Central Administration Procedure on Implementing New Academic Programs

Academic Affairs   |   Approved July 13, 2017

Purpose

To respond to the need for a standardized process for entering new academic programs in the University’s administrative IT systems.

Applicability

Employees on campus involved in entering and maintaining academic programs in Banner and related systems.

This procedure sets forth the steps to be followed when a School at the University of Maryland, Baltimore develops a new academic program proposal for submission to the Maryland Commission on Higher Education (MHEC).

Informing Central Administration staff of a School’s timeline to establish a proposed academic program will allow adequate time for the program to be entered into University systems before the School begins accepting applications.

DEFINITIONS

Banner: An information system utilized to manage student enrollment, financial aid, admissions, and student billing.

Cross Functional Team: University personnel who enter and administer academic programs in Banner. The team members are the Bursar, Registrar, Assistant Vice President of Student Financial Assistance and Education, and the Assistant Director of Student Enterprise Applications.

Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) Codes: An identifier for each academic program, based on a schematic developed by the National Center for Education Statistics.

Instructions

1. The School communicates to the Chief of Staff, Academic Affairs and the Graduate School, its intention to submit a new program proposal to the University System of Maryland (USM) and Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC).
2. The Chief of Staff shares the School’s plans with the proposal stakeholders (the Chief Academic and Research Officer; the Vice President of Planning and Operations; and the Cross Functional Team).
3. The School meets with members of the Cross Functional Team. Their roles and some of the information that should be considered before the meeting are listed below. 
   1. Bursar
      • How will students in the new program be registered?
      • Will students be charged an existing tuition rate or has a different tuition/fee schedule been submitted to the BOR?
   2. Assistant Vice President, Student Financial Assistance and Education
      • Is this a Certificate, Bachelor’s, Master’s, or First Professional Degree program? If it is a certificate program, it will take one year to secure financial aid.
   3. Registrar
      • The Registrar’s questions, if any, are contingent upon the School’s proposal, and will be asked should additional information be required.
   4. Assistant Director, Student Enterprise Applications
      • Is this a Certificate, Bachelor’s, Master’s, or First Professional Degree program?
      • How many credit hours will students need to complete to earn the degree?
      • Is it a brick-and-mortar or online program?
      • Where will the program be offered? (UMB’s three locations recognized by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education are Baltimore, USG, and the UMCP Computer Science Instructional Center)
      • How will the program be laid out in the Academic Calendar?
      • What department will the major be associated?
      • What will be the description for the major (30 characters maximum)?
4. When the Chief of Staff receives the School’s letter of intent (if applicable), and it has been approved by the Chief Academic and Research Officer and the Vice President of Planning and Operations, the Chief of Staff forwards it to USM, and copies the Cross Functional Team.
5. USM circulates the letter of intent to USM institutions and provides them with a three-week comment period to voice concerns or raise questions about the program.
6. At the end of the comment period, the Chief of Staff notifies the proposal stakeholders of whether or not any institutions raised concerns and, if so, how they will be addressed.
7. When the School finalizes the proposal, and it is ready for submission, the Chief of Staff sends it to USM and MHEC, and copies the proposal stakeholders. The Chief of Staff apprises proposal stakeholders of any issues or delays regarding the proposal.
8. When received, the Chief of Staff forwards USM’s and MHEC’s approval letters to proposal stakeholders.

It should be noted that:

1. New proposals should not be advertised or promoted before MHEC approval is given, unless the Commission grants permission in writing to market the program.
2. MHEC approval is needed in order to turn on the curriculum information in Banner because the CIP codes received from MHEC are needed by the International Office, Institutional Research and reporting to the Clearing House and the Federal Government.