Meeting Statewide Needs for Engineers
For almost twenty years, the College of Engineering at Georgia Tech has been working to meet the demand for qualified engineers by expanding engineering education in the state. This effort required cooperation from the entire state, both in providing greater educational opportunities and in taking advantage of the resources that are currently in place.
Two initiatives have taken place to meeting the statewide engineering education mission. The first initiative was to increase the availability of engineering classes via Georgia Tech’s distance-learning network. The second was the development of the Regents’ Engineering Transfer Program (RETP). Fifteen state colleges and universities are members of the Regents’ Engineering Transfer Program (RETP) and offer the first two years of the engineering curriculum for students who transfer to Tech. These institutions have provided access to an engineering education for more than a thousand students statewide who have participated in the program.
According to Dr. Larry Jacobs, associate dean for academic affairs, “This has been an extremely successful program for the College of Engineering. Students participating in the RETP program come to Tech more mature and ready to finish their engineering education. The graduation rates for RETP students are extremely high averaging around 86 percent.” During the freshman and sophomore years of the undergraduate RETP degree program, students are enrolled at one of Tech’s partner institutions. Prior to their junior year, students apply for transfer admission to Georgia Tech and complete their degree program as a Georgia Tech student. RETP students can take all of the mathematics and science and many of the engineering courses required in the first two years of an engineering program at Georgia Tech while still on the campus of the partner institution. RETP students have equal access to engineering majors at Tech, they participate in the Co-op program, and they are invited to the Tech campus each spring for campus tours, information sessions, and meetings with advisors in their engineering major.
“The RETP program has allowed these students to initially attend college close to home, which decreases the cost of their education and eases the adjustment to college life,” said Jacobs. “Generally, classes at the RETP institutions are small, which has permitted more individual attention and interaction with professors. They come to Tech prepared to tackle the curriculum and this is borne out by their graduation rates and their grade point averages. We are finding that RETP students pretty much go through a seamless transition to Georgia Tech.”
Jacobs also cites the academic advising that RETP students receive at the partner institutions as a factor in the success these students have shown once on the Tech campus. “These students have come to Tech with their core curriculum completed and know what they have to study to complete their degree. We have been delighted at their preparation to finish their engineering degree.”
For more information, visit our Regents' Engineering Transfer Program page.
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