Reviewing the Department’s Curriculum/Revising Existing Degree and Non-degree Programs

Your department should carry out a collective and thorough review of your overall curriculum and the degree programs you offer every 5 years or so. Comprehensive curriculum review should be integrated with the department’s multiyear plan and timetable for Program Learning Outcomes Assessment and be guided by areas for improvement that you identify or confirm in that context. Part of planning ahead is to determine when and how this review can be most meaningful and beneficial. Absent big problems requiring urgent attention, it might aptly and conveniently coincide with the Self-Study and/or Post-Review Planning phases of the department’s most recent or next scheduled Academic Program Review (APR). The latter enables you to take account of findings and recommendations of the APR’s external review committee. You may choose to expand the scope of departmental discussions around a given year’s Academic Planning Self-Study (under “Annual Academic Planning Exercise”) to incorporate in-depth review of one or more degree programs. Depending on the structure of your curriculum, undergraduate and graduate programs may be better reviewed separately or together.

Curricular review should involve all members of your faculty and incorporate perspectives and views solicited from current students and recent graduates. Basic questions to address are whether the undergraduate curriculum is aligned with College-wide goals for high-quality general education, and whether each undergraduate or graduate degree program meets the needs of students, covers the field in sufficient breadth and depth, is structured so that it uses resources efficiently and effectively, is coherent, and presents material at a point when students are prepared to assimilate it.  The Associate Dean for Undergraduate Academic Programs and Policies (Joseph Bizup) and the Associate Dean of the Graduate School (Malika Jeffries-EL) are available for consultation on all aspects and at any point of your review.

Proposal Development and Submission

If your faculty decides to propose a revision of one of the department’s academic programs, you need to take the following steps:

1. Discuss your ideas with Associate Dean Joseph Bizup (undergraduate) or Associate Dean Malika Jeffries-EL (graduate). The Pardee School of Global Studies has its own procedures. It is recommended that you contact Senior Manager of Academic Affairs Elaine Bidianos at Pardee for further information.
2. To aid this discussion, prepare a concrete, written proposal. Have a faculty member or committee draft a revised version of the program description and requirements that appear in the Undergraduate Bulletin or Graduate Bulletin, whichever is relevant.
3. Have the same person or committee write a brief document (in normal prose) that provides an overview of the existing program, outlines the proposed changes, provides a rationale for each change, and anticipates the impact (both positive and negative) on students in the program.
4. Bear in mind that revising an undergraduate major that is part of a Bachelor-to-Master’s (BA/MA) program will require corollary revision of the Bachelor’s-to-Master’s program. Please review the University’s policy for the Bachelor’s-to-Master’s programs for guidance and stipulations.
5. Whether to revise a minor in tandem with its corresponding major is a question your faculty should make sure to ask and answer.
6. Based on documents #2 and #3 and your discussions, the associate deans will be able to tell you whether additional information is needed and which eCAP Documentation (downloadable forms) you should use to complete your proposal. The associate deans can also advise you whether you are proposing a substantive change to an existing program that requires review and approval at the University level. In addition to restructuring of degree requirements, changes deemed “substantive” include, but may not be limited to, those that:

• Involve courses or affect students in other BU schools and colleges
• Alter the total number of credits required to complete the degree, major, or minor
• Establish or eliminate a non-course requirement (thesis, practicum, etc.)
• Replace the existing degree type by another (e.g., MA to MS or MFA)
• Have potential implications for licensure or accreditation
• Require additional instructional resources
• Include the addition, deletion, or substitution of a required core course. (Merely adding or deleting “non-core” courses from lists of three or more that fulfill a requirement of the program can be done as part of the annual bulletin editing process. But the core/non-core line here is blurry enough to warrant your double-checking with the associate deans.

