UC Merced wants to make it easier for students at Central Valley community colleges to join the Bobcat community and transfer by using an accessible Web-based program. 
This morning (Nov. 4), the university announced its partnership with the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC) leadership team to connect more community college students to the institution and build a transfer pathway using the system Program Pathway Mapper. This online program allows students to explore vetted transfer pathways independently and gives counselors an excellent tool for advising.
“This collaboration with CVHEC will ensure that onboarding of new community colleges to this transfer initiative is of the highest quality and supports community college student success in their academic journey. It also allows for us to learn and adapt this work as we go,” said Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz.
Thanks to a grant from the State of California Education Learning Lab, UC Merced is working alongside Bakersfield College and Merced College on connecting community college associate’s degrees for transfer (ADTs) to undergraduate baccalaureate majors using the Program Pathway Mapper.
“This program creates clarity for our students,” said Merced College President Chris Vitelli. “It’s embarrassing it took us this long to make something like this program, but now it’s helping our students know what to do to transfer to UC Merced.”
Students from Bakersfield and Merced colleges can see the class schedules for their first two years at their community colleges and their final two years at UC Merced – all in one online location.
“UC Merced was created in the Valley to serve local students and their families, who were for so long under-served,” said Muñoz.
Many institutions use the Program Pathway Mapper, but UC Merced is the first UC to use the program. The university hopes the collaboration with CVHCE will help other Central Valley community colleges get access to this online platform.
