A. The department shall establish and maintain a comprehensive statewide plan to provide for the articulation of educational programs and facilitate the transfer of course credits between institutions.

B. In establishing a statewide articulation plan, the department shall:

(1) by August 1, 2017, establish a common course naming and numbering system for courses identified as substantially equivalent lower-division courses; provided that the department shall establish an interim mechanism of a statewide equivalency table that uses a universal taxonomy to identify substantially equivalent courses until the common system is in place;

(2) establish a process to identify courses as substantially equivalent. The process shall:

(a) include a procedure for each course whereby faculty members from each segment teaching the academic discipline will reach mutual agreement on the material to be taught and the competencies to be gained;

(b) ensure that the content of each course is comparable across institutions offering that course;

(c) ensure that substantially all the content agreed to among the institutions as the content to be covered by a course is in fact covered in that course and that students successfully completing the course will achieve like competencies with respect to the content covered; and

(d) ensure that the content requirements for each course will be sufficient to prepare students for upper-division coursework in that field;

(3) maintain a list of lower-division courses offered at higher education institutions in New Mexico. All courses assigned the same number shall transfer between institutions as that course name and number; and

(4) develop a process for reviewing, updating and maintaining the common course numbering system.

C. The department shall, in consultation with the faculty, facilitate the development and approval of statewide meta-majors and transfer modules by August 2019.

D. The department, in consultation with faculty, shall develop a statewide general education core curriculum of not less than fifteen hours for an associate in applied science degree, thirty hours for an associate degree other than in applied science and thirty hours for a bachelor degree. The statewide general education core curriculum shall include a comprehensive array of lower-division college-level courses designed to provide a foundation for a liberal education and courses that include the interdisciplinary study of differences that recognize and respect New Mexico's diverse cultures, histories and identities. The department shall develop a process for maintaining and updating the statewide general education core curriculum. The department shall review and approve proposed statewide general education core curriculum requirements. For every institution, each approved course in the general education core curriculum shall be transferable, and its credit hours shall count toward fulfilling general education core curriculum requirements at any institution to which they are transferred.

History: Laws 1995, ch. 224, § 3; 2005, ch. 272, § 3; 2015, ch. 29, § 2; 2017, ch. 18, § 2.

The 2017 amendment, effective July 1, 2017, provided additional requirements for the higher education department in establishing a comprehensive statewide plan under which students may transfer earned credits between and among New Mexico institutions of higher education; in the catchline, added "Initial", changed "plan" to "planning and", after "development", deleted "implementation establishment", and added "meta-major and"; in Subsection A, after "the transfer of", deleted "students" and added "course credits"; in Subsection B, Paragraph B(3), deleted "define, publish and", after "maintain", deleted "modules" and added "a list", after "lower division courses", deleted "accepted for transfer at all institutions and meeting requirements for lower division requirements established for associate and baccalaureate degree granting programs" and added the remainder of the paragraph, and added Paragraph B(4); in Subsection C, after "The department shall", deleted "ensure that institutions develop transfer modules that include approximately sixty-four hours of lower division college level credit" and added the remainder of the subsection; and deleted former Subsections D, E and F and added a new Subsection D.

The 2015 amendment, effective June 19, 2015, provided a deadline for the department to establish a statewide articulation plan; in Subsection A, after "The", deleted "commission" and added "department"; in the introductory sentence of Subsection B, after "the", deleted "commission" and added "department"; in Subsection B, Paragraph (1), after "(1)", added "by August 1, 2017", and after "provided that the", deleted "commission" and added "department"; and in Subsection C, after "The", deleted "commission" and added "department".

The 2005 amendment, effective June 17, 2005, added Subsection B(1) to provide that the commission shall establish a common course naming and numbering system for courses substantially equivalent to lower division courses and an interim mechanism of a statewide equivalency table; added Subsection B(2)(a) through (d) to provide for a process to identify courses as substantially equivalent; provided in Subsection C that transfer modules shall include approximately sixty-four hours of credit; provided in Subsection D that the general education core shall transfer as a block and count as required lower-division course work and that any course in the core is transferable as credit toward the general education core requirements; added Subsection E to provide that courses in the general education core may be offered for dual credit to secondary school students and be transferable as credit for a required lower-division course; and added Subsection F to provide that a discipline module shall consists of approximately sixty-four hours applicable to the discipline and that any course within the discipline module is transferable as credit toward degree requirements.