ICAS publications fall into two primary categories. Documents intended to promote increased student readiness for California public higher education—ICAS competency statements—and documents intended to promote more seamless transfer from California community colleges to California State University and University of California campuses.
ESL Students in California Public Higher Education (2020 Update)
This report represents intersegmental faculty collaboration on addressing articulation practices, questions raised by educators, and support service concerns from the California Community Colleges (CCC), California State University (CSU), and University of California (U.C.).
Standards, Policies, and Procedures Manual
The 2023 IGETC Standards, Policies and Procedures Version 2.4 provides an accessible way to review information related to the IGETC. This information includes current practices and policies and new policies and procedures as approved by the California Community Colleges, the California State University, and the University of California. The IGETC standards, policies, and procedures contained in this document supersede any and all previous versions of IGETC Standards, Policies and Procedures including but not limited to IGETC Notes 1, 2, and 3.
The 2024 Cal-GETC Standards, Policies and Procedures Version 1.2 is an updated, corrected version of the 1.0 version that was created in response to the requirement that ICAS establish a singular lower division general education pathway that meets the academic requirements necessary for transfer admission to the California State University and the University of California per AB 928 (Berman, 2021). The document is intended to be both self-contained and accessible. It includes current practices and policies and, in some cases, will generate new policies and procedures to be implemented by the California Community Colleges, the California State University, and the University of California. The Cal-GETC standards, policies, and procedures contained in this document are independent of any prior General Education requirements.
Online Education in California Public Higher Education
The Academic Senates of California’s three segments of public higher education support the appropriate use of online technology in college-level teaching and learning.
Partial Certification of the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC After Transfer)
Those interested in issues regarding transfer will be especially interested in documents related to the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC). IGETC is a pattern of courses that a student can take in a California community college that allows them to transfer to a CSU or UC campus with lower division general education requirements complete. This has been an enormous boon to students who once had to juggle the GE requirements of multiple campuses in while in ignorance of the campus they would be accepted to and actually attend.
ICAS Higher Education Brochure 2017 (PDF)
This brochure draws attention to the importance of higher education for training California’s workforce. It talks about alarming funding trends and underscores the importance of every dollar invested in training and educating California’s students.
C-ID: Common Course Numbering
The Course Identification Numbering System (C-ID) addresses the legislated mandate for a common course numbering system among California’s public colleges and universities. Imposing a common course numbering system that would replace existing course numbers would be costly and confusing for students. C-ID consists of descriptors and associated identifiers for specific lower-division, transferable courses. These identifiers can be used in conjunction with existing numbering systems at colleges and universities to facilitate the identification of comparable courses.
Educational Standards and Accountability
Faculty in all three segments of higher education in California understand and appreciate the need for accountability in both economic and qualitative terms. Accountability systems based solely on quantitative measures, such as degree production, have the potential to undermine educational standards and quality. Practices and systems already exist to ensure quality at both the local and system level.
Intersegmental Transfer
Community college students prepared for and transferred to universities prior to the 1960 adoption of the Master Plan for Higher Education in California. Since then, California’s college and university faculty have substantially improved transfer by creating two common general education patterns and continue to refine systems intended to streamline course acceptance and requirements. California leads the nation with a 20-year-old general education transfer pattern.