Academic Planning and Programs
We provide guidance and oversight for a variety of academic administrative functions, including academic programs and courses, academic partnerships, and university accreditation.
Academic Program, Course, and Unit Approval Process
Academic units planning to create, modify, suspend, or discontinue academic programs must follow the campus Programs, Curricula, and Courses (PCC) procedures for review. Proposals to create, modify, or discontinue individual academic units must also follow PCC procedures. Individual courses are approved or modified by a different process: the Course Approval (VPAC) process. Important: even if an explicit statement in a program proposal indicates that a specific course will be modified, whether it is a change in restriction or the addition of a prerequisite or corequisite, a course modification proposal must also go through the regular course review process and approved before that statement can take effect.
Academic units that want to create, modify, suspend, or discontinue a program or course must use the online CourseLeaf Curriculum Management System (a.k.a. CIM, pronounced Kim). Please see our CIM help page for more information.
Proposals to create, modify, or discontinue academic units (such as departments or colleges) are not handled via CIM. Please contact our office at pcc-submissions@umd.edu for more information about submitting these kinds of proposals.
Submitting PCC Program Proposals with CourseLeaf (CIM)
Academic units that want to create, modify, suspend, or discontinue a program must use the online CourseLeaf Curriculum Management System (a.k.a. CIM, pronounced Kim). Academic program proposals move through different levels of approval via the CIM system. CIM makes it easy to find information on current programs as well as the status of submitted program proposals. The system is also integrated with both the Undergraduate Catalog and Graduate Catalog. Approved proposals will automatically update the next version of the catalog, eliminating the need to enter the same program information twice (once in the proposal and then a second time in the catalog).
Although proposals must be submitted through the CIM system, a worksheet based on the CIM proposal is provided to help prepare new program proposals. Please note that this worksheet is only provided to help formulate responses to the CIM proposal form prompts, and will not be accepted in lieu of the CIM proposal. A PCC Manual is also available for detailed information on the structure, content, and requirements for PCC proposals.
Please note that proposals to create, modify, or discontinue academic units (such as departments or colleges) will still be handled through a paper process. Please contact our office at pcc-submissions@umd.edu for more information about submitting these kinds of proposals.
Course Approval (VPAC) Process
In order to create a new course, modify an existing course, or retire an existing course, an academic unit must submit a proposal through the University's course review process. The process is also known as the "VPAC" process, named after the Vice President's Advisory Committee, the campus-level committee that reviews course proposals.
The course proposal, review, and approval process is entirely online. The CourseLeaf Curriculum Management System (a.k.a. CIM, pronounced Kim) is used for submitting and reviewing course proposals. Our CIM help page provides information about using this system.
COURSE REVIEW PROCESS
The VPAC course review process can be fairly quick and proposals are often completed within 6-8 weeks. Proposals normally originate in an academic department and require the following approvals:
- Review and approval by the Department Committee for Programs, Curricula and Courses (Department PCC)
- Review and approval by Department Chair
- Review and approval by the College/School Committee for Programs, Curricula and Courses (College PCC)
- Review and approval by the Dean (or the dean's delegate, who in most cases is also the college's VPAC Representative.)
- Initial review by the Provost's Representative for compliance with campus policies.
- Review by VPAC representatives, who identify any areas of concern.
- Final review and approval by the Provost's Representative. The proposal is then forwarded to the Office of the Registrar for implementation.
For details on individual proposals, including approved proposals and the status of proposals that have not yet been approved, faculty and staff may view the proposal in the CIM Course module. Contact our office for course proposal information from before Fall 2019.