6. Fill out whatever combination of academic components, budget, and degree advice (Degree Progress Report) forms is needed to complete the proposal.  (It is recommended that you work with Assistant Dean Kerry Buglio in CAS Advising to complete the degree advice form if you are unfamiliar with it.)
7. Discuss and vote on the revisions at a department faculty meeting (or meetings, if the program is offered jointly with another department). Record the date and outcomes of your vote(s), for inclusion in your email covering #9 below.
8. Solicit cognate comment, using the form available under “Curriculum Review & Modification” here, from the chairs of all departments that might be affected by the changes. Those include departments that offer courses required in the program, departments that offered courses required in the old version of the program but not the new, etc. (If in doubt, request comment and seek collegial resolution of any queries or issues registered by cognate departments: Such exchanges are proven productive and much preferable to someone’s raising a surprise (or predictable) objection at a College curriculum committee or faculty meeting where approval of your program is being considered. When requesting cognate comment, you should indicate a relatively short deadline (two weeks or so from the time of request), but also send a reminder as the cutoff date approaches.
9. Submit the required forms including cognate comment(s), as Word document email attachments to either CAS Senior Academic Administrator Peter Law (and cc casuap@bu.edu) for CAS programs or to Graduate Services & Program Associate Emily Griffin (grsgs@bu.edu) for GRS programs.

NOTE:  As additional resources for completing the academic component form of your proposal it is strongly recommended that you also consult with the appropriate Provost’s Faculty Fellows for Undergraduate Affairs and Graduate Affairs should you have questions completing the form.

Examples of Proposals Recently Approved to Revise Existing Academics Programs

These examples can help guide the articulation of your proposal’s Academic Components:

Proposed Change to an Existing Degree: BA in German Language and Literature
Proposed Change to an Existing Degree: BA in Marine Science
Proposed Change to an Existing Degree: BA in Mathematics & Computer Science
Proposed Change to an Existing Degree: Minor in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies
Proposed Change to an Existing Degree: MA in Sociology
Proposed Change to an Existing Degree: Ph.D. in Biology
Proposed Change to an Existing Degree: BA/MA in Political Science
Dissolution of the Existing Major in East Asian Studies
Dissolution of the Existing Minor in Film Studies

Ongoing consultation with the associate deans is also encouraged.

Review Process and Effective Dates for Revisions to Existing Academic Programs

Proposed revisions to existing programs take the same route to final approval as proposals to establish new academic programs, to wit:

Within CAS/GRS, review is by 1) the relevant divisional Curriculum Committee (or the Graduate Academic Affairs Committee), 2) the Academic Policy Committee, and 3) the full Arts & Sciences faculty.

At the University level, successive review by 1) the Provost’s Cabinet, 2) Faculty Council and Council of Deans, and 3) undergraduate or graduate University Council Committee on Academic Programs & Policies precedes final review and approval by the University Council.

Lead Time and Deadline. Considerations similar to those for new academic programs also obtain when it comes to allowing sufficient lead time for publication of revised programs in the next year’s bulletin:

Proposals should be submitted to CAS or GRS as soon as possible but no later than November 1 for inclusion in the upcoming academic year Bulletin.

Effective Dates. Once published in the annual bulletin (June 1 of every year), revised requirements are effective for all students who matriculate in a graduate program or declare an undergraduate major/minor in that bulletin year and after. Continuing graduate students and already declared major and minors cannot, however, be held to revised requirements; they have the option of fulfilling requirements in place at the time of their matriculation in the GRS degree program or declaration of the CAS major/minor. Of course, you wouldn’t have undertaken to revise the program if you weren’t convinced and able to make the case that the revisions were needed to improve students’ experience and learning outcomes. Through advising, continuing students, individually or in the aggregate, may be persuaded to follow the new requirements. But you may also need to accommodate two sets of requirements temporarily, especially to ensure that students who are close to graduation have the coursework they need to complete their degree on schedule. The associate deans can help you plan for a robust and smooth transition between your program’s old and new versions.

1. Proposing New Academic Programs
2. Proposing New non-Hub Courses; Revising Existing Courses
3. Proposing CAS Courses for the BU Hub