The educational programs offered by Auburn University are compatible with its stated mission and goals, are based on fields of study appropriate to higher education, and embody coherent courses of study. The narrative below first describes how Auburn ensures that educational programs are aligned with its mission and strategic plan. Next, there is a detailed review of the course and program review and approval processes, which are the essential ways Auburn ensures that academic programs are appropriate to higher education and represent coherent courses of study. Finally, the narrative discusses both program appropriateness and program coherence at the undergraduate and graduate level.

Publication of Program Requirements

Auburn University publishes the content and requirements of each degree program in multiple publicly available places each year. The most comprehensive list is in the Auburn University Bulletin. Revised and published each year, the Bulletin contains descriptions, requirements, curriculum models, and policies for all undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs. The Bulletin can be accessed via the web and viewed directly or downloaded as a PDF. Program requirements and policies are also published on individual program websites.

A sample degree program for each of Auburn’s four-degree levels (bachelor's, education specialist, master's, doctoral) is provided below. For each program, documentation includes the curriculum model, Bulletin course listing, and the program’s website.

• Bachelor’s program example: BS in Geology
  • Curriculum model, Course listing, Program Website
• Master’s program example: Master of Public Administration (MPA)
  • Curriculum model, Course listing, Program Website
• Education specialist program example: Educational Specialist, Science Education
  • Curriculum model, Course listing, Program Website
• Professional doctorate program example: Doctor of Pharmacy
  • Curriculum model, Course listing, Program Website
• Research doctorate program example: PhD in Counseling Psychology
  •  Curriculum model, Course listing, Program Website

Educational Programs Are Compatible with the Stated Mission and Goals of Auburn University

Auburn University’s educational programs are compatible with its status as a land-grant research institution, as presented in its vision and mission statements. Auburn’s stated mission expresses commitment to "engagement and outreach" by "enabling students, graduates, faculty and partners to transform the fruits of our research and scholarship into products, methods, and services that meet our communities’ most pressing needs." Further, the institution recognizes its responsibility to "educate [its] students and prepare them for life" by “imparting both theoretical knowledge and practical skills." To this end, Auburn University heavily focuses on the "important educational, research and service responsibilities inherent in our land-grant lineage."

In keeping with its mission and its research-university character, Auburn awards bachelor’s, master’s, education specialist, and doctorate degrees. Auburn also offers shorter certificate programs at the undergraduate and graduate level. Auburn does not award associate’s degrees. The overall character of the institution’s degree offerings balances Arts and Sciences disciplines with Professional subjects and in most fields of study, pairs graduate-level programs with counterparts at the undergraduate level. This distribution of programs is recognized in Auburn’s Carnegie Classification.

Auburn’s land-grant mission guides the selection of educational programs to be offered, with especially rich offerings in Agriculture and Engineering. However, Auburn is no longer adequately described simply as Alabama’s polytechnic institute—its institutional name for a number of years prior to 1960. Instead, having embraced the mission to be a “comprehensive university,” Auburn also offers undergraduate and graduate educational programs in the Arts and Sciences, as well as in Architecture, Business, Education, Human Sciences, and Nursing, along with professional programs in Pharmacy, Audiology, and Veterinary Medicine.

To ensure that its educational programs remain compatible with Auburn’s stated mission and goals, the institution has developed curriculum review processes that require new program proposals to articulate the program’s relationship to Auburn’s mission and strategic plan. For example, on page 4 of the curriculum proposal for a new baccalaureate program in Genetics, the offering department addresses the compatibility of this proposed new program with Auburn’s stated mission and strategic plan. Page 1 of the document shows the workflow and approval path through which this proposal passed before it was approved, illustrating that at each step of approval one consideration was the proposal’s relationship to Auburn’s mission and strategic plan. Likewise, when a new educational program is presented to Auburn’s Board of Trustees for approval, it is first considered by the Board’s standing Academic Affairs Committee, part of whose charge is to “ensure that all academic programs are operated in accordance with the Governing Documents of the University."

