GVSU, Henry Ford College sign first transfer agreement with 17 options for in-demand career pathways

College of Computing Dean Marouane Kessentini said the agreements remove the guesswork from transferring.

"For a student, the promise is simple: start at Henry Ford College, finish at Grand Valley and lose nothing along the way - no lost credit, no repeated courses," Kessentini said. "These 17 pathways were built course by course with Henry Ford College faculty, so a student in Dearborn can choose artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, software engineering or any of our computing degrees and know exactly how to get there. And when they arrive, they step into the Shipyard, where every student builds real projects with real partners."

The pathways lead into GVSU's College of Computing, home of the cross-college Computing+X initiative, which pairs deep expertise in computing with a second field so graduates have the digital skills employers are demanding and can apply them responsibly, opening new job opportunities after graduation.

The new pathways also pave the way for Henry Ford College students to explore GVSU's Blue Dot Ecosystem, a network that brings together students, educators, businesses, nonprofits and community leaders to build digital skills, encourage new ideas and solve real-world problems.

"We believe students should have clear and affordable pathways for a bachelor's degree, regardless of where they begin their college experience," GVSU Provost Jennifer Drake said. "We want students who begin at Henry Ford College and continue at Grand Valley to see themselves as Lakers from the beginning. This agreement provides a clear pathway, credit by credit, so students know how their coursework will move them towards a degree."

Each pathway, with its course-by-course guide, will be available to students and advisors at GVSU's community college pathways website .