Information & Resources for Developing, Modifying, and Closing Majors, Concentrations, Certificates, Minors, and Courses
Overview of Academic Program and Course Development Approval Process
(Undergraduate and Graduate)
Approval for all new and modified undergraduate and graduate majors, concentrations, certificates, minors, and courses begins at the discipline/program level. Normally, one or more faculty will draft a program or course proposal to be considered by their discipline/program colleagues which if approved needs to be sent to the department executive committee for consideration. Once approved by the department executive committee, the program or course proposal should be forwarded to the college curriculum committee which approves all course proposals. For program proposes, the college curriculum committee only makes a recommendation to the college executive committee. The authority to make academic program decisions ultimately rests with the executive committee for each college.
The next step in the approval process is for the University Curriculum and Degree Committee (UCDC) to consider all undergraduate program or course proposals. Graduate program or course proposals need to be sent to the Graduate Subcommittee of UCDC for endorsement. The Provost makes the final decision to approve all program and course proposals but only will do so if the UCDC's or the Graduate Subcommittee's support is documented.
Once approved by the Provost course proposals shall be sent to the Registrar's Office for administrative processing into Banner.
All program proposals that include the addition, modification, closing of a major, concentration, or minor must be sent to the Michigan Association of State Universities and Board of Regents. Only after the Board of Regents meets and approves the program proposal will the Provost Office send the proposal to the Registrar's Office for administrative processing into Banner. Finally, new certificate proposals do not need to go to Michigan Associate of State Universities or the Board of Regents for review. However, they must be reviewed and approved by the Higher Learning Commission before being sent to the Registrar's Office.
The diagram below provides an overview of the approval process along with dates that reflect the shortest amount of time it takes to process a proposal through the approval cycle. If the deadlines are not met, the proposal will rotate in to the next approval cycle.
