400.1
Adopted 05/23/24
Policy on Academic Program
Planning
I.
Purpose. North Carolina citizens
and institutions must be prepared to compete in a rapidly changing global
environment. Consistent with this mandate, the University of North Carolina
Board of Governors, the University System Office, and the constituent universities
shall be guided by the needs of the people of North Carolina in their academic
degree program development, approval, and discontinuation actions. Consistent
with the statutory mission of the University, the needs of the state are
understood to include but not be limited to ensuring graduates are equipped
with the knowledge, values, and skills necessary to lead responsible,
productive, and personally satisfying lives. Academic program planning and
procedures must be nimble, efficient, and responsive to those needs at all levels. To
do so, university leaders,
including but not limited to chancellors and their leadership teams, faculty
and staff senates, assemblies, and curriculum development committees, the
President and System Office staff, and members of the Board of Governors and
boards of trustees, should regularly assess the needs of the state and its
people; identify, develop, and approve degree programs that will be beneficial
to the state; and review existing academic degree programs to ensure continued
alignment to state needs.
II.
Roles and Responsibilities
A.
Constituent institutions. Constituent institutions shall have a lead role in identifying
academic program needs, in formulating proposals to meet those needs, and in
evaluating the alignment of their own academic program inventory with the needs
of the state.i
B.
UNC System Office. The UNC System Office shall
also engage in the identification of academic program needs across the
University, shall be the principal advisor to the Board of Governors regarding
academic program proposals received from constituent institutions, and shall
evaluate the University-wide academic program inventory as described in this
Policy. The UNC System Office shall develop procedures to regularly review
workforce and societal needs and, on at least a biennial basis, identify degrees
and programs beneficial to the state.
The UNC System Office shall also periodically draw on the expertise of the faculty
to identify longer-term emerging trends that may have implications for new degree
programs. In its analysis, the UNC System Office shall always consider whether
all regions of the state are adequately served by the University. As referenced
in this policy, the needs of the state and its citizens are inclusive of
requirements growing out of local, regional, national, and global challenges. The UNC System Office shall take a broad view
of state needs that includes both current skill demands as well as the
contributions that graduates make to the health, well-being, economic prosperity
and quality of life in the state.
C.
UNC Board of Governors. Per N.C. G.S. § 116-11(3), the Board of Governors shall determine
the functions, educational activities, and academic programs of the constituent
institutions, including the degrees to be awarded. The Board shall: consider
the alignment between the University System’s academic program portfolio and
emerging workforce and societal needs at least
every two years; review and approve all proposals for new degree programs put forward by constituent universities; and consider
the productivity, quality,
and efficiency of academic
degree programs System-wide on a biennial basis.
III.
Assessing the Needs of the State.
A.
The UNC System
Office shall, in consultation with the Board
of Governors, regularly review workforce and societal needs and identify:
i.
emerging labor market demands;
ii.
the alignment between the System’s academic program
portfolio and the labor market demands;
iii.
trends in employment outcomes for graduates by program of study; and
iv.
new and expandable degree and credential programs
that would be beneficial to the state.
B.
The UNC System Office shall also periodically
draw on experts, including academic leaders, faculty, and staff at constituent
institutions, to identify longer-term emerging trends that may have
implications for new degree programs.
C.
In its analysis, the UNC System Office shall
consider whether all regions of the state are adequately served by the
University. As referenced in this policy, the needs of the state and its
citizens are inclusive of requirements growing out of local, regional,
national, and global challenges.
D.
In April
2026 and at least every other year thereafter, the UNC System
Office shall present a report to the Board of
Governors that summarizes the emerging needs of the state.
IV.
Academic Program Development and Approval.
A.
Identification
of academic program
needs. Academic needs may be identified by the UNC System Office or by one or more
constituent institutions.
i.
Needs identified by the System Office. All constituent institutions shall have an
opportunity to participate in a process for recommending the best way to
address academic program needs identified by the System Office. Disciplinary
and cross- disciplinary processes that utilize campus faculty and
administrators shall be established to recommend whether expansion of a current
degree program, collaboration between campuses on a program, an online degree
program, or a stand-alone degree
program is the best
option. Campuses are urged to give high priority to collaborative program
development. The System Office shall balance responsiveness with due diligence
and a state-wide perspective. In achieving this balance, the System Office
shall develop expedited program review
processes for rapid response where warranted. The campuses’
faculty and administration and the System Office shall assure a continuing
commitment to academic excellence.
ii.
Needs identified by constituent institutions. Constituent institutions may propose
for consideration by the Board new academic programs, or changes to delivery
modality or delivery location of existing programs, designed to fill needs they
have identified, in accordance with UNC Policy Manual section 400.1.1[R].
B.
Presentation to the Board. Once academic program
needs are identified by the campuses or by the System
Office, the System
Office, in consultation with the campuses, shall forward, after appropriate review, recommendations
to the Board of Governors regarding how best to meet those needs.
C.
