Approved CES Advisory Group
At a recent presentation to UCAAA (University Council for Academic Affairs and Assessment), Scott Golueke, Beth Warner and Scott Owczarek presented a proposal for the formation of the new Undergraduate Transfer Credit Advisory Group (UTCAG).
This new advisory group will strive to help inform the articulation of transfer credit, improve processes and establish other policy changes related to this area, as well as help focus decisions by including cross-campus considerations and involvement.
This effort is a continuation of the transition of credit evaluation services to a dedicated team, Credit Evaluation Services (CES) within the RO. The transition allowed for improved mission alignment and stronger integrations and ties to academic and student records. While admissions performed their primary work of recruiting, reviewing applications, admitting, and yielding undergraduates, they also did a heroic job of maintaining the deeply complex work of processing transfer credit evaluations. The increased number of students with some type of transfer credit created a larger need for centralized focus on transfer credit services – 94% of students who received their Bachelors degree in Spring 2020 earned transfer credit.
The formation of the advisory group expands on a strong foundation and the amazing work the CES team has completed in their first year.
“Transfer credit plays a significant role in the recruitment and yielding of transfer students, which are critical priorities of UW–Madison and the Division of Enrollment Management. As an institution, we need to assess and improve our transfer credit practices to enhance the transfer credit experience for prospective, incoming, and current students, while maintaining the integrity of our academic requirements and reducing administrative burdens. I am excited to bring together an advisory group with representation from across campus with a broad range of experiences working with students, curriculum, and policy to make this happen.” Scott Golueke
The Undergraduate Transfer Credit Advisory Group, as stated previously, will assist in informing process improvement efforts that the CES team is undertaking, specifically those that relate to, but not limited to, transferability, degree applicability, process improvement and design and policy. The next step will be to identify the UTCAG members and the most urgent topics to be addressed by the group using this new process. It will be the continuous work of this group to assess and improve transfer credit services on this campus. This in turn will have significant impacts to the recruitment and yielding of future badgers; it will improve time to degree, reduce student education costs, and lead to a better Wisconsin Experience for our undergraduate students.