OVERVIEW OF CURRICULUM/COURSE CHANGES

All changes to courses or programs that would result in a change to the USC Graduate or Undergraduate Studies Bulletin, must be approved throughout the College and, ultimately, by either the Faculty Senate (undergraduate through 600-level courses) and/or the Graduate Council (courses offered at the graduate level).  Offering existing courses through telecommunications or the internet must also be approved by the College and the Graduate Council/Faculty Senate.

In addition, major modifications to programs must also be approved by South Carolina's Commission on Higher Education (CHE). Major modifications include changes to program titles, addition or deletion of programs, addition or deletion of options or concentrations, major curricular changes within programs, and offering existing programs via distance education.  The Provost is USC's representative to the CHE, but s/he is typically represented by the Associate Provost, Dean of the Graduate School.

Revisions to the proposed course/program changes are commonly required/suggested at each stage of the approval process.  Given the many layers of approval, course/program changes often require a full academic year to proceed through the entire system. Most of the approving bodies (e.g, COE Basic Programs Curriculum Committee, COE Advanced Programs Governance Committee, Graduate Council, Commission on Higher Education) publish schedules each year indicating due dates for materials to be submitted for their consideration. Most schedules are available through the COE's Office of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and the COE web page.

See also, steps and procedures for program/course changes.