• About BCCAT: Fulfilling Our Mandate
• Collaborating with BC Post-Secondary Partners
• Understanding Student Mobility
  • Traditional Transfer Students
  • Following a Cohort of Eligible Transfer Students
  • Movement of Students from Research-Intensive Universities to Other Institutions
  • Why Do We Want to Know More About All Movers? How Can We Do This?
  • Is the Transfer Route as Efficient as the High School Entry Route to Degree Completion at a BC Research University?
• Facilitating Admissions, Transfer, and Articulation
• Supporting Students' Education Planning
• Advancing Inter-Provincial Mobility
• Appendices

• Annual Review 2010-11 PDF

Annual Review Home

 

Following a Cohort of Eligible Transfer Students

As seen in the trend line data in Figure 2, the number of students who transfer to RIU's each year has ranged from 4,500 to 6,000. However, this research only refers to the movement of students into RIU's each year, with most students transferring directly from the previous year, and others transferring from earlier terms . Past research has shown that this number represents about 20% of those students deemed "eligible" to transfer in any given year. Eligible Transfer Students (ETR's), as defined in past BCCAT and STP research, are those enrolled in or having completed 24 or more credits and having a GPA of at least 2.0. But what happens to these eligible students over a longer period of time?

To answer this question, BCCAT completed a study in 2010-11 that followed the ETR cohort of 23,500 students from fall 2003 up to 2009-10 using STP data. The study resulted in a report, completed by Tracy Lavin of Directions Evidence and Policy Research Group, with several very interesting findings. The study showed that students moved into, out of, and between post-secondary institutions over time with movement occurring to RIU's, TIU's, colleges, and institutes. The majority had earned a post-secondary credential from a BC public post-secondary institution by fall 2009.

The majority (73%) of the 2003 ETR cohort had earned a post-secondary credential by the fall of 2009 and another 5% were still pursuing post-secondary studies in 2009-10.

Key findings include: The majority (73%) of the 2003 ETR cohort had earned a post-secondary credential by the fall of 2009 and another 5% were still pursuing post-secondary studies in 2009-10. (See Figure 3.)

The remaining 22% had not earned a credential and were no longer enrolled in a public post-secondary institution by 2009-10. Because the Personal Education Number (PEN) only extends to students in BC public post-secondary institutions, we do not know if these students have attended or are attendingprivate or out-of-province post-secondary institutions for credential completion. While 2,147 ETRs transferred to an RIU in fall 2004, a total of 6,273 ETRs had transferred by fall 2009 (27% of the 2003 ETR cohort). Of the 7,408 ETRs who enrolled in a TIU in fall 2004, only 13% subsequently transferred to an RIU. This compares to 25% of the 5,538 ETRs who enrolled at a college or institute in fall 2004 and subsequently transferred to an RIU. It appears that students tend to stay at TIU's for degree completion rather than moving to RIU's. Of the 10,886 Bachelor's degrees or higher earned by the ETR cohort between 2004-05 and 2009-10, 54% were awarded by RIU's, 40% by TIU's, and 6% by colleges and institutes. The number of credential completers in Figure 3 includes those who completed a credential in 2003-04 as well as those who graduated from 2004-05 to 2009-10.

Figure 3: Overall outcomes for fall 2003 ETR cohort