Educational Programs Are Based on Fields of Study Appropriate to Higher Education

Each of Auburn University’s undergraduate and graduate degree programs is based upon one or more fields of study appropriate to higher education. Appropriateness is ensured in several ways. First, all programs must be appropriately classified and approved under one of the established codes of the US Department of Education’s Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP). Second, faculty, acting as disciplinary experts, are central to both the new course and new program approval processes. Third, external specialized accreditation and internal academic program review processes are conducted regularly. This section begins with a discussion of the CIP Code classification and approval process, followed by a description of the policies and standing committees that ensure faculty involvement in course and program development. Then, this section provides a detailed explanation of how these development and approval processes unfold in practice and how they, along with specialized accreditation and academic program review processes, help ensure that Auburn’s educational programs are appropriate to higher education.

CIP Code Classifications

Each of Auburn University’s undergraduate and graduate degree programs is classified under a 6-digit code established by the Department of Education’s Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP). When proposing a new program, faculty must choose a CIP Code that best represents the program of study and include that CIP Code in the university’s review and approval processes. The Alabama Commission on Higher Education (ACHE), which reviews and approves all new programs established by the university (see program approval processes below), maintains an inventory of all the institution’s degree programs by CIP Code, thus demonstrating that all programs are appropriate for higher education. This inventory is publicly available on ACHE’s website, and the current listing as of June, 2022, is included as evidence.

Faculty Involvement in Course and Program Development and Approval

Auburn University discipline-qualified faculty have primary responsibility for the content, quality, and effectiveness of academic programs and are encouraged to participate in related processes in both formal and informal capacities. To ensure that the development and approval of academic programs is consistent with institutional policy, relevant guidelines are published in Chapter 5 of the Faculty Handbook, including the process for any curriculum model changes, policies for program review and assessment, and policies and procedures for notifying SACSCOC of substantive changes. Step-by-step procedures for academic course and program approval are also published on the Office of the Provost website, and procedures and best practices for assessment are published on the Office of Academic Insight website.

In addition to the above policies and guidelines, the University Senate’s Constitution has provisions for a number of standing committees, two of which—the University Curriculum Committee and Graduate Council—are central to the development and approval of all courses and programs. The specific charges of these committees are as follows:

• Curriculum Committee. The Curriculum Committee consists of the Provost or designee as Chair, the Registrar or designee as Secretary, the Dean of the Graduate School or designee, and one faculty member from each college or school. The committee recommends approval or disapproval of requests for undergraduate curriculum changes. In addition, the committee reviews overall curriculum patterns and course content of the instructional program other than the University Core Curriculum and recommends to the Senate curriculum changes needed by the university.

• Graduate Council. The Graduate Council consists of the Dean of the Graduate School as Chair, the Associate Dean of the Graduate School as non-voting Vice Chair, the Assistant to the Dean of the Graduate School as non-voting Secretary, and 12-15 faculty members, with at least one from each school or college with a graduate program, and a graduate student nominated by the Graduate Student Council. Faculty members are appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School from a list of nominees provided by the Senate Rules Committee. The list of nominees, at a minimum, exceeds the number of openings by two and contains at least two nominees from any school or college without a continuing representative. Faculty members must be full members of the Graduate Faculty. The Council reviews requests for curriculum changes in courses that may be taken for graduate credit, reviews and recommends approval of all proposals for new graduate programs and modifications to existing programs, reviews existing programs, recommends regulations and policies for the Graduate School, and assists the Dean of the Graduate School in carrying out those regulations and policies.

Through policy adherence and committee activity, faculty are heavily involved in course and program development and approval.

Course Development and Approval

Auburn University ensures that courses are appropriate to higher education by means of a rigorous faculty-led review and approval process for all courses. The development and/or revision of any academic course at Auburn University originates at the department level. In cases where no individual departments exist within a unit, or the course(s) are listed and maintained under the purview of the college/school at large, proposals originate at the college/school level.

Faculty submit all new course proposals using the Curriculum Inventory Management (CIM) system, which requires the following information relevant to course content, level, and learning outcomes: a) the course credit to be earned; b) the grading type; c) prerequisites/co-requisites; d) a course description; e) a justification (for adding or revising the course); f) specific student learning outcomes; g) a course content outline (syllabus); h) a list of assignments/projects; i) a grading scale; and j) in the case of graduate courses, a justification for graduate credit. After review and approval by relevant faculty committees at the departmental and college level, course proposals that meet the expectations for course content and level are reviewed and approved for implementation at the university level by the Curriculum Committee or Graduate Council, as appropriate.

