Faculty Handbook
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Program Approval Document

The Academic Issues Committee (AIC) of the New Jersey Presidents’ Council requires that proponents of new programs adhere to the following outline when preparing materials for curricular review and approval. Italicized information indicates specific information the University Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs needs to examine before the proposal will be approved at his level of review.

For a more complete description of the PA document and new program approval timelines and requirements, please refer to the Course Submission Database. It is available from either the office of Summer and Winter Sessions, extension 4352, or, the office of the Associate Provost for Academic Programs and Assessment at extension 7290.

NOTE: New programs may take a full academic year or longer to get through the entire approval process.

The Program Approval Document should include the following information:

  1. Name of Institution, College/School within the Institution and Date
  2. Name of New Program and Degree Proposed; a. If this is a new degree program, indicate the six-digit Center for Educational Statistics [CES] Classification of Instructional Programs [CIP] code and CIP nomenclature. Note: this information can be secured by calling the Montclair State University Office of Summer and Winter Sessions, extension 4352. b. If this is a new minor or concentration, the degree program to which the new proposal is related should be stated.
  3. Objectives of the Program
  4. Need for Program. This section must include statistics and narrative which indicate a compelling reason(s) to launch the new program. Information to be included would be data from the job market or prospects for graduate study, student demand for the program based upon hard numbers such as from surveys or focus groups, or other documentation to show that MSU would be an improved institution if the program were added to our curriculum.
  5. Projected Enrollment–first year through fifth year of operation. This part of the PA should report numbers of potential students who will enroll in the program over the first five years. These data should be based upon survey information or other means of data gathering, not estimates.
  6. Date to be Offered–projected date of initial offering of the program;
  7. Resources to Support the Program.