Compliance Review

Defining General Education and Major Program Requirements

Since the early 1980s, Northwestern State University has maintained a “core curriculum” of general education requirements for every undergraduate student. The University’s Curriculum Review Council (CRC) is responsible for the definition and maintenance of these general education requirements as part of its role and responsibility. The CRC is chaired by the University provost and vice president for academic affairs. In 2005, he formed an ad hoc committee of deans and department heads to review the core curriculum, primarily to align it with the Louisiana Board of Regents (BoR) Academic Affairs Policy 2.16. This committee presented its recommendations through the provost and the University Academic Affairs Council to the CRC for approval in its September 2005 meeting (Part V).

Major program requirements are defined by the faculty and administration responsible for the program and conform to accepted standards. All programs eligible for accreditation are currently accredited by the respective national accrediting bodies and conform to requirements set by those bodies. Changes in major requirements are submitted by the department or college to the CRC, which has final approval.

Program requirements for graduate programs must receive approval of the Graduate Council (September 2005) reflect this approval process.

Publishing General Education and Major Program Requirements

The revised general education requirements will be published in the 2006-2007 University Catalog. However, they can be viewed at 2006-2007 Core Curriculum. This document also shows the competencies for general education that are further discussed in the response to Comprehensive Standard 3.5.1. Major program requirements are published in the University Catalog. At this link, choose the 2005-2006 catalog (in html format), and then click on the link to the Table of Contents. The major program requirements begin on page 40 (choose the appropriate college or department link from the table of contents). Program requirements for graduate degrees begin on page 117 (click the Graduate Studies link from the Table of Contents).

Major program requirements can also be accessed by faculty and students using the online degree audit in the University’s Student Information System, which displays program requirements and provides information about the student’s status in completion of requirements. Even with the online degree audit, most programs also provide and maintain curriculum sheets in student files located in the appropriate department.

Conformity to Requirements to Accepted Standards

All program requirements conform to BoR policies for general education and undergraduate certificates and degrees. They must include a minimum of 120 credit hours, including required general education courses.

The BoR stipulates in Academic Affairs Policy 2.13 procedures for national accreditation, including identifying mandatory, recommended, and optional agencies. Currently, all board-identified undergraduate and graduate programs at Northwestern that have an accrediting agency are approved by those agencies.

In addition, the University requires a rigorous and regular review of all programs without national accreditation requirements. This self-study process requires participation by external peer reviewers to ensure that programs are consistent with universally accepted academic standards. These external reviewers address and assess areas such as the department’s mission, program quality, the relationship between the program and other University programs, program characteristics, program support, diversity issues, and community outreach.