As an example, the workflow in the University’s CIM system for a proposed new Cybersecurity Threats and Countermeasures course is included in the documentation. This evidence illustrates each of the review checkpoints described in the three previous paragraphs. Steps 1-6 of the workflow show review at the level of the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, the college’s Graduate Curriculum Committee, and the Graduate Council Curriculum Committee. Finally steps 7 and 8 show the course being approved for Banner and the next publication of the Bulletin. The full course proposal, aligned to the criteria described above, follows the workflow approval path.

Program Development and Approval

Auburn University ensures that academic programs are appropriate to higher education by means of a rigorous faculty-led review and approval process for all programs.

The development and/or revision of any academic program at Auburn University originates at the department level. In cases where no individual departments exist within a unit, or the program(s) are listed and maintained under the purview of the college/school at large, proposals originate at the college/school level.

Proposals for New Programs. Proposals to develop new academic programs that require external review and approval (for example, undergraduate and graduate degree programs, formal degree program options, and undergraduate and graduate certificates) first undergo a pre-approval process through which faculty provide information on the viability, feasibility, and appropriateness of the proposed program request as it relates to Auburn University at large as well as the university’s vision and mission statements. A template is provided to faculty to guide them in preparing this information. Once the pre-proposal has been reviewed and approved by the appropriate academic administrators at the departmental, college, and provost level, all of whom hold faculty status, the department and/or college is given permission to begin the submission and approval processes. An approved pre-proposal memo from a proposed Bachelor of Science degree in Genetics is included as evidence. Proposals to develop new programs that do not require external review and approval (for example, a new minor) are not subject to the pre-approval process and can be submitted directly into the CIM system. Guidance for which proposals require pre-approval is published on the Office of the Provost website.

Faculty submit all new program proposals using the Curriculum Inventory Management (CIM) system, which requires faculty to provide program requirements and commentary on items such as the program’s relationship to the university’s mission, the program’s selected CIP Code, expected program outcomes and assessment methods, specific admission and/or continuation requirements, new faculty or space requirements, potential duplication across other universities in the state, and potential employment opportunities. When appropriate, faculty include the pre-approval documentation obtained prior to submission. After review and approval by relevant faculty committees at the departmental and college level, the new program is reviewed and approved at the university level by the Curriculum Committee or Graduate Council, as appropriate, and the Provost. Each of these approvals are documented in the CIM system.

Once a program proposal has received university-level approval by either (or both) of the above committees and the Provost, a proposal then follows one of two paths. Either: 1) it is made effective for the purposes of the University Bulletin and enrollment (in the case of programs not needing external review and approval, as defined by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education); or 2) it is prepared by the University President for inclusion for review and approval by the Auburn University Board of Trustees—and preserved as public record. The proposal is then forwarded to the Alabama Commission on Higher Education for review and approval. Upon ACHE approval, the program is made effective for the purposes of the University Bulletin and enrollment.

Returning to an earlier example, the workflow for a proposed new Bachelor of Science degree in Genetics is included in the documentation.This evidence illustrates each of the review checkpoints described in the three previous paragraphs. Steps 1-9 of the workflow show review at the level of the Department of Biological Sciences (BIOL), the College of Sciences and Mathematics (SM), the University Curriculum Committee, and related offices. Steps 10 and 11 encompass preparation for review by the Board of Trustees, which entails consent by the President of Auburn University to place that item on the Board’s agenda. The actual resolution and supporting materials prepared for Board review and approval of this illustrative program are shown in additional documentation,. Finally, steps 12 and 13 of the process show review by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education.

Similarly, an additional example of a graduate program approval process workflow in the university’s curriculum management system is included in the documentation.

Proposals to Revise Existing Programs. Proposals to revise existing academic programs do not require pre-approval (except in cases when the degree program name is being changed). Faculty submit revisions directly into the Curriculum Inventory Management (CIM) system, which requires faculty to provide a justification for the requested revision(s) and provide additional commentary on potential changes to program attributes such as program outcomes, assessment methods, continuation requirements, new faculty or space requirements, and employment opportunities. After review and approval by relevant faculty committees at the departmental and college level, the program revisions are reviewed and approved at the university level by the Curriculum Committee or Graduate Council, as appropriate, and then the Provost. When a revision is not substantive (for example, moving a course earlier in the curriculum model), the revision is implemented after Provost approval. In the case of a substantive revision, as defined by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, the approved revision is subject to further review by ACHE and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, pursuant to its implementation. Guidance for which proposals require pre-approval and/or external review and approval is published on the Office of the Provost website.,

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The processes outlined above demonstrate a series of reviews and approvals by the appropriate faculty groups and administrative offices as well as external governing bodies for the institution and higher education in the state. By ensuring that development and review of its academic programs are faculty-driven processes—with those processes being part of a larger framework that addresses the evaluation, assessment, and strengthening of academic programs as well—Auburn University clearly demonstrates a commitment to ensuring that all academic programs are appropriate to higher education.

