtained, transfer of general education courses will be based upon fulfillment of complete subject categories.  (Example:  If all eight hours in the category of Natural Sciences are complete, then this “block” of the general education core is complete.)  When a subject category is incomplete, course-by-course evaluation will be conducted.  The provision of block fulfillment pertains also to students who transfer among TBR universities.

C.   Institutional/departmental requirements of the grade of “C” will be honored.  Even if credit is granted for a course, any specific requirements for the grade of “C” by the receiving institution will be enforced. 

D.  In certain majors, specific courses must also be taken in general education.  It is important that students and advisors be aware of any major requirements that must be fulfilled under lower-division general education.

Courses designated to fulfill general education by Pellissippi State Technical Community College are published in the General Education section of the Catalog & Handbook. A complete listing of the courses fulfilling general education requirements for all system institutions is available on the TBR website (www.tbr.state.tn.us) under Transfer and Articulation Information.

 

Approved: Executive Council, March 4, 1991

Approved: President Allen G. Edwards, September 9, 1997

Approved: President Allen G. Edwards, October 10, 2001

Approved: President Allen G. Edwards, June 21, 2004