Revising Current Graduate Programs - CG

Type of Revision

When revising degree programs there are different considerations you should take as you prepare your proposal. These considerations include:

Degree Title Change

A degree title change involves changing the degree program from a traditional graduate program to tagged or terminal degree program without making curricular revisions. For example, this could include changing a Master of Dental Hygiene to a Master of Science in Dental Hygiene. These changes require the completion of a change request form for a ‘Degree Title Change.’  This form states why the title change is proposed and contains sufficient information to justify the change. The Chancellor’s Office and the members of CCGS review the request. Although replacing a disciplinary degree (e.g., Ph.D. in Psychology) with a sub-disciplinary degree (e.g., Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology) may constitute a title change, replacing a sub-disciplinary degree with a disciplinary degree does not.

Curricular proposals for the degree title change should use the general proposal template with the following additional elements:

  Program implementation

  1. Describe the impact of the revision on students currently in the program
  2. Provide a transition plan that ensures no negative outcomes for current students arising from the title change
  3. Present any financial impacts to the program
  4. If applicable, share if accreditation agencies have been informed of the revisions and any impacts on accreditation.

Degree Name Change

A degree name change is adjusting the name of a degree program at the same level (e.g. Master of Arts to Master of Science). For example, this could be updating a degree program from a Master of Science in Computer Science to a Master of Science in Computer Science and Technology. These requests require a full proposal as for a new degree program and review by CCGS. 

Note that it is common for programs to wish to accomplish more than one type of degree revision when proposing degree name changes, so it is important to include all revisions in the proposal. 

If you are proposing to revise a degree program that result in 50% or more change, please be sure to review the Ohio Department of Higher Education considerations section of these guidelines as there are additional requirements. Additionally, please contact the Graduate School at Grad-SchoolCurriculum@osu.edu for the CCGS Proposal Template and the ODHE Fiscal Impact Statement.

Degree Curricular Change

A degree curricular change involves revising the curriculum. These are the most common types of degree revisions. For example, this can include adjust the course offerings, updating course title, updating elective courses, or making more significant curricular revisions such as moving a program to online or hybrid delivery or significantly revising the required courses of the program.   These revisions require further considerations presented below.

Determining the Scale of a Program Revision

As stated in the OAA Handbook “it is understood that there is subjectivity to whether or when a program meets the threshold requiring CAA review and approval.”  A ‘small-scale’ revision of a program occurs when a program is changed by a maximum of 10% of curricular components.  The threshold is determined by whichever is the greater number of credits. For a 60-credit program, the threshold would be the 10% or by six credit hours.  For a 15-credit certificate program, the threshold would be 1.5 credits. CAA review and approval is required when the 10% threshold is met or exceeded.  Revisions that are <10% can be submitted to the Graduate School and subsequently to CAA as an informational item.

Percent change is defined by changing one or more of three criteria: 

  1. Changing the meaning of expected learning outcomes (ELOs). Please note that the Academic Organization, Curriculum, and Assessment Handbook Page 40 states ‒ If the wording or grammar of an ELO changes, but its meaning and intent do not, the ELO is not changed by this criterion and would not count towards the 10% change. 
  2. Adding a course to a program, removing a course from a program, or changing a course from ‘required’ to ‘elective’ or ‘elective’ to ‘required’ within the curriculum. 
  3. Changing the mode of delivery of a course (50% or more of formalized instruction is provided in a different delivery mode than what was originally approved). This includes adding a section or sections delivered by different delivery modes (e.g., adding a section of hybrid (HY), distance enhanced (DH), or distance learning (DL) to an approved in-person (P) course). Current modes of delivery can be found on the Registrar’s website.

Programs are responsible for monitoring courses, particularly for changes to online delivery. As stated above, the decision to bring program revisions to CAA are made by the Vice Provost for Academic Programs, and the final decision is made at this person’s discretion. However, when an item is presented to CAA as an informational item by the Vice Provost for Academic Programs, acting as vice chair of CAA, CAA has the authority to determine that a subcommittee review and vote are needed.  If a proposal is brought to CAA as informational item and CAA determines a full review and vote is needed, the proposal will be entered into the subcommittee review process for an eventual vote for approval by CAA.

Examples of programmatic revisions: 

Example 1: A graduate program that consists of 60 credits makes significant adjustments to the ELOs of two courses that total 5 credits.  Because it does not exceed 10%, this does not trigger a mandatory review by CAA and can be communicated to the Graduate School and CAA as an informational item at the discretion of the Vice Provost for Academic Programs.

