Guidelines for New or Revised Programs

Approvals of New, Revised, and Eliminated Programs

To propose a new program, log into the Curriculum Inventory Management (CIM P/CIM Programs) system. Upon submission, CIM P will route the request for the necessary departmental, college, and campus workflow for review and approvals. For specific questions on using the CIM system, please contact Office of the Registrar at cmss-catalog@illinois.edu. Questions about programs should be directed to the Office of the Provost at bsnewell@illinois.edu.

Proposals to establish, revise, or eliminate undergraduate or graduate curricula require Senate approval and may require additional levels of review.

Sponsors can access the following CIM P resources via Box.

  • Academic Proposal Meeting Dates and Submission Deadlines document
  • Levels of Governance document
  • Guidelines to assist in completing a new or revised program proposal in CIM P
  • CIM P IBHE Templates
  • CIM Programs Overview powerpoint
  • Letters of Support/Acknowledgement Template

Units proposing graduate programs are encouraged to review Part II in the Graduate College Handbook.

CIM P ensures all proposals are reviewed for conformity to Senate guidelines and budgetary implications before forwarding them to the EPC for review. The EPC may recommend that the proposal be returned to the sponsor for revision; if so, the proposal will be rolled back to the sponsor in the system.

Upon approval by EPC, the proposal is submitted through CIM P to the Senate for review and consideration. If the Senate approves it, the proposal is sent on to the University Senates Conference for classification as a Type I (affecting this campus only) or Type II (affecting other University of Illinois campuses) item. Type II items must be reviewed and approved by the other affected University of Illinois campuses.

Depending on the nature of the proposal, it may also require notification to or approval of the Board of Trustees and/or the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE).

Once a proposal has been reviewed and approved at all the necessary levels of governance, CIM P auto-generates a formal approval and implementation notice on behalf of the Office of Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost, who will issue a formal approval and implementation letter. Please note that the proposed changes are not effective until the approval and implementation notice has been issued. The effective term will be the term subsequent to the approval date (e.g., an implementation notice received in October would have an earliest effective term of Spring unless otherwise indicated by the sponsor.

The Program Approval Process Flowchart is available as a guide for the entire process of review and approval at the university, Board of Trustees, and IBHE levels. Note that not all proposals require all levels of approval indicated on this chart. Units are strongly encouraged to consult with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost early in the process of preparing proposals to determine the level of approval that will be required.

Questions about using the CIM P system or program policies should be directed to Brooke Newell in the Office of the Provost.

While there are several reasons that a sponsor would seek a program revision in CIM P (including, but not limited to, revisions to coursework in the Program of Study, change in delivery modality, revision to corresponding programs), below is information on CIM P revisions that aren’t as common:

Changing CIP Code

For a sponsor seeking to change the CIP Code for their program, please reach out to Brooke Newell (bsnewell@illinois.edu) in the Office of the Provost and Emily Stuby (eastuby@illinois.edu) in DMI to discuss plans and process.

Seeking Temporary Suspension of Admission or Change to Non-Direct Admission for a program (up to five years)

Temporary Suspension of Admission and Change to Non-Direct Admission requests go through CIM Programs, as a Revision. Once the relevant form is completed, attach it to the Program of Study field.

Helpful CIM P Revision instructions are below.

