Massachusetts General Laws Part I. Administration of the Government (Ch. 1-182) Ch. 15A, § 49

(a) The board of higher education, in consultation with public institutions of higher educations, as defined in section 5, shall develop and approve a common course numbering system for lower-division courses with the goal of creating transparency for credit transferability. The department shall develop rules for the administration of the system.

(b) Each public institution of higher education shall include in its course catalog the applicable course prefix and numbers from the common course numbering system approved by the board under this section. The board may, for good cause as determined by the board, grant a public institution of higher education an exemption from the requirements of this section.