COURSE LIFECYCLE –NEW COURSEWORK PROGRAM PROCEDURES
Parent Policy Title Course Lifecycle Policy
Associated Documents
Course Lifecycle – all procedures
Course Lifecycle – Course Suspension and Closure Policy and Procedures Undergraduate Curriculum Design Policy and Procedures
Graduate Capabilities Policy and Procedures
Credit Points and Course Structure Policy and Procedures Majors and Minors Policy and Procedures
Coursework Masters Policy and Procedures
Double, Combined, Dual and Joint Qualifications Policy and Procedures Nested Qualifications Policy and Procedures
Service Teaching Policy and Procedures
Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 Future Ready: Strategic Plan 2013-2017
Preamble The University will apply consistent principles and procedures to guide the University community in the approval of new courses.
General
This process for the approval of new courses will ensure the assessment, prior to approval, of:
• academic values and the application of quality design standards AND
• potential market, direct, indirect and opportunity costs and the likely business success.
Table of Contents Item Section
Identification of New Course Opportunities and Proposing College
1
Approval of a new Coursework Program 2
Submission to Course Portfolio and Scholarships Committee 3 Basis for Course Portfolio & Scholarships Committee
decision
4
Course Concept 5
CPSC deliberation 6
If further Market research is required 7
CPSC Advice to Colleges 8
Academic Approval - Accreditation 9
New Subjects in Course Proposal 11
Completion of Course Proposal 12
Consultation with other Areas of the University 13
Consultation with Students 14
Double or Nested qualifications approval processes 15
Course structure information 16
Coursework Committee Decision 17
Referral of matters to the Education Committee 18
Coursework Committee advice to Colleges 19
Academic Board Decision 20
Academic Board advice to Colleges 21
Fast Tracking of Approvals Processes 22
Circumstances which may allow Fast-Tracking of Processes 23
Inclusion in Tertiary Application Centre Guides 24
Critical Dates for course approvals for inclusion in TAC guides
25 Annual Cut-off Dates for Approval of Courses to be Offered in the Following Year
26 1. Identification of New Course Opportunities and Proposing College
New course opportunities may be identified by a College or may be
commissioned by the Course Portfolio and Scholarships Committee (CPSC) of the Planning and Resources Committee (PRC).
In circumstances where more than one School and/or College are proposing the course together, one College and one School should be identified as the Proposing College and Proposing School. This needs to be indicated on each form, and references in this document are to the Proposing
College/School /etc. Responsibility for preparing all documentation lies with the Proposing College.
In cases where course opportunities are commissioned by the CPSC, initial market research is the responsibility of the CPSC, in consultation with the relevant College. Once a case for a new course is established and a commission endorsed, preparation will then be undertaken by the relevant College with appropriate support and advice from CPSC and its central operational arm.
2. Approval of a new
Coursework Program
There are two components to the approval of all new Coursework Program Proposals.
• Management Process: Strategic Load Planning and Course Viability under the oversight of CPSC
• Academic Governance Process: Accreditation under the oversight of the Coursework Committee and the Academic Board
3. Submission to Course
Portfolio and Scholarships Committee
Colleges are required to submit the following documents to CPSC:
• A Course Concept Form
• The Business Case Calculator
• A Due Diligence form (if there are new institutional partners to the proposed course)
The Colleges may also include other information relevant to the proposal, such as any market research they have initiated that goes beyond the minimum requirements contained on the Concept form.
These should be accompanied by the Report of College Planning and Resources Committee recording endorsement and referral to the CPSC. The Business Case Calculator is an Excel spreadsheet which can be found on the Course Lifecycles intranet website. The Business Case Calculator should be completed by the College Financial Officer, who will consult with Finance during its completion, prior to its presentation to the College PRC.
4. Basis for CPSC decisions
The CPSC appraisal of each Course Concept will be informed by the following:
• Does the course align with the University’s Strategic Course Profile?
• Is there compelling evidence that the course will be financially viable?
• Is there evidence that the course will meet the needs and demands of potential students, the professions, industry and/or government?
5. Course Concept
A Course Concept may be initiated by:
• A College staff member, having conceived of an idea and discussed it with relevant Heads of School, would prepare a Course Concept form
• CPSC advice to the College of potential courses, after which relevant College staff prepare a Course Concept form.
College approval for the Course Concept is required prior to its presentation to CPSC. This should be via the College Planning and Resources Committee but a Chair of the College PRC may approve a Course Concept out of
session locally, in accordance with the Fast Track processes outlined below.
