Business students are now able to transfer their credits from one institution to another. On Nov. 25, Ontario’s 24 colleges signed a new province-wide agreement that will recognize a student’s previous years’ credits when they switch from a business diploma program to the same program at a different college.

“This is a breakthrough agreement among all colleges that will help eliminate duplication and cut costs for students,” said David Agnew, president of Seneca College and chair of Colleges Ontario.

Colleges Ontario and the Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer (ONCAT) said that this agreement applies to students in the accounting, business administration, human resources and marketing programs.

The transfer will be on a yearly basis, but business students who transfer at the end of their first or second year will receive full credit for their completed courses.

“Not all colleges have exactly the same mix of courses or the same content in each course,” said Karen Horsman, manager of media relations and communications at Colleges Ontario. “The college-wide agreement for transfer at the end of each year of study is based on the premise that no matter what the mix of courses and content is, all colleges agreed that students will have met the same learning outcomes at the end of each year of the business program that the agreement applies to.”

However, the full credit transfer may not be applied to past students. According to Horsman, “past students could possibly receive consideration on a case by case basis, and based on the policies of the receiving college,” which means for the previous students it would be an application not a transfer.

All the transfer applicationprocedures differ from college to college and “students can apply to transfer under the Heads of Business (HOB) transfer agreement system-wide protocol through the Ontario Colleges Application Service (OCAS),” according to George Brown College (GBC); studentsare required to apply for advanced standing once they have begun the application process throughOCAS.The application will then be routed to GBC and will follow its advanced standing process done by admissions at the college.

To inquire about the HOB transfer agreement, and to review and discuss options, current GBC business students can contact Megan Carter, student solutions representative at megan.carter@georgebrown.ca, as well as visit GBC’s centre for business administration and support office.