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Section II: COC Core Requirement

2.7.2 The institution offers degree programs that embody a coherent course of study that is compatible with its stated mission and is based upon fields of study appropriate to higher education. (Program Content)

JUDGMENT OF COMPLIANCE

                    

NARRATIVE

Richard Bland College is the only two-year public liberal arts junior college in Virginia. The RBC mission is to "allow students to acquire junior status after transferring to a four-year college." The primary method by which that is accomplished is through a coherent course of study leading to the associate in arts and associate in science generalist degrees. Those degrees consist of a core in the humanities, natural sciences and mathematics, social sciences, and physical education currently set at 48 semester hours. Degree requirements and course descriptions are contained in the RBC Undergraduate Catalog 2006-2008. See Core Requirement 2.7.3 for a description of impending changes to the curriculum.

Courses within the core come from fields of study common to undergraduate higher education, e.g., English, history, laboratory sciences, mathematics, philosophy, psychology, religion, sociology.  In addition, the curriculum is structured to respond to the requirements and expectations of Virginia senior institutions, fifteen of whom (11 public and 4 private) have signed articulation agreements with Richard Bland College and established curriculum components and course equivalencies.  Articulation agreements and course equivalency information are available on the College website.  Most RBC graduates transfer to the four nearby public universities—Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia State University in Petersburg, and Longwood University in Farmville.  General admission articulation agreements with these four schools are given as examples.

The most recent iteration of several of the inter-institutional agreements takes the form of program-to-program articulation in addition to the usual institution-to-institution general admission articulation.  The course of study of students committed to this arrangement is specified in formal agreements between the schools.  Specifically, in response to goals established by the state of Virginia through SCHEV (State Council for Higher Education in Virginia), RBC has initiated nursing, teacher preparation, and business program-to-program articulation agreements.  Expectations for preparations for teacher education are defined in agreements with Longwood University and The College of William and Mary, in business with Longwood University and in nursing with the Southside Regional Medical Center.  These agreements require that electives beyond the core requirements be focused on areas of emphasis and that course selections be specified.  In addition, recent curriculum changes at RBC have increased those options to arts and sciences disciplines as described in Core Requirement 2.7.3.

SUPPORT DOCUMENTATION

SOURCE

LOCATION/Special Instructions
RBC Mission Statement Document only available to SACS reviewers.
Degree Program Requirements, RBC Undergraduate Catalog 2006-2008 Document only available to SACS reviewers.
Course Descriptions, RBC Undergraduate Catalog 2006-2008 Document only available to SACS reviewers.
Core Requirement 2.7.3 www.rbc.edu/SACS/Compliance/
2-7-3.htm
SCHEV Program Guidelines Document only available to SACS reviewers.
Articulation Agreement—Virginia Commonwealth University Document only available to SACS reviewers.
Articulation Agreement—The College of William and Mary Document only available to SACS reviewers.
Articulation Agreement—Virginia State University Document only available to SACS reviewers.
Articulation Agreement—Longwood University Document only available to SACS reviewers.
Program Agreement—Longwood University Document only available to SACS reviewers.
Program Agreement—The College of William and Mary Document only available to SACS reviewers.

Program Agreement—Southside Regional Medical Center

Document only available to SACS reviewers.

Page updated March 3, 2008  | Questions or comments? Email sacsparc@rbc.edu

© 2005, Richard Bland College
Petersburg, Virginia