6. Course Portfolio & Scholarships Committee (CPSC) – deliberation
CPSC will make a decision about the prospects of the course based on the documentation presented and:
• endorse the proposal if the documentation provided demonstrates the viability of the proposed course;
OR
• defer endorsement subject to further market research being provided; OR
• reject the proposal.
7. If further Market Research is required
If further market research is required, the College will send the concept to the Market Research Unit for preparation of a full market research report. Once the market research is completed, the College returns all documentation to CPSC for a final decision (or the SDVC, as Chair, if a fast track process is
required). This includes:
• Course Concept form;
• Business Case Calculator;
• Market Research Report; and
• Due Diligence form (if there are new institutional partners to the proposed course).
8. CPSC advice to Colleges
The Executive Officer of CPSC will advise the course proponent and the relevant College Curriculum Project Leader of course-related decisions in writing, usually in the form of an extract from the draft minutes of the meeting, with a copy to the Executive Officer of the Coursework Committee.
9. Academic Approval / Accreditation
The academic approval process is concerned with evaluating the academic merit of the course. Proposals normally enter this process after the CPSC(or the Chair, in the case of fast tracking of CPSC processes) has endorsed the proposal. If the College is very confident of the evidence of demand and sustainability it is permissible to start this process at the same time as the CPSC process is being started.
10. Academic Governance steps for new courses
The relevant School Advisory Group should be involved in the development of any new course.
The College Coursework Committee will consider the academic merit and suitability of the proposal (in a similar manner to the consideration given by the Coursework Committee).
After the College Coursework Committee endorsement, the College
Academic Committee must also endorse the proposal and a College Referral Report must be included with the submission of the proposal to the
Coursework Committee.
The Coursework Committee will consider the academic merit of the proposal, and its compliance with University policies.
Once endorsed by the Coursework Committee, a proposal may be referred to the Education Committee if there are matters of policy to consider.
The Academic Board will approve the course.
11. New Subjects in Course Proposal
New subjects are approved at College level.
However, when a new course is being proposed, subject templates should be completed and attached to the course proposal for any new subjects required during the first year of teaching. This will usually be new first year subjects, but should include later year subjects if advanced standing into the course is anticipated. This is to allow the Coursework Committee to assure itself that the program is aligned with the principles of good course design.
Any new subjects not intended to be taught during the first year of offering the course must still be included by name and subject code on the Course Proposal.
12. Completion of Course
Proposal
All fields in the Course proposal documentation must be completed. Committees may decline to accept any proposal that is not complete.
13. Consultation with other areas of the University
Throughout the process of preparing the New Coursework Program Proposal, other areas of the University must be consulted. This includes discussions with:
• ICT – availability (or inclusion in budget) of adequate ICT resources
• Library – availability (or inclusion in budget) of adequate library resources
• Buildings and Grounds – availability of teaching space
• Student Services and Administration – assistance with Academic
Services policy interpretation and compliance (Academic Services Policy staff) and administrative matters including ASCED codes and disciplines, course nomenclature, SIS questions etc
• La Trobe International – the proposal must be endorsed by the Executive Director, LTI for its compliance with the Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Act
• Other College/Schools as necessary – for cross-disciplinary courses, service teaching matters etc.
• College Regional Coordinator(s) – impact on regions of the proposed new course, including method of delivery
14. Consultation with Students
Students should be consulted on course proposals, normally through the relevant College committees.
15. Double or Nested
qualifications approval processes
Where approval is sought for Double or Nested qualifications involving existing approved awards and where there are no additional resources required, the academic approval process comprises a simple request to the Coursework Committee to approve the combination, demonstrating that the workload and other requirements meet those in the Double Qualifications Policy and/or the Nested Qualifications Policy.
If any part of the combination is a new award, in recognition of potential resource implications, both elements of the normal course approval processes must be followed.
16. Course Structure Information
If there are defined majors and minors, information about each of these must form part of the proposal.
Where a major or minor includes ‘core-choice’ subjects (for example at least one of three subjects must be taken), the number of required choices must be explained in the proposal.
For example:
“XYZ111, XZY111 and XBC111 are all core-choice subjects, of which 2 out of the three must be completed.”
17. Coursework Committee
Decision a) endorse the Course Proposal and refer it to the Academic Board for approval;
OR
b) defer a final decision, pending a response to its request for additional information from the College or advice from CPSC; OR
c) in exceptional cases refer the course proposal to the Education Committee
OR
d) decline to endorse the Course Proposal and refer the reasons for its decision to the Academic Board for its consideration.
18. Referral of matters to the Education Committee
In situations where the Course Proposal raises issues of policy, these matters will be referred by the Coursework Committee to the Education Committee for consideration.
In these circumstances, an additional step is added to the academic accreditation process, and Academic Board will receive the referral of the Education Committee (instead of the Coursework Committee) in that matter.
