The Missouri Department of Higher Education & Workforce Development (MDHEWD) and the Committee on Transfer and Articulation (COTA) hosted its annual conference today, titled “2021: A Transfer Odyssey.”

A press release says because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference was held virtually for the first time, with more than 250 educators and advocates throughout Missouri sharing ideas on how to ease the burdens college students often face when transferring from one college to another.

COTA encourages Missouri’s higher education institutions to work collaboratively to improve the total transfer process and to develop an efficient policy that minimizes the loss of course credits.

According to a recent report from the National Student Clearinghouse, transfer enrollment for fall 2020 saw a decline of 8.1 percent from fall 2019, compared to a 2.4 percent decrease among non-transfer students during the same timeframe.

During Thursday’s conference, speakers discussed the ways to better engage and support transfer students in all situations, as well as insights gained during the pandemic and how schools can leverage those insights to serve transfer students more effectively.

Other topics discussed today included the changing demographics of college students, using degrees to build workforce pipelines, and other state initiatives that could strengthen the transfer success.

To learn more about the COTA committee and to find conference materials, visit dhewd.mo.gov/cota.

MDHWED recently published a white paper about the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on transfer enrollment. To read the white paper, visit dhewd.mo.gov/documents/whitepaper-transfer.pdf.