Purpose: To direct decision-making regarding the development, approval and management of credit-based academic programs. 

 Academic award
A certificate, diploma or degree.

Academic program
A cohesive arrangement of college-level curricular requirements leading to an academic award.

Academic program inventory
The official list of academic programs offered by colleges and universities.

Credit
A unit of measure assigned to a college or university course or an equivalent learning experience that takes into consideration achieved student learning outcomes and instructional time.

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities provide learning opportunities to develop graduates who are:

a.     prepared for work, life, and citizenship;

b.     creative, innovative, and able to respond with agility to new ideas, new technologies, and new global relationships;

c.     able to lead their professions and adapt to the multiple careers they will have over their lifetimes;

d.     able to think independently and critically and resourcefully apply knowledge to new problems;

e.     able to embrace change and be comfortable with ambiguity; and,

f.      able to communicate and work effectively across cultural and geographic boundaries.

Normandale Community College confers undergraduate certificates and the following degrees: associate of arts, associate of fine arts, associate of science, and associate of applied science.

Approval by the Board of Trustees is required for a college or university to confer an academic award type for which specific authority is not granted in this policy.

Approval of the chancellor is required for establishment of a location at which an academic program may be offered.

Approval of the chancellor is required for new academic programs, changes to existing academic programs, suspension of academic programs, and closure of academic programs. Normandale Community College shall only offer academic programs that are approved by the chancellor and recorded in the academic program inventory.

The chancellor shall maintain the academic program inventory and annually report to the Board on the status of the inventory.

A college or university shall provide a student admitted to an academic program an opportunity, consistent with college or university policy, to complete the academic program when it is suspended or closed or when the requirements have changed.

Normandale shall regularly review its academic programs for the purpose of academic planning and improvement.

The chancellor may conduct statewide or regional reviews of academic programs or program clusters, report findings to the board and, when necessary, impose conditions on academic programs.