  1. Find your program in CIM P and click the Edit the Program
  2. Fill in appropriate responses in all red-boxed fields on the CIM P form for a CIM P revision. Some key text to insert in certain fields is provided below.
    • Proposal Title – Temporary Suspension of Admission (or input Non-Direct Admission if applicable) to the [insert degree name] in [insert program name] in the College of XXXX (Example: Temporary Suspension of Admission to the Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training in the College of Applied Health Sciences)
    • Program Justification
      • “Provide a brief description of what changes are being made to the program” – We are requesting a [temporary suspension of admissions OR non-direct admission] to this program.“
      • Why are these changes necessary” – Discuss what has led to the [temporary suspension of admissions OR non-direct admission] and the timeline. If it is a current practice, describe how long it has been going on. If temporary suspension of admissions, describe the length of time requested for the suspension and why that length of time is appropriate.
  3. Attach the appropriate Temporary Suspension or Non-Direct Admission Form in the Program of Study
  4. A few questions are not red-boxed but are important for the suspension of admissions in the Admission Requirements section.
    • Desired Effective Admissions Term – select when you want the suspension to be effective. (This would also be the term you enter in Effective Catalog Term box under Proposal Title.)
    • Is this revision a change to the admission status of the program? – Mark ‘Yes’ and describe that this is a temporary suspension or non-direct admission.
  5. After you have reviewed and are ready to move the program through the approval process, click on the Start Workflow button at the bottom.

For approved Suspended Admission or Non-Direct Admission proposals, on an annual basis, sponsors will provide a status report of the suspension to the Office of the Provost.

Reactivation of a Program with Temporary Suspended Admission

Reactivation of Admission (Temporary Suspension) requests go through CIM Programs, as a Revision. Once the relevant form is completed, attach it to the Program of Study field.

Helpful CIM P Revision instructions are below.

  1. Find your program in CIM P and click the Edit the Program
  2. Fill in appropriate responses in all red-boxed fields on the CIM P form for a CIM P revision. Some key text to insert in certain fields is provided below.
    • Proposal Title – Reactivate admission to the [insert degree name] in [insert program name] in the College of XXXX (Example: Reactivate admission to the Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training in the College of Applied Health Sciences)
    • Program Justification
      • “Provide a brief description of what changes are being made to the program” – We are requesting to reactivate admission to this program, which currently has temporary suspension of admissions since (insert term and year).
      • “Why are these changes necessary” – Discuss how long the program has had temporary suspension of admission, why it was originally suspended (briefly) and what has led to the reactivation of the admission.
  3. Attach the completed Temporary Suspension Reactivation Form in the Program of Study
  4. A few questions are not red-boxed but are important for the reactivation of admissions in the Admission Requirements section.
    • Desired Effective Admissions Term – select when you want the reactivation of admissions to be effective. (This would also be the term you enter in Effective Catalog Term box under Proposal Title.)
    • Is this revision a change to the admission status of the program? – Mark ‘Yes’ and describe.
  5. After you have reviewed and are ready to move the program through the approval process, click on the Start Workflow button at the bottom.
Reactivation of a Program with Non-Direct Admission

Reactivation of Admission (Non-Direct Admission) requests go through CIM Programs, as a Revision.

Helpful CIM P Revision instructions are below.

  1. Find your program in CIM P and click the Edit the Program
  2. Fill in appropriate responses in all red-boxed fields on the CIM P form for a CIM P revision. Some key text to insert in certain fields is provided below.
    • Proposal Title – Reactivate admission to the [insert degree name] in [insert program name] in the College of XXXX (Example: Reactivate admission to the Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training in the College of Applied Health Sciences)
    • Program Justification
      • “Provide a brief description of what changes are being made to the program” – We are requesting to reactivate admission to this program, which has been non-direct admission since (Term Year).
      • “Why are these changes necessary” – Discuss how long the program has had non-direct admission, why it was changed to non-direct admission (briefly), and what has led to the reactivation of the admission.
  3. A few questions are not red-boxed but are important for the reactivation of admissions in the Admission Requirements section.
    • Desired Effective Admissions Term – select when you want the program to have direct admissions. (This would also be the term you enter in Effective Catalog Term box under Proposal Title.)
    • Is this revision a change to the admission status of the program? – Mark ‘Yes’ and describe.
  4. After you have reviewed and are ready to move the program through the approval process, click on the Start Workflow button at the bottom.

