Definitions and Levels of Approval
Certificate Program
Graduate
- Not offered at the graduate level.
Undergraduate
- A structured set of courses specified by a Department, Faculty or Affiliated University College to allow students to acquire a specific set of skills or competencies.
- May be pursued concurrently with, or subsequent to, the completion of a Bachelor's degree.
- Should be awarded when the following criteria are met:
- normally a pre-degree program;
- normally requiring up to the equivalent of one calendar year or more to complete; and
- normally consisting of a minimum of 3.0 courses, frequently in combination with a certificate-credit component.
Collaborative Specialization
Graduate
- A Collaborative Specialization is an intra-university graduate field of study that provides an additional multidisciplinary experience for students enrolled in and completing the degree requirements for one of a number of approved masters and/or PhD programs. Students meet the admission requirements of and register in the participating (or “home”) program but complete, in addition to the degree requirements of that program, the additional requirements specified by the Collaborative Specialization.
- Students are registered in the participating degree program, meeting the requirements of the participating program as well as those of the collaborative program.
Joint Program
Graduate
- A multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary experience offered to students enrolled in one of a number of participating existing graduate programs.
Undergraduate
- A 2 + 2 (or similar) program with a community college or with another university.
Diploma Program
Graduate
- A structured set of courses specified by a Program to allow students to acquire a set of skills or competencies.
- For-credit diploma program that meets one of the following specifications:
- Type 1: Awarded when a candidate admitted to a master’s program leaves the program after completing a certain proportion of the requirements. Students are not admitted directly to these programs.
- Type 2: Offered in conjunction with a master’s (or doctoral) degree, the admission to which requires that the candidate be already admitted to the master’s (or doctoral) program. This represents an additional, usually interdisciplinary, qualification.
- Type 3: A stand-alone, direct-entry program, generally developed by a unit already offering a related master’s or doctoral degree, and designed to meet the needs of a particular clientele or market.
Undergraduate
- A structured set of courses specified by a Department, Faculty or Affiliated University College to allow students to acquire a specific set of skills or competencies.
- Normally post-graduate programs.
- Should be awarded when the following criteria are met:
- normally a post-degree program;
- normally requiring the equivalent of one calendar year or more to complete; and
- normally consisting of a minimum of 5.0 courses.
Field
Graduate
- An area of strength, specialization or concentration within a program that is approved through the review process.
Undergraduate
- Not offered at the undergraduate level.
Major Modification
Graduate
- A significant change in program requirements, which may include:
- a significant change to the learning outcome(s) of the program
- a significant change to the learning outcome(s) is one that changes, broadens or limits the subsequent career or educational opportunities of the graduates (e.g., a master’s program currently aimed at educating doctoral program-bound graduates revises its curriculum to yield master’s graduates with practical experience in applied areas directly relevant to professional careers)
- elimination, introduction, or replacement of a thesis requirement
- introduction of a course-based option
- replacement of a course-requirement with a practical or experiential requirement
- creation, deletion or renaming of a field.
Undergraduate
- Introduction of new module (honors specialization, specialization, or major) that comprises primarily existing courses and that is offered with existing faculty expertise and resources.
- Introduction of a new diploma or certificate program.
- Any change to an existing program that affects the learning outcome(s) of the program.
- a significant change to the learning outcome(s) is one that changes, broadens or limits the subsequent career or educational opportunities of the graduates.
- Any change that is considered more substantive than what is appropriate for Western’s Deans Academic Process (DAP) for review and approval.
Minor Revision
Graduate
- A change to the content or title of a course.
- A change that does not affect the program requirements or learning outcomes.
Undergraduate
- Submissions to DAP (the Deans’ Academic Programs Committee or "Virtual Committee" of SCAPA), which:
- revise a module or program
- introduce, revise or withdraw a course
- change the weight of a 1.0 (full) course to a 0.5 (half) course, or vice versa. (This is done by withdrawing one course and introducing a new one in its place with a new number. The former course is listed as an antirequisite.)
- change the essay designation on a course, e.g., A/B to F/G or vice versa
- delete, change, or add an antirequisite, prerequisite or corequisite
- Minor course changes include:
- changes to titles or descriptions of courses which do not substantively change the course content
- changes to course hours
- Introduction of a new module that has requirements and learning outcomes substantially the same as an existing module.
Module
Graduate
- Not offered at the graduate level.
