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ACADEMIC CALENDAR CONVERSION

By the fall of 2012, all Ohio's public universities and colleges will be converted to an academic calendar based on the semester system creating several efficiencies both for individual institutions, for the University System of Ohio, and for students.

A typical semester is approximately 15 weeks of instruction as compared to about 10 weeks of instruction in a typical quarter term. Schools converting from quarters to semesters will go from three quarters to two semesters. Many colleges offer summer terms in addition to the standard semester or quarter terms.

By agreeing to a common academic calendar, the institutions of higher learning have made it possible for students to experience some savings and made it easier for Ohio students to transfer credit between institutions increasing student mobility and student success.

In 2010-11, nearly 43,000 students transferred credit within the University System of Ohio while 12,500 earned credit simultaneously at less expensive institutions resulting in a savings totaling $46.1 million for students and their families.

A universal calendar, along with tools like the Ohio Transfer Module, Transfer Assurance Guides and Career Technical Credit Transfer initiatives, provides students a greater opportunity for mobility between colleges and universities helping them maximize opportunities and potentially save even more money. Students may also experience savings in text book purchases for non-sequential types of courses that would require a new text each term.

Another benefit of the conversion was a review of courses. To ensure all Ohio Transfer Module (OTM) and Transfer Assurance Guide (TAG) courses meet the high quality and rigor that Ohioans expect, submissions made under a quarter calendar were resubmitted to show how they had been configured under a semester calendar. OTM and TAG courses have the state-wide transfer guarantee. This provided an opportunity for converting colleges to revamp and upgrade some of their courses.

Faculty across the state and Articulation and Transfer staff worked together for many years to ensure all statewide guarantee transfer courses are reviewed, approved and correctly entered in to the Ohio Board of Regent’s system to allow for efficient student transfers.

To aid in the conversion process, campus staff had online access to the Articulation and Transfer calendar conversion processes, each institution's calendar conversion pages, course catalog, and calendar conversion contacts, the draft of the General Education Guidelines, and the Course Equivalency Crosswalk.

17 of Ohio's colleges and universities are converting to semester calendars beginning with the 2012-2013 academic year. They are:

• Belmont College
• Central Ohio Technical College
• Cincinnati State Technical & Community College
• Clark State Community College
• Columbus State Community College
• Hocking College
• Marion Technical College
• North Central State College
• The Ohio State University
• Ohio University
• Rhodes State College
• Sinclair Community College
• Southern State Community College
• University of Cincinnati
• Washington State Community College
• Wright State University
• Zane State College