Specialized Accreditation and Academic Program Review

In addition to institutional and state-level review, over 70 of Auburn University’s degree programs at both the undergraduate and graduate level undergo periodic specialized accreditation processes, conducted by recognized accrediting bodies within the discipline. A purpose of these reviews is to ensure the adherence of the program to the standards that professionals within the discipline have determined to be reasonable for recognized degree programs in the specific field. A list of specialized accreditations is provided in the attached documentation.

Academic programs without access to external accreditation undergo academic program review on a six-year cycle. The Academic Program Review (APR) process involves a self-study, peer review, and a consequent action plan. The APR process is overseen by the Office of the Provost and facilitated by the Office of Academic Insight. Among the principles governing these program reviews, Standard III addresses program alignment with “the needs and expectations of the discipline,” that is, the program’s linkage to a field of study appropriate to higher education.

The net result of the intensive and exacting processes outlined above is the assurance that an approved educational program is coherent, compatible with the mission and goals of Auburn University, and based on a field of study appropriate to higher education.

Educational Programs Embody a Coherent Course of Study

Coherence in the Core Curriculum

For Auburn’s undergraduate educational programs, one shared source of coherence is Auburn’s Core Curriculum. Each degree program includes this common set of courses or course options that promote the development of essential skills, including the ability to locate, evaluate, and use information, to read and think critically, to write and revise for a variety of purposes, to apply mathematical methods and scientific principles, and to analyze their own society in its relationship to the larger global context. The university’s Board-approved statement on instruction, appended to its mission statement, observes that

The liberal arts and sciences—introduced in the university’s nationally recognized Core Curriculum—are the heart of Auburn’s undergraduate programs. They lay the foundation not only for advanced study and career preparation but also for the development of a more responsible citizenry through students’ personal and intellectual growth. The Core Curriculum provides students with a common Auburn University set of experiences, develops their powers of analysis and communication, and encourages their understanding of human culture and the natural world.

The Core Curriculum promotes coherence at the undergraduate level across the disciplines by requiring at least 41 of the minimum 120 semester hours that a student must earn in order to be awarded a bachelor’s degree. For Engineering students, the minimum is at least 35 semester credit hours. Based upon nine general education student learning outcomes, the Core Curriculum allows flexibility for both students and academic units by providing various course options for the introduction of many of these outcomes. This flexibility was designed to preserve choice while assuring that each student engages with the same overarching framework of learning goals and student learning outcomes. The Core Curriculum and its design and approval is discussed in more detail in Standard 9.3.a-c (General Education Requirements).

Coherence in Undergraduate Programs

Beyond the Core Curriculum, program coherence is further ensured by the rigorous and multi-step faculty review and approval processes described above. Disciplinary faculty are central to the curriculum development and modification process, which is codified in the policies and procedures and supported by the examples of curriculum development discussed above. Ultimately, the coherence of Auburn’s academic program curricula is the product of a faculty effort.

One visual way the resulting program coherence can be demonstrated is through the curriculum models for each undergraduate degree program. These models are printed in the university's Bulletin and used as the basis for student advising. They outline the sequence of each program’s courses and requirements over four years of undergraduate study. For example, the curriculum in Biomedical Sciences—Auburn’s main pre-medical course of study—shows students exactly how their courses build upon one another toward the learning and other goals for that relatively complex degree program. The biology thread in this degree program begins in the freshman year with two introductory courses: Principles of Biology and Organismal Biology. In their second semester of the sophomore year, students add to this a course in Genetics, followed by Microbiology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry in the junior year and Immunology and Mammalian Physiology in the final year.

Similar logical sequences of courses develop in chemistry, and the curriculum incorporates courses from other disciplines pertinent to general educational culture and to the practice of the health sciences (e.g., Statistics for Biological and Health Sciences and Ethics and the Health Sciences). When combined with a logical and intuitive course numbering system, where the first digit of the course number corresponds to the approximate level and complexity of the course, these curricula clearly embody coherent courses of study. Additionally, students consulting the curriculum for their program in the online Bulletin can click on the course number for any course and see its course description, including any prerequisites, as shown in the supporting evidence.