Example 2: The same 60-credit program replaces three courses in its curriculum (9 credits), adds a new required course that had previously been an elective, lowered the number of elective credits from 12 to 9 to keep the total credits at 60. This exceeds the 10% threshold and requires GS/CAA and CAA review. 

Example 3: A five-course, 15-credit certificate program replaces one required 3-credit course with a new required course. This represents a 20% change, but it is a change to only one course. Therefore, this does not trigger a mandatory review by CAA, and can be delivered to the Graduate School and CAA as an informational item at the discretion of the Vice Provost for Academic Programs. 

Large-scale program revisions 

Programs undergoing a 50% or greater change will require review and approval by the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) by submitting a Curriculum Modification change request form to CCGS.  This form is available from the Graduate School. To determine whether a change counts toward the 50% threshold, the same three criteria described above are applied. The expectation from CAA is that the unit initiating the programmatic changes identify when the 50% threshold has been reached.  However, if during the CAA review and approval process, there is a question raised regarding exceeding the 50%, CAA leadership will review the changes and make the final determination and communicate their decision to the submitting unit and colleges.

Revising a Degree Program 

Curricular proposals for revising graduate programs have the same structure as those for creating a new program (please refer to the appropriate program type) but require the following additional information:

Curricular information

  1. Provide the percent change of program curriculum resulting from the revision
    1. If the percent change is <10%, the revision may be presented as an  informational item.
    2. If the percent change is >=50%, a Curriculum Modification Request must be submitted to CCGS.
  2. Provide a detailed listing of the current curriculum and the proposed curriculum using tracked changes

Program implementation

  1. Describe the impact of the revision on students currently in the program
  2. Provide a transition plan that ensures no negative financial or time-to-degree outcomes for current students arising from program revisions
  3. Present any financial impacts to the program
  4. If applicable, share if accreditation agencies have been informed of the revisions and any impacts on accreditation.

Special categories of revision

Revising a Graduate Track

Programs may wish to add or revise existing tracks within a degree.  Proposals for these revisions should use the template for a  new degree program with the following additional elements:

Curricular information

  1. Provide the percent change of program curriculum resulting from the revision
    1. If the percent change is <10%, the revision may be presented as an  informational item.
    2. If the percent change is >=50%, a Curriculum Modification Request must be submitted to CCGS.
    3. If the percent change is <50%, CCGS will be advised of the change, but a Curriculum Modification Request is not required.
  2. Provide a detailed listing of the current curriculum and the proposed curriculum using tracked changes

Program implementation

  1. Describe the impact of the revision on students currently in the program
  2. Provide a transition plan that ensures no negative financial or time-to-degree outcomes for current students arising from program revisions
  3. Present any financial impacts to the program
  4. If applicable, share if accreditation agencies have been informed of the revisions and any impacts on accreditation.

Degree Specialization Change

If a program seeks to create a new degree designation for a track currently offered in an existing degree, with or without eliminating the original degree, a new degree proposal must be submitted to the graduate school with subsequent review and approval by CCGS. 

Revising an International Cooperative Degree Program

Please reach out to the Graduate School for consultation on revisions to an International Cooperative Degree Program.

Informational Item

Informational items are used to advise the Graduate School and the Office of Academic Affairs of minor curricular revisions to a graduate program. For a curricular revision to be considered an informational item, the revisions must result in a less than 10% change to the curriculum. More information about calculating percent change is outlined in the initial part of these guidelines as well as the OAA handbook. 

Please attach a letter or memo from the unit (e.g., Dean or Associate Dean, College Curriculum Committee, or Graduate Studies Curriculum Committee if from an interdisciplinary program). 

  • Letter should be addressed as follows:

Vice Provost for Academic Programs
Council on Academic Affairs
Office of Academic Affairs
203 Bricker Hall
190 North Oval Mall
Columbus, OH 43210

  • The letter should indicate the academic unit originating the item and contain one or two paragraphs briefly describing proposed revisions, the rationale for these revisions, and any action requested of the Council on Academic Affairs.
  • If applicable, curricular changes should be clearly listed, preferably in a table.
  • Interested parties from the originating unit should be copied.
  • To submit your informational item after all internal review processes have been completed, please send an email to the Graduate School’s Associate Dean for Academic Excellence.