Frequently Asked Questions

The Arkansas Course Transfer System (ACTS) is a postsecondary education resource service that provides comparable course information to facilitate student transfer within Arkansas public colleges and universities. The ACTS database contains faculty-generated comparable course information for a number of courses offered at public institutions in Arkansas. Comparable courses within ACTS are guaranteed to transfer for full credit to any Arkansas public institution.

ACTS provides information regarding guaranteed transfer of courses between Arkansas public institutions. ACTS is beneficial for students, parents, and academic advisors because it provides accurate, up-to-date comparable course information for educational planning and informed decision-making.

A comparable course is defined within ACTS as a course that meets student learning outcomes criteria as determined by faculty across the state. For example, Course “A” is comparable to Course “B” if and only if “A” and “B” both satisfy all course requirements with respect to course content. When a comparable course is offered by a sending and receiving institution, it will transfer for full credit

“No Comparable Course” means that at this time the course is not comparable to the ACTS course index and does not meet all course requirements for transfer; therefore, course transferability is not guaranteed. Please contact the transfer officer at the school you desire to attend to determine if the course will transfer.

All faculty who served on the course review teams were nominated by their institutions and appointed by majority vote of the Executive Council of Presidents and Chancellors of the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board as outlined by Act 672 of 2005.

Act 672 of 2005 specified that the criteria for course transferability would be determined by faculty transfer teams according to discipline. Twenty-two faculty teams composed of two-year college and four-year university faculty met by disciplines to determine course transferability criteria. These faculty transfer teams established course descriptions and learning outcomes for their disciplines.

ACTS Course Index Number and ACTS Course Index Name were assigned to courses by the faculty course review teams during the design phase of ACTS. The ACTS Course Index Numbers are all four upper case letters followed by four numbers. The first number indicates whether it is generally considered a freshman (1000) or sophomore (2000) course. The last number indicates the minimum number of credit hours for the course. Institution course numbers are not affected by the ACTS course number and show considerable variation.

Transfer of courses is guaranteed for all successfully completed courses meeting transfer criteria as determined by the faculty course review teams. Course transfer is only guaranteed when a student earns/receives an “A,” “B,” or “C” for the course; students earning/receiving a “D” for a course listed in ACTS should contact the receiving transfer officer to determine if the course may be transferred.

It is expected that additional freshman and sophomore level courses will be added to ACTS in the future.

Act 672 of 2005 directed the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board to implement a transfer curriculum for all public colleges and universities in the state, effective December 1, 2006. Beginning in November 2004, 14 chief academic officers (CAO) from two- and four-year institutions began meeting to discuss developing a transfer system. The primary goals of the CAO Transfer Committee were to: (1) identify and reduce barriers to enable students to reach the highest attainment level possible; (2) comply with statues that provide for seamless transfer; (3) reduce the number of individual articulation agreements by establishing a single statewide course transfer agreement that is simple, accessible, and student friendly; (4) provide an ongoing process for course transferability rather than a temporary fix; and (5) address course transfer issues identified by the Governor, legislators, institutions, and students.

Act 672 of 2005 specified that all freshman and sophomore general education courses must be accepted for full transfer credit in the appropriate subject area and that the criteria for course transferability would be determined by faculty teams grouped by discipline. Twenty-two faculty teams composed of college and university faculty met by disciplines in March 2006 to determine course transferability criteria for 88 courses. These faculty review teams determined appropriate course index numbers and index names and established course descriptions and learning outcomes for courses in their disciplines. All faculty who served on review teams were nominated by their institutions and appointed by the Executive Council of Presidents and Chancellors of the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

The CAO Transfer Committee will meet at least annually to determine inclusion of additional courses for the Arkansas Course Transfer System (ACTS). All additional courses to be included in ACTS will be governed by the same process as detailed in Act 672 of 2005. Phase II of ACTS will add courses from accredited Arkansas private institutions that want to participate and submit syllabi that meet the criteria specified by the faculty review teams.

Colleges and universities will submit syllabi annually by March 15th to be considered for inclusion in the Arkansas Course Transfer System (ACTS) courses. As required by Act 672 of 2005, Arkansas colleges and universities will file a report annually with the Arkansas Department of Higher Education indicating the number of students requesting transfer credit for a completed course listed in ACTS and identifying the number of students denied credit for courses listed in ACTS.