19. Coursework Committee advice to Colleges
The Executive Officer of the Coursework Committee will advise the College Curriculum Project Leader, the course proponent and the College
representative on the Coursework Committee of course-related decisions in writing, usually in the form of an extract from the draft minutes of the meeting.
20. Academic Board Decision
Academic Board will make a decision about the academic merit of the course based on the Course Proposal documentation available to it and, noting the recommendation of the Coursework Committee:
a) approve the Course Proposal; OR
b) request additional information from the Coursework Committee or the College;
OR
c) reject the Course Proposal.
21. Academic Board advice to Colleges
The Executive Officer of the Academic Board sends action memos (including references to course approvals) to the College General Managers with a request that all correspondence be distributed to the relevant parties within the College. Copies of the action memo are also sent to the Executive
Director Student Services and Administration and the Executive Director LTI.
22. Fast tracking of the approvals processes
In exceptional circumstances the College may request that one or more of the management or academic governance approvals processes be fast tracked. The submission and a memo explaining the exceptional
circumstances from the College Pro Vice-Chancellor should be presented to the respective Chair/s of the committees to whom an out of sessions
The approval of the Chair, will be recorded at the next scheduled meeting of the Committee under the agenda item, Matters Approved Out of Sessions, however, the date of approval is recorded at the time of certification by the Chair. 23. Circumstances which may allow Fast-Tracking of Processes
Examples of such circumstances are:
• Overwhelming evidence of potential market demand for a course
• Courses agreed by the College and the Vice-Chancellor or Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor as vital to contributing to the achievement of the University’s Strategic Plan
• Courses commissioned by the Commonwealth Government, in
consultation with the VC or SDVC, and nominated as being in areas of national importance.
24. Inclusion in Tertiary Application Centre Guides
A proposed new course may be included in the DRAFT version of the TAC Guides once the Course Concept has been approved by CPSC.
A new coursework program may remain in the final version of the Guides for the year only if it has had Academic Board approval and (if intending to offer the course to international students) a CRICOS code issued.
Courses for domestic students which have not received Academic Board approval before the deadlines indicated below will be WITHDRAWN from the Guides.
Courses for international students which have not received Academic Board approval AND CRICOS codes before the deadlines indicated below will be WITHDRAWN from the Guides.
Once a course has been withdrawn from the Guides it cannot be reactivated for that selection period.
25. Critical Dates for course approvals for inclusion in TAC guides
Timeliness is imperative and promotion of any program may be hampered by late approval.
In order to be included in the hard copy VTAC Guide for the following year, new undergraduate courses, undergraduate course closures or significant revisions to undergraduate courses must be approved no later than the
MAY Academic Board meeting each year, for offer (or closure) in the
following academic year.
This means that the matter must have been submitted to the April meeting of Coursework Committee, at the very latest.
For inclusion in the soft-copy VTAC Guide, approvals must be obtained no later than the June Academic Board meeting each year.
Postgraduate courses may have more flexibility and can be approved later in the year.
26. Annual Cut-off Dates for
In light of critical internal administrative procedures including availability of early on-line enrolments and timetabling, the following deadlines apply for
Courses to be Offered in the Following Year
• New Course Concept to CPSC by the April meeting
• New Coursework Program Proposal to Coursework Committee by the May meeting for submission to the June meeting of Academic Board. These cut-off dates assume approval by these committees. In cases where the course documentation is not regarded as adequate it is possible for courses not to be approved for offer in the following year.
Only in the most exceptional cases will these cut off dates be varied.
Status Revisions to management processes CPASC 19 February 2015. Reviewed and revised October 2014 (colleges/titles) approved by Academic Board 19 November 2014, minute reference (AB14/136(M)-477.3.5).
Previous approval and revisions:
• Revised April 2013 to re-align processes – Approved by Academic Board, 14 August 2013, minute 466.3.2.
• Additional section December 2012 to align with Service Teaching Policy and Procedures
• Minor amendments October 2011
• Academic Board 17 March 2010, Minute 438.3.3;
• minor amendments May 2010;
• Academic Board 11 February 2009, Minute 429.3.1(b)
The implementation of the latest version of these procedures supersedes all previous versions of these procedures.
Approval Body Academic Board
Initiating Body Programs Committee, now Coursework Committee
Definitions Academic values: scholarship, critical inquiry, integrity and excellence
Date Effective January 2009
Next Review Date January 2016
Keywords Course, approval, Course Portfolio and Scholarships Committee, Coursework Committee, proposal, concept, request
Owner/Sponsor Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Author Pro Vice-Chancellor (Educational Partnerships and Quality)