Undergraduate
- A structured set of courses specified by a Department, Faculty or Affiliated University Western’s IQAP 5 College to fulfill the requirements of an Honors Specialization, Specialization, Major or Minor. Modules are the central components that determine the disciplinary character of a Degree. Students can combine different modules from different subjects, departments and Faculties to construct individualized, interdisciplinary degrees.
- Honors Specialization module:
- Comprised of 9.0 or more courses designated by a Department, Faculty or Affiliated University College; available only in an Honors Bachelor Degree (Four-Year).
- Specialization module:
- Comprised of 9.0 or more courses designated by a Department, Faculty or Affiliated University College; available only in a Bachelor Degree (Four-Year).
- Major module:
- Comprised of 6.0 or 7.0 courses designated by a Department, Faculty or Affiliated University College. This module is available in the Bachelor Degree (Four- Year), the Bachelor Degree (Three-Year), and the Honors Bachelor Degree (Four- Year).
- Minor module:
- Comprised of 4.0 or 5.0 courses designated by a Department, Faculty or Affiliated University College. A degree with a single Minor is not available. A Minor may be combined with another Minor in a Bachelor Degree (Three-Year) or a Minor module may be taken as an additional module within the Honors Bachelor Degree (Four-Year), the Bachelor Degree (Four-Year), or the Bachelor Degree (Three-Year).
New Program
Graduate
- Any degree or program currently approved by Senate which has not bee previously approved by the Quality Council or its predecessor.
- A “new program” is brand new; the program has substantially different program requirements and substantially different learning outcomes from those of any existing program offered at Western.
- A new master’s of doctoral program (e.g., introduction of a PhD Program in Film Studies).
- A new professional master’s program in an area where Western already has a thesis/research-based master’s program (e.g., introduction of a MA in Professional Writing).
Undergraduate
- Any degree, degree program, or specialization currently approved by Senate which has not bee previously approved by the Quality Council or its predecessor.
- A “new program” is brand new; the program has substantially different program requirements and substantially different learning outcomes from those of any existing program offered at Western.
- A new program is a program consisting primarily of new courses offered predominantly by new faculty members who are recruited to provide the program area expertise previously lacking at Western. In addition to the need for new faculty members, new programs also require additional resources, such as space and library collections.
- A new program could be:
- A new degree program (e.g., BHSc – Bachelor of Health Science).
- A new disciplinary program (e.g., BSc in Oceanography).
- A new module, if the module has requirements and learning outcomes that are substantially different from those of any existing module.
Program Evaluations
The Internal Reviewers will submit the Draft Final Assessment / Executive Summary to the Chair of SUPR-G, along with one of the following preliminary recommendations regarding the evaluation of the program. SUPR-G will then determine how the program will be recommended to SCAPA. At this stage, SUPR-G may make changes and recommendations to the Executive Summary.
Good Quality
These programs have achieved a level of good quality and are expected to retain that level of quality over the cycle. Such programs are approved to continue. Periodic appraisals lead to a classification of Good Quality if the program’s objectives are appropriate and are being met; the core faculty provide intellectual leadership in the disciplinary area(s) of the program through active engagement in research and scholarship; the faculty complement is appropriate for the level and scope of the program and its identifiable fields, and there are appropriate provisions and/or plans for its continuing vitality; the curriculum design is appropriate; the resources, such as laboratories, libraries, computer facilities, and research support, are appropriate; enrolments are commensurate with the resources available; students complete the program in a timely fashion; there is evidence of appropriate financial support for students; and there is demonstration of the quality of the educational experience of students, including intellectual development, the acquisition of relevant skills, and the attainment of the appropriate degree level expectations.
Good Quality with Report
These programs have achieved a level of good quality (see above) at the time of the appraisal; however, factors that could have an impact on the future quality of the program require monitoring in the succeeding cycle. Programs in this category are approved to continue with a report called for by a specific date (usually 2 or 3 years).
Conditionally Approved
These programs require improvements to meet the quality standard. They receive conditional approval at the time of the appraisal and full approval when the SUPR-G is satisfied that the improvements have been made. Normally, a report is required after 2 or 3 years. In some cases, the committee may recommend that the university cease admitting new students to the program until certain specified conditions are met.
Not Approved
These programs fail to meet the quality standard and admissions must be suspended. They require major improvements, such as the addition of a number of new faculty or significant new library or laboratory resources, to achieve the quality standard. A successful standard appraisal is mandatory for the reinstatement of the program.
