Certificates are classified by the level of the courses being offered for the certificate.

Transcription

1 Certificates A certificate is an academic credential consisting of courses offered for credit. All certificates, as well as certificates of completion, must be reported to SCHEV in accordance with SCHEV policy. In general certificates are not degrees. The post-master s certificate is the only degree-level academic program. Certificates fall under federal gainful employment guidelines. Certificates that are taken along with an existing degree program are not subject to the job preparation and career advancement sections of the gainful employment regulations. Certificates are classified by the level of the courses being offered for the certificate. Undergraduate certificates consist entirely of undergraduate-level courses (400-level or below). Post-baccalaureate certificates consist of a mixture of undergraduate and graduate courses (300- to 600-level courses). Graduate certificates consist entirely of graduate level courses (500-level and above). Post-master s certificates consist of courses at the 700 level and above according to SCHEV standards. These are considered full degree programs and must be approved by SCHEV council. Certificates of completion are certificate programs that are completed in conjunction with a degree-granting program. Students are not permitted to receive a certificate of completion without completing the degree program. 1 Certificates are reported to SCHEV as notification. However, if the proposal or the program is not sufficiently supported, SCHEV will not accept notification of the certificate and the certificate cannot be offered. Certificates in the same discipline, classified by through the Classification of Instructional Programs code, cannot be offered at the same level. This means that if a program wishes to have a post-baccalaureate certificate in accounting at the undergraduate level and a post-baccalaureate certificate at the graduate level, these certificates cannot be offered as two separate certificates because they are both postbaccalaureate certificates. They are at the same IPEDS 2 degree level, share the same CIP code and therefore are indistinguishable from one another in nationwide reporting systems. 1 Allowing students to receive a certificate of completion without completing the associated degree makes the certificate subject to federal gainful employment regulations. This means that the certificate of completion must prepare a student for a particular job or for demonstrable career advancement. 2 IPEDS is the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System used to classify and compare academic programs in the United States.

2 Approval levels for certificates All certificates, including certificates of completion, graduate and undergraduate certificates, postbaccalaureate certificates and post-master s certificates, must be approved by the Board of Visitors. The approval process is outlined below. Certificate approval begins with the university curriculum committees. All curricular actions require the appropriate university curriculum committee forms accompanied by a certificate preparation template for VCU s internal approval process. This template is available online and must be completed for the certificate to proceed through the approval process. All certificates are reported to SCHEV and SACSCOC. However, post-master s certificates require the preparation of a full SCHEV proposal for SCHEV staff approval. All new certificates must have the completed SCHEV certificate reporting template as well as the executive summary to move through the approval process beyond the university curriculum committees. See the Approval Levels Guide Book for detailed information on the requirements for the approval process. Interdisciplinary certificates as well as those certificates that cross or overlap other disciplines also require letters of support from the deans of the programs the certificate crosses even when no faculty are being utilized from another school/college. Approval of a certificate can take up to one academic year. Please refer to the Approval Levels Guide Book for detailed information. Note: Developing a certificate of completion, certificate (at any level) or continuing education certificate of completion in an academic area for which there is no existing degree program will require a substantive change prospectus to be submitted to SACSCOC for approval prior to program initiation. Reporting requirements for certificates Ties to financial aid

3 In November 2012, the federal government changed the reporting requirements for certificates as well as what qualifies a certificate program for financial aid for students enrolled in the program. New requirements necessitate that the information in the following table be reported. Table 1: Reporting requirements for certificates and responsible offices Reporting requirement Office responsible for providing information How much does the program cost? Student Accounting and Financial Aid How much debt is incurred by the program? Office of Planning and Decision Support 3 What are the employment options? Office of Planning and Decision Support 4 Where are the students employed? Program offering the certificate 5 How long will it take the student to complete the program? Credit hours required for the certificate Program offering the certificate Program offering the certificate In addition to reporting the above information, all of the information in the table must be posted on a website. However, the information is provided by Strategic Enrollment Management in a set format and will be posted on each program s website as required by federal regulations. In order for students in the certificate program to be eligible for financial aid for completing the program, the SACSCOC and SCHEV approval letters must be sent to the Department of Education by the financial aid office. This is especially important for post-baccalaureate certificate programs. Certificates fall under the federal government s gainful employment regulations. For additional information about gainful employment see the U.S. Department of Education s regulations related to programs that must lead to gainful employment under Title IV of the Higher Education Act. 3 This number is based upon the actual loan dollars students apply for and receive. 4 This data is based on the CIP code for the program. 5 This requires tracking by the program. The program must indicate if they have to report replacement rates to an accrediting body and the name of the accrediting body to which they report.

