TRANSFER STUDENTS/WORK AND THE CORE

Effective now through the 2016-17 academic year

Since 1599, Jesuit education has promoted a distinctive plan of studies (Ratio Studiorum) that adjusts to each generation, always maintaining a strong commitment to the Liberal Arts Catholic Jesuit tradition. At Xavier University this plan of studies begins with the Undergraduate Core Curriculum. In Fall 2015 Xavier launched a new Core that revolves around the Jesuit values of magis, reflection, discernment, cura personalis, solidarity and kinship, and service rooted in justice and love. While holding fast to this commitment to Jesuit values, the new Core significantly reduces the total credit hours required for most students; it thus allows for numerous possibilities for double majors, additional minors, immersion experiences, study abroad, and a wide range of electives that students can use to satisfy the overall number of 120 credit hours required for graduation.

By significantly reducing the total credit hours required in the Core, the new Core also makes transferring to Xavier from another school much easier.

TRANSFER STUDENTS IN TRANSITION CORE

Transfer students who enter from Fall 2015 through Summer 2016 with 24 or more credits qualify as Transition Students and can complete the Transition Core. This requires no new skills flags (oral communication, quantitative reasoning, and writing).

TRANSFER STUDENTS/WORK IN NEW CORE

All transfer students who start during or after Fall 2016 must complete the new Core. The rules governing Transfer students with the New Core are as follows:

1. Students can transfer to Xavier with a wide range of courses counting for core and/or major and minor requirements, as long as each transferred course can be assigned an equivalent Xavier course. If the Xavier course carries core attributes (for example, Humanities elective, Scientific Perspectives, Writing Flag, etc.), so too will the transferred course. Xavier's Office of Credit Evaluation (OCE), in consultation with department chairs, will help transfer students determine which Xavier course is equivalent to the transferred course. See a not necessarily complete list of courses that currently count for core.
2. The flag standards are set by the Core Curriculum Committee (CCC), via the relevant subcommittees who communicate the standards to the Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. If the OCE determines based on its description that a course may satisfy any flag (E/RS, DCR, writing, oral communication, or quantitative reasoning), it may request equivalence of the CCC chair or the Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Public speaking or similar courses will satisfy the oral communication flag, and courses flagged as "writing-intensive" at other universities can satisfy the Xavier writing-intensive flag. However, if a student transfers in a course deemed equivalent to a Xavier course that has one or more flags, the flags are retained without independent evaluation by the flag subcommittee.
3. Some interdisciplinary courses to be transferred have no analogous Xavier departmental affiliation; these courses are identified, for example, as "Humanities" or "Engineering." The Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences will approve these equivalences in consultation with whomever he/she deems appropriate.

Approved by BUGS and Core Curriculum Committee

May 4, 2015

SOME PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THIS POLICY INCLUDE:

For Spring and Summer 2016:

All new transfer students who have 24 hours or more based on their earned and in-progress college course work will follow transition core.
All new transfer students who have 23 hours or less based on their earned and in-progress college course work will follow new core.

For Fall 2016 and after:

All new transfer students who have 24 hours or more based on their earned and in-progress college course work will follow new core using CORE 105.
All new transfer students who have 23 hours or less based on their earned and in-progress college course work will follow new core using CORE 100, 101/102 and THEO 111.

SOME QUESTIONS:

1. Which core applies to students who leave Xavier after a semester or two and then come back?

In order for a student to be considered a transfer student they must have attended a college/university post high-school graduation for more than a summer term prior to attending Xavier University. Once they have started here as a new student they would either be continuing or readmitted in any future terms. They may bring back transfer work with them, but they are not considered a transfer student.

Also, Xavier students who are readmitted follow the catalog year from when they last attended Xavier. So any students who originally started here prior to Fall 2015 would follow transition core (even if returning several years from now), and any students who started Fall 2015 or after and are later readmitted would follow the new core when they return. If it has been an extended period of time since the student attended here (ex. 10 years or more), their Dean may choose to require their catalog year to be updated to the term in which they are being readmitted. In that case the student would then follow the core of their new catalog year.

2. Can continuing students seek transfer credit (through taking courses in the summer at another institution, for example)?

The long-standing policy, as articulated in the Undergraduate Bulletin, applies. This policy reads as follows:

Students desiring to take courses at an accredited non-consortium university must receive prior approval from their dean. Normally no more than 15 hours may be taken at another institution and applied toward a degree after a student has matriculated at Xavier. The student usually must present a catalog with a description of the desired course. Courses from these institutions are treated as transfer credit. Credit is granted provided a grade of "C" or better was earned. The grade is not placed on the student's Xavier record, nor is it computed into the student's Xavier grade point average.