While not all disciplines lend themselves to lock-step curriculum models, characteristic of some scientific or occupationally focused fields, purposeful course and program design ensure all of Auburn’s undergraduate educational programs are structured as coherent courses of study. The curriculum for the BA in Philosophy—to cite an example far removed from pre-medical preparation—embodies a course of study made coherent by course groupings and levels. In that major, the first year is devoted to university- and college-level core requirements. The second year continues those requirements and begins to introduce philosophical subject matter, including a required course in Symbolic Logic. The last two years are devoted principally to philosophical explorations, grouped into history of philosophy and topics in philosophy. The course of study culminates in a two-semester Philosophy senior seminar (Special Topics). In addition to the second senior seminar is a capstone course “in which students develop a previously written paper into a presentation to be delivered at an end of the semester conference.” Further, major-course distribution requirements ensure that students’ encounter increasingly challenging material, since a maximum of two introductory courses at the 1000 and 2000 level can be counted toward the major and a minimum of two senior, 4000-level courses must be counted. As further examples, included in the evidence documents are undergraduate curriculum models for the most heavily enrolled majors in each undergraduate school or college.

Coherently designed courses of study are valuable not only for learners but also for teachers. Hence, Auburn’s academic assessment process encourages faculty not only to identify learning outcomes for each educational program but also to devise curriculum maps to show where students will be introduced to that knowledge or skill and where reinforcement and assessment will occur. An example for the BA in Philosophy, whose curriculum model was described above, is provided.Thus, Auburn University has created multiple opportunities to ensure that programs are coherent in design and that students are introduced to and assessed on appropriately rigorous material as they progress through their degree.

Coherence in Graduate Programs

For Auburn’s graduate educational programs, coherent courses of study are assured by two complementary means–graduate curricula that undergo the same disciplinary faculty-led design and approval processes as undergraduate programs and the requirement of an individualized approved plan of study for each student.

By initiating program development with discipline-qualified faculty and routing all programs through a series of reviews and approvals by both internal and external bodies, Auburn University ensures that its graduate programs are coherent and will provide students with the appropriate coursework for their disciplines and future careers.

As with undergraduate programs, Auburn publishes in its annual Bulletin curriculum models for graduate educational programs. The curriculum models for some cohort-based graduate programs are detailed and uniform for all students. For example, the curriculum for the Master of Science in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences prescribes all courses and sequences for this two-year program, including courses to be taken during the summer of the first year of enrollment. Two additional examples of programs that use a lock-step, cohort-based curriculum are the professional doctorate programs leading to the Doctor of Pharmacy and the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine.

More commonly at the graduate level, program requirements allow a mix of prescribed and elective courses for the degree. For example, the curriculum for the Master of Science in Industrial/Organizational Psychology prescribes a core curriculum of 21 required semester hours in foundations, research methods, and ethics and adds a six-hour practicum in applied psychology, while leaving nine semesters hours available for graduate-level Psychology electives.

While more flexible than a lock-step curriculum, graduate students are still required to work closely with their advisory committee to ensure they enroll in a thoughtful sequence of courses related to the student’s research and professional needs and goals. The policy requiring graduate students to have an advisory committee and Plan of Study worksheet is published annually in the Bulletin. Whether or not their programs have prescriptive curriculum models, graduate students must file a Committee, Transfers, Exceptions and Candidacy (CTEC) Form and apply for graduation the semester before they plan to graduate to further ensure they have met all requirements for their program. These deadlines are also published annually in the Graduate Calendar in the Bulletin.

Conclusion

Auburn University follows established policies and procedures for developing, modifying, and approving new courses and programs, with most of the responsibility resting with discipline-expert faculty at the department, college, and university level. New courses and programs are carefully vetted within the proposing department and college before being reviewed by the appropriate committee within the University Senate or Graduate Council and ultimately approved by the Provost. When appropriate, there are also procedures in place for program proposals and revisions to be approved by both the Alabama Commission on Higher Education and the Auburn University Board of Trustees. The net result of the intensive and exacting processes outlined above is the assurance that an approved educational program is coherent, compatible with the mission and goals of Auburn University, and based on a field of study appropriate to higher education.