How to Articulate Handbook - Requesting and Assessing Credit in the BC Transfer System

The Purpose of this Handbook

The purpose of this handbook is to provide a resource for institutions, departments, faculty members, and articulation committees who are engaged in articulating courses and programs for credit within the BC Transfer System.

The handbook is based on best practices as observed and recorded by the British Columbia Council on Admissions and Transfer (BCCAT) over many years of coordinating and administering articulation and transfer. Founded on long-established principles, the handbook is intended to be a practical and user-friendly manual that codifies what faculty and administrators have learned from experience and what works best in the BC context. As such it includes suggestions, checklists, models, and questions and answers about common and not-so-common articulation issues. It not only covers the basics of bilateral course-to-course transfer, but also provides essential information for those engaged in multilateral or block transfer, or in alternate or innovative approaches to articulation.

What this Handbook is Not

This handbook is not intended to be a guide to institutional transfer policy, nor does it deal with all aspects of the recognition and crediting of learning, such as Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR), challenge credit, credit awarded for non-articulated courses or programs, advanced standing etc. While the principles, best practices, and processes suggested in this handbook may be applicable to most credit transfer decisions, this handbook addresses traditional transfer that is the end result of the formal articulation of courses and programs between and among institutions that participate in the BC Transfer System.

Online Version

This handbook and many other resources related to transfer and articulation can also be found at, and downloaded from, the BCCAT website bccat.ca . To comment on the handbook, or request a copy, please email articulation@bccat.ca or call 604-412-7700. To ask a specific question about an articulation issue or to request assistance with articulation processes, email bctransferguide@bccat.ca.

Examples of articulation agreements throughout this handbook are from the BC Transfer Guide. Some may no longer be current; and are provided simply as illustrations of types of agreements.

Print Version

This handbook is also available in PDF and on a "print-on-demand" basis through the BC Government Publications Index.