Comprehensive Standards: Educational Programs 3.4.10 (faculty responsibility for curriculum)
The institution places primary responsibility for the content, quality, and effectiveness of its curriculum with its faculty.

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

Explanation
NC State University complies with this standard by embracing a process of continual curriculum review, assessment and improvement of courses and degree programs by its faculty.  The documentation and procedures used to introduce, review, and revise courses, curricula and programs are faculty driven and initiated.   

Courses

New course development typically begins when the faculty recognize an unanswered need or new focus within a discipline.  A faculty member then prepares course documentation, which includes an explanation of the educational need for the course and interests of the students for whom the course is intended.  These two criteria-educational need and student interest-are primary justification for new courses at the university. 

 

Guidelines for preparing proposals for new courses or for revising existing courses are provided for undergraduate courses and graduate courses.  For a new course, the documentation explains the position of the course in the departmental sequence and the relationship of the course to similar courses within university.

 

For undergraduate courses, the documentation is submitted to the department head or program coordinator who then sends the proposal for review by the department's courses and curriculum committee, which is composed of faculty.  If the proposal is approved, it is then presented at a general faculty meeting for discussion and vote. Following departmental approval, the proposal is submitted to the college dean and the college-level courses and curriculum committee (also a faculty committee) for review and approval. 

 

The college-level curriculum committee consists of representatives from all departments within the college.  If approved, the proposal is then forwarded for final approval to the University Courses and Curriculum Committee (UCCC).  The UCCC consists of faculty representatives from all colleges within the university and is advisory to the provost.  It reviews undergraduate course and curriculum proposals, including academic minors, honors programs, and non-degree certificate programs.  In consultation with the college curriculum committees and the college deans, the committee develops policies and procedures for this purpose. 

 

The procedures for graduate courses is similar.  Faculty prepare documentation that is reviewed in the department by the Director of Graduate Programs and Department Head.  If approved, the proposal is forwarded to the College Graduate Studies Committee and, through the Graduate School, to the Administrative Board of the Graduate School.  Once approved by these two faculty committees, the proposal is forwarded to the Provost.

 

Degree Programs

The path for development and approval of proposals to establish or revise degree programs is the same as for courses outlined above.  It begins with the faculty in the department and passes through faculty committees at the department, college, and university levels.  A fuller description of the process for developing and achieving approval of new degree programs, including the faculty's role in this process, is included in the compliance report for Comprehensive Standards: Educational Programs #1. 

 

Programs are reviewed regularly by faculty committees at the department and university levels.  Details about program review and assessment processes are included in the compliance report for Comprehensive Standards: Institutional Mission, Governance, and Effectiveness #16.

 

Distance Education

The procedures and standards for development, review, and revision of distance education curricula are the same as for on-campus curricula.

Supplementary Information
More information about undergraduate curriculum assessment and Undergraduate Academic Program Review (UAPR) is included in the summary of assessment in undergraduate education that accompanies the Comprehensive Standards: Institutional Mission, Governance, and Effectiveness #16. Information about graduate program review is included in the summary of assessment in graduate education that accompanies the same compliance report.

References