The Middle Years in Engineering - An Effective Transfer Partnership Drives Student Success in STEM

Oct 15, 2026

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Increasing the number of transfers and engineering graduates who begin at community colleges depends on strategic cross-institution partnerships. This paper examines outcomes from a five-year collaboration between a large multi-location community college and a large four-year university, outlining goals, a conceptual framework, specific results, and best practices. Four key practices are highlighted: collaboration, a community-college engineering orientation course, an admissions partnership program, and data collection and analysis. Outcomes include higher pre-engineering enrollment, more participants in the admissions program, increased transfers, stronger learning-community engagement, and improved first-year retention for engineering transfer students.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

STEM graduate demand and partnership rationale

Challenges of engineering CC transfer students

SEEC project background and goals

Research-informed partnership messaging

| | Ad | vances in Engineering Edu | cation | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | FALL 2019 The Middle Years in Engineering: An Effective Transfer Partnership Drives Student Success in STEM MARCIA LAUGERMAN Drake University DES MOINES, IOWA AND DIANE ROVER STEVE MICKELSON MACK SHELLEY Iowa State University Ames, Iowa ABSTRACT Increasing the number of transfers and graduates in engineering who start at community colleges (CC) requires strategic partnering between institutions. Reflecting on the results of a fiveyear partnership between a large, multi-location CC and a large four-year university, we present the goals, conceptual framework, specific results, and best practices for developing and sustaining STEM partnerships to increase the number of transfers and graduates in engineering. There were four foundational practices to this partnership: (1) inter-institutional collaboration,(2) creating a CC engineering orientation course,(3) developing an engineering admissions partnership program for CC students, and (4) data collection and analysis for informed decision making. The specific foundational practices described in this paper are part of a larger effort to increase the persistence of CC transfers in engineering by creating or enhancing a transfer-friendly environment, a community of practice through partnerships, greater awareness about engineering and engineering careers, student-faculty interaction, and new datasets for research and evaluation. Results of the partnership include a notable increase in the number of pre-engineering students, the number of students participating in the engineering admissions partnership program, the number of students transferring to the university, the number of transfer students participating in a learning community, and an increase in first-year retention rates of CC transfer students in engineering. Key words: Community colleges, Persistence in engineering, Engineering transfer, STEM success ADVANCES IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION The Middle Years in Engineering: An Effective Transfer Partnership Drives Student Success in STEM INTRODUCTION Recently, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) reiterated the need for more science and engineering graduates in the United States, suggesting that the nation will need about one million more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates over the next ten years than the country will produce (PCAST 2012) . Of the five specific recommendations, one focuses entirely on creating partnerships between two-and four-year institutions to diversify and increase this number of graduates. The report states that these connections should“provide authentic STEM experiences for community college (CC) students on the four-year campus and allow students to develop relations with faculty and the college or university community to ease the potential transition from a two-to-four-year institution or to provide advanced experiences for students who do not pursue a four-year degree”(PCAST 2012, p. 14) . The present article describes in detail what program practices were successful in increasing the number and persistence of CC transfers in engineering for one such funded partnership between a large multi-location CC and a large research university. For a CC transfer student in engineering, the middle years involve surviving the transfer process, adapting to the university environment, and applying foundational mathematics and sciences skills in more advanced coursework. The transfer student doesn’t have time to explore different engineering majors, has not built a community of support, and has no record of success at the new institution. This paper reports the creation of a transfer-friendly and student-success environment through partnerships and collaboration, which increased persistence in engineering for CC transfer students. The Student Enrollment an

FAQs

What problem does the partnership target in engineering education?

It targets the need to increase the number of community-college transfers and graduates in engineering by building strategic partnerships that improve student persistence.

What are the four foundational practices of the partnership?

The paper identifies inter-institutional collaboration, a CC engineering orientation course, an engineering admissions partnership program for CC students, and data collection and analysis for decision-making.

What measurable outcomes result from the partnership?

Reported results include increases in pre-engineering students, participants in the admissions partnership program, number of transfers, transfer students joining a learning community, and improved first-year retention for CC engineering transfer students.

Oct 15, 2026

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