Criminal justice courses eligible for social science cluster; transfer of credit; rules

(1) Each community college operated under ORS chapter 341 that offers a form of associate degree, including an Associate of Arts Transfer degree or an Associate of Science Transfer degree, that either requires or permits a student to take a cluster of courses in the social sciences as part of the course of study necessary to obtain the associate degree may allow any criminal justice course approved by the curriculum committee of the community college to count as an eligible course for the social science cluster portion of the associate degree. (2) Criminal justice courses that are credited toward completion of an Associate of Arts Transfer degree or an Associate of Science Transfer degree awarded from a community college must be accepted as general education courses by a public university listed in ORS 352.002. (3) As used in this section: (a) “Associate of Arts Transfer degree” means a lower-division, major-specific, undergraduate award: (A) That is issued by a community college to indicate satisfactory completion of a course of study that is intended to prepare students for transfer to a public university listed in ORS 352.002 and to have third-year standing in a specific Bachelor of Arts degree program; and (B) For which the classes, outcomes and completion standards for each major-specific program have been defined by a statewide memorandum of understanding between participating community colleges and public universities that has been approved by the Higher Education Coordinating Commission and is published on the website of the commission. (b) “Associate of Science Transfer degree” means a lower-division, major-specific, undergraduate award: (A) That is issued by a community college to indicate satisfactory completion of a course of study that is intended to prepare students for transfer to a public university listed in ORS 352.002 and to have third-year standing in a specific Bachelor of Science degree program; and (B) For which the classes, outcomes and completion standards for each major-specific program have been defined by a statewide memorandum of understanding between participating community colleges and public universities that has been approved by the commission and is published on the website of the commission. (4) The commission may enact rules necessary to implement this section.