By Autumn Walden, Editor, ̽»¨Â¥ Connect, Content Strategy Manager, ̽»¨Â¥
As our campuses and colleagues across the nation recognize this October 20-24, ̽»¨Â¥ and NASH are rallying hundreds of colleagues and collaborators to address one of the biggest levers for change in higher education: improving transfer time-to-decision. The Learning Mobility Challenge is now well underway, with over 300 challengers raising their hands. Our goal of 500 is coming into view, and the news headlines are converging.
reports that accreditors are urging institutions to leverage AI to streamline credit evaluation and reduce credit loss—a move that directly intersects with our ATAIN initiative and the problem this Learning Mobility Challenge is trying to solve.
A recent op-ed reminds us that, although transfer enrollment is recovering post-pandemic, many transfer students still graduate at lower rates than expected because institutions continue to prioritize their core systems over credit mobility.
“Okay, here we are, and the headlines in all of the industry papers are implying that there is still lots of work to be done with transfer,” remarked Juliette Price, Founding Director of the NASH Center for Postsecondary Improvement, during a recent Challenge launch webinar. “Because if you go backwards, here is another article from 2014, and, I kid you not, that, as we researched and looked through the archives, we found this notice for a conference that was posted in 1930 that had to do with transfer students. So, obviously, this problem has been plaguing higher education for some time now.”
Decades Later, We Still Need Solutions
We're not giving up on finding a solution; we're actively testing scalable practices that can transform how transfer works nationwide.
At its core, learning mobility means we're enabling students to carry the value of their knowledge, skills, and experience—earned through coursework, professional experience, or life—across institutional and organizational boundaries. This Challenge aims to dismantle the persistent barrier of transfer in two phases. And we have proof that we’re on the right track with a new approach: Improvement Science.
When Sara Thigpin joined the transfer admissions team at Texas A&M, the transfer applications review was decentralized as each college operated on its own timelines, leading to delays of 60 days or more. In our second Challenge launch webinar, Thigpin walked through how her team piloted an “auto-admit bar” model comprised of pre-set GPA and course thresholds that trigger instant admission decisions. Within three years, the approach expanded to 80% of the colleges, reducing time-to-decision from over two months to just five days.
“Improvement science allowed me to give voice to ideas our Office of Admissions had that campus partners once doubted,” explained Thigpin. “Now our recruitment team, admissions counselors, and staff are fully aligned with each college’s needs. This collaboration ensures transparent communication with potential transfer students. Through improvement science, we achieved small wins each cycle that built trust with our colleges and ultimately empowered us to make policy decisions regarding transfers. The most important mindset shift has been moving away from siloed, college-specific processes toward an institution-wide commitment to collaboration and transparency.”
Transparency, accountability, and collaboration play a key role. And the role of your advisors can make more of a difference.
“Advisors—and those who may serve in an advising capacity even without the formal title—often begin supporting students with transfer questions before an application is submitted or admission is granted, and their role continues throughout the student’s journey,” added Isaiah Vance, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Advising at Texas A&M. “When included at the table, these professionals help institutions anticipate and remove barriers before students encounter them.”
So, What is Improvement Science?
Let’s start with a simple idea statement: Knowing that something works isn’t the same as knowing how to make it work everywhere.
In the context of higher education and the Learning Mobility Challenge, improvement science is what transforms good intentions into sustainable action, providing a framework to bridge top-down strategy from senior leadership with on-the-ground tactics from practitioners.
“We start with the same idea, a very clear problem that we're trying to solve, but instead of having senior-level members of a cabinet, we really generate ideas for change from people who are closest to the problem,” continued Price. “So maybe those are transfer advisors, maybe those are admissions officers that work on transfer admissions every day. This includes talking to transfer students themselves and hearing from them—where do they get stuck in the process? And what we start doing is, instead of putting together a strategic plan, we get started on these small tests of change. And this is where you see these PDSA cycles. PDSA stands for Plan, Do, Study, Act. Start with about 5 or 10 to 20 students. Once you get some positive results from those tests. You're going to engage in what we call “sequential testing.” You're going to test and retest, and you're going to get to the point where you get to this implementation of a change idea at scale without failure. Because you've tested it and retested it so many times in various contexts, that now you know that this works across your entire campus.”
With hundreds of institutions and individuals already involved, the Learning Mobility Challenge is part data project, part scientific experiment, both building better processes and a culture of experimentation, evidence, and collaboration across campuses.
What Are Your Next Steps?
, to access the Challenge Portal.
Submit your Phase 1 baseline data for Spring 2025 transfer admissions.
Join office hours on October 20 or October 21 with ̽»¨Â¥ and NASH for guidance, if needed.
Prepare for Phase 2 improvement testing in 2026.
On the cusp of , the moment is a symbolic and demonstrative call to action. The systems we shape today will define how learners succeed in the years ahead.
“I am so excited, I hope other people are excited as well. We invite you to learn more about it. Even if you just want to stay up to date on things that are happening with the challenge, sign up,” encouraged Johnika Nixon, Project Manager for the Learning Mobility Lab. “You will be invited to come into the challenge formally, but if you're also on our email list, you'll get updates about how other individuals are moving forward, so you can stay inspired. It's short, it's sweet, it's simple, it's accelerated, and I know that many people will benefit from it, so I hope you consider it.”