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Articulation and University Relations

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The Office of Articulation and University Relations (AUR) is committed to creating faculty-centered strategies and academic initiatives aimed at maximizing transfer opportunities for Austin Community College (ACC) students. This is demonstrated by creating and maintaining transfer articulation agreements that result in complete course and degree applicability. The goal is for all ACC courses to transfer and count toward baccalaureate degree requirements. Positive and reciprocal university partnerships are the foundation of articulation agreement development. Faculty-to-faculty engagement and collaboration result in individualized university partnership strategies that expand transfer pathways. The AUR mission contributes to achieving ACC’s Strategic Plan Goal 3-Completion and Transition to Employment/Transfer, 3.3-Provide services/resources to address barriers to transfer so that all students may pursue baccalaureate options.

Articulation Agreements

Articulation agreements are a hallmark of ACC’s successful transfer partnerships and place emphasis on accurate and innovative alignments to improve affordability and degree completion. New agreements are degree-specific with clear and complete curricular alignment. New and existing general articulation agreements are revised and updated to include degree-specific transfer planning documents. ACC has over 60 articulation agreements with 56 university partners and the agreements encompass both academic transfer and workforce education degree programs.

University Partnership Initiatives

Positive and reciprocal university partnerships are the foundation of articulation agreement development and this is accomplished through a variety of faculty-centered engagement and initiatives and strategies. The primary goal is to create opportunities for consistent dialogue between ACC faculty with their university counterparts. Faculty-centered collaboration results in individualized university partnership strategies that expand and enhance transfer pathways and opportunities for our students, and positive and proactive university relationships. Successful and ongoing curricular-focused strategies include:

• • University Partnership Summit: Faculty Conversations – ACC faculty convene with their university counterparts to discuss associate to bachelor’s degree alignment and how to maximize the transferability and applicability of ACC courses to bachelor’s degree requirements. This is a series of workshop-style meetings, held in the fall and spring terms, and each event focuses on a specific Area of Study.
  • Regional University Initiative – San Antonio/Austin Region Transfer Collaborative (Transfer Compact) – ACC joined this regional Transfer Compact in February 2016 to develop a strategic agenda around improving student completion and graduation rates in the greater Austin and San Antonio metro-region using the guided pathways model. The articulation agreement links ACC and the Alamo Colleges District with 20 public and private universities in an integrated, institution-wide effort to increase baccalaureate degree achievement by improving associate degree attainment and the successful transfer of students to the university of their choice.
  • Texas Transfer Alliance – ACC is partnered with Texas State University, our largest transfer partner, in a Dana Center project aimed at improving transfer student outcomes. This project enables ACC to elevate our existing transfer partnership and transfer successes with Texas State while helping us to deepen our transfer efforts and meet our student success goals. ACC and Texas State concentrate on curricular-centered misalignments and other roadblocks that hamper the effective application of ACC course credits toward Texas State’s bachelor degree requirements.
  • Academic Forums – ACC and our largest transfer partners convene in individual workshop-style meetings to discuss institution-specific alignments and ways to expand the educational opportunities for our students and support associate and bachelor degree completion. A holistic view of the transfer process is taken by faculty and student affairs staff who participate.