This progress report is a result of the directive contained in House Joint Resolution No. 17 passed by the 1976 Session of the General Assembly.

The Council of Higher Education for Virginia has the statutory responsibility "to promote the development and operation of an educationally and economically sound, vigorous, progressive, and coordinated system of higher education in Virginia." In establishing the Council of Higher Education as a coordinating agency for public higher education in Virginia, it was the intent of the General Assembly that admissions policies remain the responsibility of the individual institutions and their respective boards of visitors. This intent is clearly indicated in Sections 23-9.6:1 (b) and (d) of the Code of Virginia.

Consistent with its legislative charge, the Council has worked cooperatively with public institutions of higher education to promote articulation through the development of state-wide guidelines. In 1967, the Council established on Articulation Advisory Committee for two-year/four-year articulation and published its first set of guidelines for the transfer of credits. The guidelines were updated in 1969 and again in 1972. The 1972 guidelines were broadened to deal with articulation between two-year colleges and public and private senior colleges and universities in Virginia (see Appendix I).

The process of articulation in the Commonwealth of Virginia is basically interinstitutional. Individual community colleges deal with each senior college to establish transfer agreements within the state-wide guidelines. Although this is often viewed as a slow end tedious process, it is reflective of the diversity among the public institutions of higher education in Virginia. The varying missions and unique programs that have been established by the senior public colleges in Virginia often require different admission standards and, consequently, interinstitutional efforts are viewed by most participants as appropriate to Virginia.

However, it is recognized by the Council of Higher Education and the institutions that additional efforts should be mode toward providing the means for the orderly transfer of credit between all segment of Virginia's system of higher education. In The Virginia Plan for Higher Education, published in 1974, the Council committed itself to assisting institutions in developing a full credit transfer policy between the Virginia Community College System and the State's senior institutions for students holding the Associate in Arts or Associate in Science-degree.

Efforts in this direction have been largely directed through the six regional consortia for continuing education established by the Council of Higher Education. One of the primary functions of the consortia has been to facilitate the transfer of academic credit between member institutions. All public colleges are members of at least one consortia.

During the 1975-76 academic year, each of the consortia developed and submitted to the Council a plan for the long-range development of the consortia. Four of the six consortia hove included specific reference to articulation between community colleges end senior institutions. Although the Council has accepted the plans as representing substantial progress in coordinating regional efforts, additional efforts to encourage articulation between institutions were recommended by the Council.