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ORTLAND - Oregon State University and Portland Community College are launching a dual admission and enrollment program focused on easing the way for student success in higher education.

OSU President Paul Risser and Portland President Daniel Moriarty will sign the admission and enrollment agreement on Monday, March 6, at the Portland Community College Sylvania Campus.

The agreement is a part of a trend in higher education to streamline application and enrollment procedures to best meet the academic goals of students, said Leslie Burns, OSU director of undergraduate academic programs.

"The partnership will be mutually beneficial for OSU and PCC as well as for students," she said. The agreement allows students to be admitted to both PCC and OSU with a single application. Students start their work at PCC, but can take classes at both institutions and make an easy transition to OSU. Students will also pay regular tuition and fees at OSU and PCC.

"This new enrollment promises great things for students at both PCC and OSU," said PCC President Moriarty. "It will make the process of enrolling at one or another school virtually seamless and give both institutions a new avenue for preparing students for advanced education."

This is OSU's third dual admission and enrollment program. The university already has programs in place at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany and Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay.

"Portland Community College approached us about starting a dual admission and enrollment program," Burns said. "They had learned about the program OSU has in place with Linn-Benton and were interested in starting a similar program.

"Portland Community College is one of our larger feeder schools," Burns added, noting that many students from the urban community college transfer to OSU to pursue a bachelor's degree.

Dual admission and enrollment agreements help in providing a seamless transition between the campuses, she said. Initially, the agreement will cover programs in business, engineering and computer science, and pre-health professions, including pre-medicine, pre-pharmacy, pre-veterinary medicine and pre-physical therapy.

The signing ceremony for the new agreement will be at 2 p.m. in the Amon De Bernardis College Center Conference Rooms A and B on the Portland Community College Sylvania Campus.