Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 26, 1995 TAG: 9504260086
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The agreement allows Virginia Western graduates with two-year associate's degrees in arts or sciences to transfer as third-year students to ODU. Old Dominion is a public four-year university based in Norfolk with off-campus degree programs elsewhere in the state, including Roanoke.
The agreement provides advantages that students would not have if they were transferring to the university under a traditional system.
For starters, the agreement virtually guarantees admission to ODU. It eliminates the possible loss of course credit. Students who want to attend ODU must map out a four-year course program during their first year at Virginia Western to ensure that all of the community college courses will transfer to ODU.
And the agreement gives students - while at Virginia Western - the same access to ODU resources as other ODU students.
The agreement is an extension of a partnership that Virginia Western has had with ODU since 1989. That partnership has given Virginia Western students guaranteed transfer into ODU's engineering technology degree program.
David Hanson, director of instructional support services at Virginia Western, said the college has similar agreements with James Madison University, Longwood College, Virginia Commonwealth University and George Mason University.
Virginia Western also has agreements with Virginia Tech's College of Engineering and with Radford University's social work and nursing divisions, Hanson said.
Such agreements ``provide incentive for students to go ahead and complete their associate's degrees; help the community college with retention; and help four-year [institutions] by having students who have more of a proven track record of success and are better prepared," Hanson said.
Anne Marie McCartan, a vice chancellor with the Virginia Community College System, said the system welcomes that kind of partnership.
``What it means is that these senior institutions recognize the role community colleges can play in offering quality low-cost programs in the first two years of college,'' she said. ``What's unusual about the approach ODU is taking is that it's making expectations clear up front.''
Seventy percent of Virginia Western students who complete the associate in arts or sciences programs transfer to four-year colleges or universities, Hanson said.
by CNB