Credit transfers made easy
by Emily Elias
the Carillon

With hopes to serve more Saskatchewan students, starting fall 2005, the University of Regina Faculty of Arts and Medicine Hat College will offer a new credit transfer program. Under the new agreement, Medicine Hat College students will be able to transfer up to 60 credit hours, or their first two years, into any Faculty of Arts department.

“They approached us first,” said Harvey King, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts, “but when we talked to them it turned out to be a good idea. Medicine Hat is a two year college—you can’t finish any degrees.” The U of R offers the ability for students to continue their education and receive a bachelor’s degree.

Medicine Hat also appears to be a good fit with the U of R since “15 per cent of their students come from southwest Saskatchewan,” said King. Not only this, but since “Alberta has capacity restraints, some of their students have difficulties transferring.” The new credit transfer system offers more opportunities for Saskatchewan and Alberta students, eliminating previous credit transfer horror stories.

Regardless of where a student may be transferring from, it has always been the source of major headaches.

“It’s agony,” described Christine Sarauer, a transfer student from the University of Saskatchewan. “I had to go submit so much paper work to find out that I have to redo classes because they don’t transfer correctly to the U of R. A first-year history course is the same no matter what University you are in.”

Frustration seems to go hand in hand with credit transfers. But, when it comes to the Faculty of Arts, they are eager to expand their horizons by making the U of R a viable solution to meet postsecondary needs in other areas. With the positive response from Medicine Hat College, the Faculty of Arts is looking to embrace other institutions. For example, “We’re looking to sign [an agreement] with Briercrest College in Caronport,” said King.

With the credit transfer agreement, students will not have to jump through the same hoops that their predecessors did. “Almost one year later, I am still dealing with the aftermath left from my transfer,” said Sarauer. “I hope this can start to fix the problems in the system.”