Procedures for Presenting New or Revised Graduate Courses
This informal guide supplements the official statement of Graduate College policy:
The Provost's Office also maintains information regarding the course approval process at www.provost.illinois.edu/programs/cps/courses.html. Deadlines for submissions of new and revised courses to appear in the Course Catalog can be found in the Timeline of submissions of New and Revised Courses. The Provost's Office also maintains these aids:
- New Course Outline Form
- Course Revision Form
- Instructions and form for requesting a Course Fee
- A spreadsheet that allows proposers to track your course through the approval process
1. New Course Outline Form
A proposal for a new or substantially revised course is submitted using a New Course Outline form. New graduate courses must adhere to the Policy for Review of Proposed New and Revised Courses that Carry Graduate Credit ). Providing complete responses on the course outline form greatly expedites the approval process.
Hint: Check the text entered into the grey-box form fields for spelling errors. Spell-checking is not active. To do so, copy-paste text entries into a blank Word document, or compose the entries in Word first, then copy-paste them into the form fields.
Item 1. Banner Subject and Course Number
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400-499
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Upper level undergraduate and graduate courses, typically taken by seniors and beginning graduate students (may be designated for graduates only in item 13)
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500-599
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Graduate courses
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600-799
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Professional courses (Law and DVM courses only)
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Note that course numbers may not be reused for 6 years from last term the course was available.
Item 2. Course Titles
Titles may include abbreviations, but must stay within the 30-character limit, including spaces. Try to use standard abbreviations and avoid hard-to-interpret ones. In difficult situations, consider using fewer words and the special characters (&), (:).
Item 3. Courses Catalog Descriptions
GE 560 Managing Advanced Technol I
Item 4. Course Prerequisites
Prerequisite statements are advisory in nature and are not enforced through the Banner System. Graduate-level courses other than seminars and individual study usually require prerequisite knowledge or experience. The following suggestions are provided to promote clarity in prerequisite statements to the students who may be registering for the course. Foremost are avoiding superfluous prerequisites, embodied in the first four bullets, and avoiding ambiguity, embodied in the last one:
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list only the highest level course if there is a string of sequenced prerequisites (see Example 1 below)
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list only the primary course if cross-listed (Course Catalog ‘same as’ statements readily identify secondary cross-listed course alternatives)
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explicitly list courses found in the Catalog (not, e.g., "a course in chemistry")
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do not tag courses with 'or equivalent' or 'or consent of instructor' as those are always assumed to be the case
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express alternative courses and combinations of courses clearly (see Example 2 below).
Example 1. Since GRK 101 is a prerequisite for GRK 102, the prerequisite ‘GRK 101 and GRK 102’ should be shortened to ‘GRK 102’ for a course requiring GRK 102 as a prerequisite, such as GRK 201.
Example 2. Consider the prerequisite statement ‘CS 225 and CS 373 or MATH 444.’ It’s ambiguous. It could mean ‘(CS 225 and CS 373) or (MATH 444)’, or perhaps ‘(CS 225) and (CS 373 or MATH 444).’ Assuming it’s the latter, the use of a semicolon gives the clear meaning by separating the intended groupings: ‘CS 225; CS 373 or MATH 444.’
Item 5.
Audience Restrictions are enforced through Banner and should be separate from the prerequisite statement. These restrictions typically limit registration to a group of students, 'majors only' for example.
Course Justification
The information provided in Items 6 - 8 is used by the department and college to better understand the course content in the broader context of other courses offerings. Courses open to graduate students must meet the criteria for graduate courses. A course syllabus must be included except in the case of special topics courses. Requirements and recommendations for syllabi are available. If this course is similar in content to other offerings on campus, please provide information that illustrates the uniqueness of this offering, as stated the policy, section I.E., and a letter of comment from the executive officer of the unit offering the existing course.
Course Detail
Item 9.
If “Other” is checked, include details of when that will be. Note that alternate offering year wording is not automatically included in the Catalog entry. If desired, it must be manually added to the course description.
Item 12.
If the expected enrollment will be less than 10% graduate, or if freshman are expected to be in the class, explain in Item 14 why the course is a graduate level course. It might be better to be an undergraduate only offering at the 400 level.
Item 13.
Guidelines for Graduate Level Credit and Contact Hours: Please refer to the Guidelines for Graduate Course Credit and Contact Hours Expectations section of the Policy for Proposed New and Revised Courses that Carry Graduate Credit.
Item 14.
Complete this item for every course awarding graduate credit. The response should make the case for graduate credit.
Item 15.
Additional explanation is required if there is a variable amount of credit for graduate students, i.e. 1-4 hours or 3 or 4 hours, or if a graduate student may receive 4 hours of credit in a three-hour undergraduate course. The course syllabus should clearly explain the extra work required for additional credit, and the additional work should also be reflected in the grading section of the syllabus.
Item 16.
If the response is 'yes,' fill in all three blanks with total hours, "U" if unlimited, or "NA" if not applicable. If the as topics vary box is checked, the repeatability phrase will automatically include "as topics vary."
Item 18.
If DFR is chosen as a grade type, please note that the DFR grade in non-thesis courses will roll to an F grade after one semester according to the Student Code, 3-104 if a permanent grade is not entered by the deadline. In most cases, the I (Incomplete) grade serves the same purpose, see Student Code, 3-104.
Item 19.
If a course is to be cross-listed with a department in another college, a justification is needed, and the approval of that college as well as the department is also required. Courses should not be cross-listed with numbers at different levels. Likewise, courses should not be arranged as “meets with” across levels. The College of Engineering has approved Guidelines for Cross-Listing Courses. (PDF document)
Item 22.
A note about Special Topics Courses:
A number of 400- and 500-level courses also serve as special topics courses, and are typically identified as such by their titles. Topics offered under such courses are necessarily temporary; they are not listed in the Courses Catalog. A specific topic may be offered twice under a special topics listing; the same topic may be offered a third time only if a proposal to establish it as a permanent course has been submitted through the usual channels.
Item 23.
Only refer to approved, graduate concentrations or minors as concentrations or minors. List other departmental areas as options, specializations, areas of study, etc
Item 25.
If this box is marked 'Yes,' then the course will be set up as an independent study only. One course number can not be used for both independent study and seminar or temporary topics purposes. If both are needed, then two courses should be created.
2. Course Revision Form
For minor revisions to existing courses, use the Course Revision form. Only very minor revisions in course content do not require Graduate College approval. Major content changes to a course must be addressed on a New Course Outline form.
Please indicate current cross-listings in the header information. Only the controlling department can recommend changes to a cross-listed course. Any changes to a cross-listed course must be approved by each of the cross-listed units, and their respective college.
If a fee is being requested for a course, please see more information available from the Provost's Office.
3. Review Procedures
For graduate courses, the Review Procedures are located within the policy. You can track your course through the approval process at the Provost's Office Website.
Revised August 2010