Is the Transfer Route as Efficient as the High School Entry Route to Degree Completion at a BC Research University?
| Transfer graduates complete slightly fewer credits on average than those admitted on the basis of secondary school. | Assessing whether the transfer route is as efficient as the high school route to undergraduate degree completion is an important indicator of the effectiveness of the transfer system in BC. Previous BCCAT research tells us that transfer students16 are more likely to study part-time, be older on average, and have more family responsibilities resulting in longer time to graduation compared with those entering from a high school. But one question that has not been answered until now was whether transfer graduates take more credits in the process of completing their undergraduate degrees. |
A 2010-11 study conducted by Sham Pendleton of UBC examined all 7,765 students who graduated from one of BC’s four research universities (SFU, UBC, UNBC, and UVic) in fall 2007/spring 2008 and who were admitted from a BC secondary or post-secondary institution. (See bccat.ca/pubs/creditstograduation.pdf and bccat.ca/pubs/rr_creditstograduation.pdf). The study compared total credits to undergraduate degree completion for transfer versus high school entry graduates in four degree programs. For the transfer graduates, this included prior coursework completed at another institution which was awarded credit by the research university plus credits for courses taken at the university. Based on this analysis, it was found that transfer graduates complete slightly fewer credits on average than those admitted on the basis of secondary school.
Representing over one-third of the transfer graduates in the study, UBC was the only research university that had additional data available for transfer graduates on previous coursework completed which did not receive transfer credit at the university. A separate analysis for UBC students resulted in the same finding as above: taking all credits into account, the transfer graduates completed slightly fewer credits over the course of their post-secondary studies compared to their high school entry counterparts, with little variation by program.
The study also examined academic performance in senior level courses at UBC, UNBC, and UVic (SFU's cumulative GPA data was not comparable) and found that the transfer graduates tended to perform as well as high school students, with small variations by institution and program; thus, indicating that they were well prepared academically prior to entering a research university.
