Comprehensive Standards: Educational Programs #17 (advanced graduate programs)
The institution’s post-baccalaureate professional degree programs, and its master’s and doctoral programs are progressively more advanced in academic content than undergraduate programs.

Compliance
North Carolina State University is in compliance with this standard.

Explanation
Graduate programs at NC State University are progressively more advanced than corresponding undergraduate ones.  First, graduate programs are based on a core of rigorous graduate courses.  Further, the university’s graduate programs require students to produce significant and individual contributions to scholarship.  Finally, most of the university’s graduate programs require comprehensive examinations.  NC State University ensures that the programs are consistent with commonly accepted standards for graduate study through internal and external review.

Graduate courses at NC State are numbered at the 500-, 600-, 700-, and 800-levels.  400-level courses are considered advanced senior courses.  Master’s courses are numbered at the 500- and 600-level, while doctoral courses are numbered at the 700- and 800-level.

Graduate students are restricted in the number of undergraduate classes they can take.  Master’s students may take up to ten hours of 400-level courses while completing their program, as long as the courses are not in the same field as the master’s degree.  While the Graduate School does not specify credit requirements for doctoral students, individual departments ensure that their doctoral programs require more advanced coursework than their master’s programs.

All master’s degree programs at NC State University are planned with the objective of making possible a reasonable, comprehensive mastery of a chosen field. In most cases, the master’s programs also provide training and experience in research to familiarize the student with the methods, ideals and goals of independent investigation. 

The doctoral degree indicates the recipient’s ability to undertake original research and scholarly work at the highest levels without supervision.  Recipients receive the degree only after demonstrating a comprehensive knowledge and extensive scholarship in a specialized field of study.  The student demonstrates this ability by passing a series of comprehensive preliminary examinations in the field of specialization and related areas of knowledge, by writing a dissertation reporting the results of an original investigation, and by successfully defending the dissertation.

To ensure that its post-baccalaureate programs are appropriately more advanced than its undergraduate programs, NC State University uses both internal and external reviews.

All graduate classes are evaluated by the Administrative Board of the Graduate School.  As the advisory body to the dean of the Graduate School, the administrative board reviews all course proposals at the graduate level, reviews all requests for new program proposals, and reviews and develops Graduate School policy. This review, as well as internal reviews by the academic departments, ensures that the academic content of graduate programs is significantly more advanced than that of similar undergraduate classes.

Besides these internal reviews, NC State University also uses external faculty review to ensure that its graduate programs are appropriately and progressively more rigorous.  Graduate faculty from peer institutions are invited to review the university’s graduate programs and make recommendations.  These recommendations ensure that master’s and doctoral programs at NC State University follow professional standards for graduate programs. 

The information contained in this report applies equally to on-campus and distance education programs.    

References

• Graduate Administrative Handbook (http://www.fis.ncsu.edu/grad_publicns/handbook/) contains information about Graduate School functions, resources, rules, regulations, and procedures

• An overview of the university’s master’s and doctoral programs is available in the Graduate Catalog (http://www.fis.ncsu.edu/grad_catalog/cat-gp.htm)

• A paragraph-length description of NC State University’s Graduate programs (http://www.fis.ncsu.edu/grad_catalog/frt-gp1.htm#MSMA)

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