Background and History of Articulation in Arizona

(Back to Index)

On February 4, 1983, the Joint Conference Committee (JCC) of the Arizona State Board of Regents (ABOR) and the State Board of Directors for Community Colleges in Arizona (SBDCCA) established the Academic Program Articulation Steering Committee (APASC). The JCC charged APASC with the oversight of transfer articulation for the public community colleges and universities. To accomplish this, APASC established an organizational structure that provides for representation of faculty and administrators from Arizona's public universities and community college districts.

Through a legislative footnote affixed to the budgets of Arizona's public community college districts and universities in 1996, the ABOR and the SBDCCA were charged with establishing the Transfer Articulation Task Force (TATF). A similar footnote continues to be affixed to the budgets.

It was the intent of the legislature that this Task Force establish a seamless statewide articulation and transfer system. This was to include a process for transfer of lower-division general education credits and curriculum requirements for majors, with the objective of reaching consensus on an agreement that assures that community college students may transfer to Arizona public universities without loss of credit toward a baccalaureate degree.

The charge given to the TATF is to create additional clear and secure transfer pathways for community college students – different from but parallel to the pathways followed by native university students. These transfer pathways (now known as the Arizona Transfer Model) allow students to maximize their experience at the community college, to incorporate community college credits or degrees efficiently into university graduation requirements, and to complete baccalaureate majors in the minimum number of required credits.

The Arizona Transfer Model includes three transfer Associate degrees and seven pathways. Each of the transfer Associate degree includes two pathways. Each pathway includes an Arizona General Education Curriculum (AGEC), common courses for shared university majors and electives. The AGEC and the Associate degree pathways transfer as a block, which includes specific benefits for students. The seventh pathway (Transfer Guide-Exceptional Requirements) does not lead to a transfer Associate degree. Students are permitted to transfer one-half of the baccalaureate degree requirements plus one course from a community college district.

The TATF requires a Support System for the Arizona Transfer Model, which includes the following (all of which are described in the 1996 TATF Report on the Arizona Transfer Articulation Support System):

The following groups/individuals are under the auspices of APASC: