Under bilateral agreements, individual universities and one or more community colleges may join in a collaborative effort to facilitate the transfer of students from AAS (Associate of Applied Science) degree programs to baccalaureate degree programs. These agreements are outside the comprehensive articulation agreement and are reported to UNC General Administration electronically for posting to an inventory of bilateral agreements. The Transfer Advisory Committee maintains the annual inventory of bilateral articulation agreements for AAS degree programs. These agreements often serve as models to encourage the development of new articulation agreements among institutions.
An example agreement would be where a department at each institution agrees on specific courses and transfer equivalencies designed to facilitate student matriculation into a specific academic program here at NC State; often called 2+2 or 2+3 programs (2 years (AAS) at the Community College and then 2-3 years at NC State).
Bi-Lateral Agreements are between colleges in the NC Community College System (NCCCS) and a UNC constituent institution. UNC General Administration guidelines state that due to the special circumstances surrounding transfer agreements for associate in applied science (AAS) programs, which are not designed for transfer, require bilateral rather than statewide articulation. Special circumstances include the different accreditation criteria for faculty in transfer and non-transfer programs, the different general education requirements for transfer and non-transfer programs, and the workforce preparedness mission of the technical/community college AAS programs.