4 States Agree on 'Block Transfer' of Gen Ed Core

Colleges in Hawaii, North Dakota, Oregon and Utah have reached agreement on a framework designed to allow students to prove that they have reached proficiency on key general education learning outcomes that can be transferred between the institutions. The Interstate Passport, a joint project of the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, seeks to make it easier for students to move seamlessly among the Western states that make up the WICHE region, and represents a potentially big step away from the credit hour, by allowing students to prove that they have mastered liberal arts and gen ed outcomes (in this first iteration, oral communication, written communication, and quantitative literacy) and to transfer them in a block.

The project builds on the learning outcomes work of the Association of American Colleges and Universities's Liberal Education and America’s Promise initiative, and the initial participating institutions are: Leeward Community College and University of Hawai‘i West Oahu, in Hawaii; Lake Region State College, North Dakota State College of Science, North Dakota State University and Valley City State University, in North Dakota; Blue Mountain Community College and Eastern Oregon University, in Oregon; and Dixie State University, Salt Lake Community College, Snow College, Southern Utah University, the University of Utah, Utah State University, Utah Valley University and Weber State University, in Utah.