Principles for academic program development. In
these processes, faculty expertise is essential for sound academic decision
making at the campus and system levels. At the campus, disciplinary, cross-disciplinary, University, and board levels,
analysis, and recommendation of the need for a new academic program,
the place for its establishment, and the method
of its delivery shall be based on:
i.
number, location, and mode of delivery of existing programs;
ii.
the relation of the program
to the distinctiveness of the campus and the mission of the campus;
iii.
student demand for the program
in the locality, region, or state as a whole;
iv.
whether the program
would create unnecessary duplication;
v.
detailed regional or state economic data on
employment opportunities for program graduates at the degree level proposed;
vi.
faculty quality and number for offering the program;
vii.
the availability of campus resources (library,
space, labs, equipment, external funding, and the like) to support the program,
and five years of projected revenues and expenses associated with the program;
viii.
the number and quality of lower-level and
cognate programs for supporting the new program;
ix.
impact of program decision on access and
affordability, including a reasonable comparison of the expected
earnings of graduates
with the projected
costs of earning
the degree and/or the projected amount
of debt a student may incur (return
on investment);,
x.
the expected academic
quality of the proposed degree
program;
xi.
the feasibility
of a joint or collaborative program by two or more campuses;
xii.
the contribution of the program to professions
that are critical to the health, educational attainment, and quality of life of
North Carolinians; and
xiii.
any other consideration relevant to the need for the program.
V.
Review and Evaluation of Existing Academic
Programs.
A.
Campus-level
review of academic
programs. Primary responsibility for quality, efficiency, and productivity of academic
degree programs rests at the campus level.
i.
Academic Program Review. Chancellors shall regularly review their institution’s academic
programming to ensure the maintenance of a sound and balanced educational
program that is consistent with the functions and mission of the
institution. Chancellors shall be
prepared to expand, contract, or discontinue programs based upon that review. To
do so, chancellors shall review all academic degree programs at least once
every seven years from the date of the preceding review or from the
implementation date of a new academic program, or on such schedule as the
President may prescribe by regulation.
ii.
These Academic Program
Reviews shall evaluate:
a.
Current and projected student demand, as
measured by enrollments in the majors and degrees produced;
b.
Current and projected workforce demand, as measured by projected job growth and existing data on student
employment outcomes;
c.
Student outcomes, including persistence, graduation, time to degree, and, where possible,
post-graduation success;
d.
Program costs and productivity, including research, scholarship, and
creative activity and student credit hours produced compared to the number and cost
of faculty and staff;
e.
The contribution of the program to professions
that are critical to the health, educational attainment, and quality of life of
North Carolinians; and
f.
Any other considerations identified by the chancellor or by the President.
iii.
Each campus must establish and publish clearly
defined policies, procedures, and schedules for reviewing academic programs and for ensuring
continuous program improvement. These policies shall describe the process by which the Chancellor,
based on the results of an Academic Program Review, takes action to expand, contract, or eliminate an academic
program. These policies must further account for the faculty’s
role in shared governance regarding the development and review of the
curriculum consistent with the authority and expectations of the Chancellor
articulated in section 502D of the Code of the University of North Carolina. Academic Program Review policies must be
approved by campus Boards of Trustees and sent to the UNC System Office by January
1, 2025.
iv.
Summary reports of all Academic Program Reviews
shall be reviewed by Boards of Trustees and then submitted annually to the President.
The first summary report, focused on the initial
subset of programs
reviewed by each campus, shall
be due to the President
by January 31, 2026.
v.
A review made for another entity, including but
not limited to a programmatic accreditor or a professional licensing board,
which satisfies section V(A)(ii) of this policy may be submitted to the
President in lieu of a separate report.
If a review made for another entity partially satisfies section V(A)(ii)
of this policy, the institution may supplement that review so that it satisfies
section V(A)(ii) of this policy and submit that supplemented review to the
President.
B.
System-level review of academic program
productivity. The System Office shall be responsible for periodic reviews
to determine whether
productivity and quality
review processes are
followed, and benchmarks are met.
i.
Biennial Program Productivity Review. In
collaboration with the campuses, the System Office shall identify standards
for degree program
productivity and, on a biennial basis, evaluate the full portfolio of academic programs
across the System
based on those standards.
ii.
The Biennial Program
Productivity Review shall include data on key measures of productivity, including student
demand, credentials produced, post-graduation employment and earnings, return
on investment, and other considerations.
iii. Each Biennial
Program Productivity Review
shall also evaluate
the projections made by
the campus and the System
Office as to those matters
found in section
4(c) of this Policy
for programs approved by the Board in the preceding two years.
iv. The Biennial
Program Productivity Review shall be presented to the Board of Governors
in April 2025 and every other April thereafter.
VI. Other Matters.
A.
Effective date. The
requirements of this policy shall be effective on the date of adoption of this
policy by the Board of Governors.
B.
Relation to state
laws. The forgoing policy as adopted
by the Board of Governors is meant to supplement, and does not purport to
supplant or modify, those statutory enactments which may govern or relate to
the subject matter of this policy.
C.
Regulations and Guidelines. This policy shall be
implemented and applied in accordance with such regulations and guidelines as
may be adopted from time to time by the President.