For many students, the road to an engineering degree starts with acceptance to Georgia Tech or one of the state’s other four-year universities. Thanks to a new articulation agreement between the Technical College System of Georgia and Southern Polytechnic State University, many students can take an alternate route to earn an engineering technology degree.
The agreement allows technical college students to complete their first two years of a Bachelor of Science in engineering technology degree at one of 19 state technical colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools before transferring to Southern Polytechnic in Marietta.
Students have a choice of enrolling in associate degree programs specializing in electrical, industrial or mechanical engineering technology. Upon completion of the two-year program, they can transfer to the engineering technology bachelor’s degree program at Southern Polytechnic in Marietta.
“We are really excited about this agreement because it’s a great fit with our mission to prepare students for the work force. Now they can go to work, go on to complete their bachelor’s degree or go back for it later,” said Steve Dougherty, president of North Georgia Technical College. “Not long ago, our two-year graduates had to almost start over if they wanted to continue their education because their credits didn’t transfer to a four-year institution.”
The technical college system has worked closely with Southern Polytechnic, looking at core competencies and curricula so transfers would be seamless. “We’ve completely aligned our engineering technology program and added a couple of courses. It was a good time to do [that] since the technical colleges are switching to the semester system this fall,” Dougherty said.
Dougherty is pleased to see that Southern Polytechnic will make it even easier to serve engineering technology students from around the state by putting many courses online.
“We’ve been discussing ways to use distance learning as well, so that students in labs at several campuses could be taking a course directed by a professor in Marietta,” Dougherty said.
While many two-year engineering technology graduates find jobs, having a four-year degree gives job seekers an edge, and is often a requirement for management positions.
“Georgia will absolutely continue to need engineers. Manufacturing is proving to be a leader in the economic recovery. It’s growing faster than many other sectors,” Dougherty said. “Building seamless pathways for our students to get the education they need will help them find jobs, and that’s what we’re all about.”
The first technical colleges to offer the pre-engineering technology program are Albany Tech, Augusta Tech, Central Georgia Tech in Macon, North Georgia Tech and Wiregrass Georgia Tech in Valdosta. Other technical schools in the system will follow.
For information, go to www.tcsg.edu or www.spsu.edu and search for engineering programs.
Another path to a four-year engineering degree is the Regents’ Engineering Transfer Program. It allows students to complete their first two years of engineering education at one of 18 Georgia University System colleges or universities close to home and then transfer to Georgia Tech for their last two years.
To learn more about the program, go to the Georgia Tech College of Engineering’s website (www.coe.gatech.edu).
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