OSU Institute of Technology administrators have recently signed five new articulation agreements, all pertaining to the university’s three Bachelor of Technology degrees.
Agreements with Tulsa Community College, Rogers State University, Carl Albert State College and Conners State College will allow students at each of those institutions a more seamless transition to transfer earned credit hours to one or more of OSUIT’s Bachelor of Technology programs: Information Technology, Civil Engineering Technology and Instrumentation Engineering Technology.
The fifth recent articulation agreement expands the Finish Orange initiative to give OSUIT Bachelor of Technology graduates a pathway to master’s degree programs in managements information systems, telecommunications management, and engineering and technology management from OSU Stillwater.
“Our primary goal is to equip students for their future and ensure what they learn while enrolled translates to what they need to know when they embark on their careers,” said OSUIT President Bill R. Path. “These pathways to success that we have laid stones for ensure that students have the skills and options they need to move forward and become viable candidates for employment.”
The agreement with TCC will allow students who earn an information technology associate degree from TCC to pursue a Bachelor of Technology in Information Technology from OSUIT all from the TCC Northeast campus, allowing those Tulsa-area students the chance build on their skill sets without going too far from families and jobs.
TCC produces the largest number of transfer students for public and private universities in Oklahoma, said TCC President and CEO Leigh B. Goodson.
“Strong and effective partnerships between TCC and other higher education institutions enable our students to complete the first two years at a greatly reduced cost and finish their four-year degree close to home and work,” Goodson said.
Carl Albert State College President Garry M. Ivey said degrees at OSUIT are high-demand career paths and CASC wants to provide students options as they make important career decisions.
“By working together we open doors for our students as they complete their degree with us and then seamlessly transfer to OSUIT to pursue a Bachelor of Technology at OSUIT,” Ivey said.
The latest extension of the Finish Orange agreement benefits current OSUIT students who wish to seek graduate degrees from OSU Stillwater.
OSU President Burns Hargis said both institutions are unified in their efforts to provide students with the best opportunities to earn a master’s degree from OSU.
“Our state needs more college graduates. It’s incumbent upon us to remove barriers to higher education, making college completion attainable for more students,” Hargis said.
Articulation agreements between institutions are becoming a vital part of higher education as colleges and universities look for ways to assist and empower their students.
“Colleges can no longer look at each other as competitors. We must work together to ensure students are getting an affordable and effective education that best suits them and their goals of entering the workforce,” Path said. “These agreements make the path from one degree program to the other as smooth as possible, and ensures students have the education and skills they need to go right from the classroom to their career.”