On Tuesday, May 5, UC President Janet Napolitano met with UCR Chancellor Kim Wilcox and community college representatives in San Bernardino and Riverside County to discuss how to improve the UC transfer process for students coming from one of the 112 community colleges in California.
Napolitano assembled a transfer action team in December 2013, months after she took office. Since then, the UC has made efforts to improve the UC transfer website and create a transfer success kit, which includes basic information about UC services and campus housing.
UCR Director of Media Relations Kris Lovekin elaborated on the work the UC has done to help transfer students. A goal of the 1960s California Master Plan, a blueprint for higher education, Lovekin said, was to have a third of UC students coming in via transfer from California community colleges. “We are slightly shy of that now, with about 29 percent coming in as transfer students,” said Lovekin.
Lovekin emphasized other changes the UC system is working on, including improving the transfer of class units and increasing class equivalency across UCs. “It is frustrating for community college students to be told that a class that would be accepted at UCLA will not be accepted at UC Berkeley,” she expressed.
Napolitano’s meeting is the third in a series of meetings with UCs and community colleges, which aim to build a stronger relationship between the institutions and improve the relationship with transfer students.