4 Preparing a certificate proposal 6 Program length Certificate programs typically comprise less than one half of the credit hour requirements for the most closely related degree program. For example, a graduate certificate in public health would require 15 credit hours, which is roughly one third of the 42 credit hour requirement for the Master of Public Health degree. There are, therefore, no specific guidelines on the number of credit hour requirements for a certificate program. Rather, the credit hours required for the certificate are dictated by the disciplinary degree requirements. Requests for exceptions to these guidelines may be taken up on a case by case basis. When creating two certificates in the same area at differing levels, for example a certificate of completion and a post-baccalaureate certificate, the certificates should only share a portion of the curriculum. The courses for the higher level certificate should have a more advanced curriculum; meaning, if courses for an undergraduate certificate of completion are at the 200- to 300-level, then courses for the undergraduate post-baccalaureate certificate should be at the 300- to 400-level, but can include a limited number of courses at the lower certificate level. Keep in mind that university policy states that only a limited number of courses can be used towards multiple academic awards. Method of instruction Certificate programs should be delivered in the same format as all other courses offered by the home department or program. At VCU, this is traditionally the face to face lecture style (synchronous) course. Online (either synchronous or asynchronous) courses are allowed and encouraged, but there are two important issues to consider when proposing online instruction: 1) accreditation and 2) state authorization. As per university accreditation guidelines published by SACSCOC, no program delivering more than 25 percent of credit hours via online instruction may be offered without prior approval from SACSCOC. Certificate programs based upon more than 25 percent of the credit hours delivered by online instruction should allow additional time in the approval process in order to obtain the necessary SACSCOC approvals. Programs should consult the SACSCOC document Best Practices for Electronically Offered Degree and Certificate Programs in the development of their proposal. Federal laws regulating state authorization to offer courses and/or degrees via online instruction may impact the ability of a program to offer online instruction in certain locations. These laws went into effect July 1, Programs should consult with the Office of Learning Innovation and Student Success and the Office of General Counsel to review whether or not VCU is authorized to deliver courses to students in the proposed states of instruction. 6 Adapted from Tulane University s Guidelines for New Certificate Programs.

5 Assessment As with all academic programs, learning objectives and program outcomes must be established and assessment methods must be designed for all certificate programs. The certificate program outcomes are often a subset of the outcomes for the most closely related degree program, however the assessment methods may be different. Certificate program developers are encouraged to contact the director of assessment and institutional effectiveness for assistance with their assessment plans. In all cases, a program outcomes assessment form must be developed and completed prior to the establishment of the certificate program. Certificate programs must also submit annual assessment plans in accordance with institutional procedures. For additional information on what needs to be included in a certificate proposal, see the certificate preparation template. Academic program review Once the certificate is through the approval process, it should be scheduled for academic program review through the office of the vice provost for academic and faculty affairs. Typically, certificate programs are reviewed at the same time as the related disciplinary degree programs in the unit. This could vary depending upon the timing of the approval. Once it is scheduled for academic program review, it will be automatically scheduled for assessment quality reviews on student learning outcomes assessment plans conducted by the Office of Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness. Academic program review is on a six-year cycle and assessment quality review is on a three-year cycle (twice within the six-year program review cycle). Closing a certificate program The same approval process for initiating a certificate program is used to close a certificate program. Upon approval by the Board of Visitors, notification of certificate closure is sent to SCHEV. Use the certificate closure template, along with an executive summary to have a certificate closed. Related documents and policies Certificate internal approval template SCHEV certificate reporting template SCHEV certificate closure template Cover sheet for SCHEV reporting of certificates U.S. Department of Education gainful employment guidelines SACSCOC policies on substantive change

6