Associate Degree Procedures
Criteria and Procedures for New Programs
Criteria for Associate Degrees
The Office of Academic Affairs expects that each program proposal will:
- Ensure program fit to institutional mission and to nationally accepted trends in the discipline;
- Determine if program need in the state or a particular region; has substantial need/demand to support the proposed new program.
- Determine if program is duplicative the proposing institution must obtain letters of no contest from other nearby University System of Georgia institutions.
- Identify outcomes for students who complete the proposed program, i.e. knowledge skills, values and competencies to be demonstrated by graduates, career opportunities.
- Demonstrate full financial program support through institutional commitment of resources sufficient to guarantee program excellence and/or the ability to obtain external resources.
- Identify highly qualified program faculty and enough full-time faculty to assure that the program will not be built on part-time or temporary faculty.
- Show, where appropriate, plans are in place for students to experience practica, internships, and clinical placements.
- Show how the proposing institution will help students complete their degrees in a timely manner.
- Provide evidence of the institutional resources that will be expended specifically for this program – i.e. personnel, library, equipment, laboratories, supplies & expenses, capital expenditures and other – at two critical times: a) program start-up, b) at the time of the program’s first comprehensive program review.
Process for Associate Degrees
The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia’s purpose in reviewing proposed new programs is to examine the new program proposal in the context of the BOR/USG academic operations, state needs, and the USG strategic plan. A primary goal of the BOR/USG is to offer high quality educational opportunities for the citizens of Georgia. With this goal in mind, new associate’s program proposals should use the process defined below.
Formal Proposal Submission Only
The institution’s only submission will take the form of a formal proposal for new associate degree programs. The document may be submitted electronically or via a mailed paper copy.
- Name of Institution, Institutional contact (President or Vice President for Academic Affairs), Institutional program contact, Name of Proposed Program, Degree, Major, CIP Code, and Start Date.
- Program classification
- Description and Objective of the Degree – one page abstract suitable for presentation to the BOR
- Degree inscription — Ensure that degree nomenclature is aligned with national, regional, and state norms as well as accrediting body prerequisites, where applicable, for the discipline with due consideration for accurate representation of the program content, facilitation of promotion and marketing, and consistency with nomenclature of similar degrees.
- Program fit to institutional mission and to nationally accepted trends in the discipline
- Addresses a need in discipline/geographic region/state, program duplication
- Curriculum
- Anticipated student learning and other outcomes for students
- Exceptions – Will this degree require an exception for the maximum hours allowed for a degree?
- Adequacy of core offerings to support new program
- Admissions criteria
- Administration
- Revenues and expenditures for the first three years
- Current institutional resources that will be expended specifically for this program – faculty, facilities, library resources, equipment, etc. at start-up and for comprehensive program review
- Future institutional resources that will be expended specifically for this program – faculty, facilities, library resources, equipment, etc.
- Accreditation (if applicable)
- Projected enrollment for the first three years of the program
- Projected costs for the first three years of the program
- Projected revenue for the first three years of the program
- Facilities implications of this program
- Inventory of faculty directly involved. For each faculty member, give the following data: name, rank, highest degree, degrees earned, academic discipline, current workload for typical semester, explanation of how workload will be impacted with the addition of proposed program; expected responsibilities in this program. If it will be necessary to add faculty in order to begin the program, give the desired qualifications of the persons to be added, with a timetable for adding new faculty and plan for funding new positions.
Review by System Office of the Board of Regents, University System of Georgia
Upon receipt at the System Office, the new program proposal will be posted on the web site for information and institutional feedback. The system office review is based on the criteria for evaluation. The Office of Academic Programs will also consult the appropriate Regents Advisory Committee (disciplinary committee) for additional review of the curriculum. The program review staff will make a recommendation regarding acceptance of the proposal to the University System Chief Academic Officer & Executive Vice Chancellor.
System-wide Review
As part of the process for reviewing letter of intent and formal proposals, the Office of Academic Affairs will disseminate to all University System of Georgia institutions, on a regular basis, a list of program proposals under consideration, and will invite interested parties to request a copy of the proposal for review and comment. Information received through this process will be considered in evaluating the proposal.
Follow-up Review
Should the program be approved, it will, during its seventh year of operation, undergo a review by the University System of Georgia Office of Academic Affairs commensurate with the institution’s comprehensive program review timetable. This review will evaluate how well the program is meeting the expectations that were laid out in the formal proposal.