Review of Programs

There are a few review cycles that Programs may undergo. Annually, programs are reviewed for “red box” errors (errors that indicate that a course in a program of study has been deactivated or is listed for credit hours that aren’t what has been approved through governance), revisions started but are either stalled somewhere in the CIM P workflow or programs were initiated/revised but workflow wasn’t started and are thus stale requests. These are part of the Annual Courseleaf Review.

Additionally, programs undergo an APEER Review. The Academic Program Efficiency and Effectiveness Report (APEER) process is how the university complies with a part of state statute 110 ILCS 205/7, which mandates that public universities in Illinois report on degree programs with a trend of low enrollment (low majors) and low degree completions.

The university information gathered during the APEER review process is reported to the System Academic Affairs Office and the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE). IBHE combines it with information provided by other Illinois public universities and submits a compiled report to the Illinois General Assembly.

Process

APEER reporting occurs in the fall semester on a two-year cycle comprising one odd-numbered year (e.g., 2023) followed by an even-numbered year (e.g., 2024).

Odd-Numbered Years

In an odd-numbered year, the System Academic Affairs Office provides relevant data to the Provost’s Office, who determines the eligible degree programs that didn’t meet the IBHE thresholds for enrollment and degree completion. These thresholds (see below) are based on the average of the past three years for these two metrics. The Provost’s Office will send a spreadsheet of programs to the relevant colleges, typically in September or October. Those colleges should reach out to the departments providing those degree programs to:

  1. Determine what the appropriate status of each program is, choosing from IBHE’s list of statuses (see below).
  2. Write an explanation of the status choice for each program (minimum of 1-3 sentences).

Colleges should report the statuses and explanatory text to the Provost’s Office. This response is typically due in early November. Colleges whose eligible degree programs were above the three-year average for either threshold will not be contacted for an APEER response.

Thresholds

For a degree program to be required to provide an APEER status, its most recent three-year averages of both the enrollment and degree completion numbers would need to be beneath the IBHE-determined thresholds. As of 2022, the thresholds for these three-year averages are:

Bachelor’s level programs:
Enrollment: Fewer than 40 majors
Graduation: Fewer than 9 degrees conferred

Master’s level programs:
Enrollment: Fewer than 10 majors
Graduation: Fewer than 5 degrees conferred

Doctoral level programs:
Enrollment: Fewer than 10 majors
Graduation: Fewer than 2 degrees conferred

Statuses

Status 1: Sunset
A teach-out period is established and no new or transfer students will be admitted. The program should be officially eliminated once students graduate.

Status 2: Consolidation
The program will be combined with another related degree program to increase efficiency.

Status 3: Redesign
The program needs to be redesigned. Program changes will be applied to remediate performance. The department must indicate in how many years the program will be reviewed again. The next review will need to be scheduled for an odd-numbered year.

Status 4a: Justification-Good Standing
The program’s continued availability is considered justified and in generally good standing. The department must indicate in how many years the program will be reviewed again. The next review will need to be scheduled for an odd-numbered year.

Status 4b: Strong Institutional Justification
Most programs selecting this status will not be formally reviewed again due to the strong institutional justification for the program’s continued existence in its current form; however, 4b programs with consecutive years without enrollment are subject to further review.

Status 5: Priority Review
The program is placed under priority review to best determine the appropriate status. It is expected that this review will occur within the current academic year. The subsequent fall, the department must identify one of the other statuses (listed above) as the outcome of the review.

New Programs
New programs will not be entered into the APEER process until a certain number of years have passed after their first enrollment. As of 2022, the new program grace periods are:

  • Bachelor’s level programs:
    Eight years from first enrollment
  • Master’s level programs:
    Five years from first enrollment
  • Doctoral level programs:
    Eight years from first enrollment

Even-Numbered Years

In the fall of the even-numbered year that follows, only those programs that chose “5-Priority Review” as the status in the prior year will be asked to follow up on their progress and select a new status. The Provost’s Office will contact relevant colleges in that case.

In the next odd-numbered year, the cycle starts over.

Questions about the APEER process should be directed to Kate Techtow in the Provost’s Office.