Academic Programs Committee
Procedures for Academic Unit and Curricular Changes
Academic and Curricular Change Portal
Welcome! The button below will take you to an interactive form, allowing you to begin your proposal submission. This form will walk you through all necessary steps required in the approval process. You will receive email notifications as your proposal progresses through the approval and implementation stages. Please be sure to consult the Year At A Glance Memo for important deadlines.
At this time, you may submit all changes requiring APC, University Council, University Senate, Course Challenge, College, or VP Academic (Provost) approval. If you require assistance, please contact catalogue.support@usask.ca .
Submit Your Proposal Now- Which level of authority is required to approve your academic unit or curricular change? See the Curricular Changes authority chart
For a detailed description of approval procedures and a list of the associated forms, please see the information below.
You can use either the Word version or the Interactive PDF version of these forms. If you have Acrobat Pro on your computer, you can save the Interactive PDF forms, circulate to colleagues by email, update as required, and finally attach them to the Portal when you are ready to submit your program changes. If you do not have Acrobat Pro installed, the PDF forms cannot be saved. You should use the Word version instead.
These examples may help:
Procedures
What do you want to do?
Your college may have its own form for new course and program proposals. If not, here is a New Course Proposal Form.
New courses developed by University of Saskatchewan faculty and/or departments must be approved at the department and College level. For examples of college-level approval procedures, see Arts & Science and Graduate Studies & Research
The course would then be submitted by your College to the Office of the University Secretary for university-level approval through the University Course Challenge procedure. If the course is not challenged within a month, it is deemed to have university approval.
Special Topics Courses are given final approval at the college level.
When a course proposal has been approved, the Student and Enrolment Services division (SESD) also asks department to submit a Course Creation Form when the course is to be listed for registration.
2. Introduce a new program, major program revision, new program option or field of study
The Academic Programs Committee deals with new programs and major program revisions, as well as changes to admission qualifications and admission quotas. These significant changes are either approved by the Committee, or forwarded to University Council for approval.
Colleges intending to develop a new program should first submit a Notice of Intent to the Planning and Priorities Committee.
The Proposal Form for Curricular Change is used for proposals of all kinds. This form, and the consultation forms for resources, are now available as interactive PDFs -- see above. Or you can use the Word version of the forms listed in the Program Handbook. This booklet also includes the Chart for approval authority, information about course challenge and program termination, frequently-used nomenclature, and a description of how the Academic Programs Committee reviews program proposals.
Some Certificates and Diplomas also follow these Program Approval Procedures
Please submit your proposal through the Portal.
Deletions of programs are approved by Council on the recommendation of the Academic Programs Committee. See the Report Form for Program Termination.
Please submit these forms through the Portal.
4. Make program changes, create a minor or concentration in a program, delete a course, change a prerequisite
Many straightforward program changes, new courses and course deletions are approved by University Course Challenge. These can be submitted individually or in a document attached to the University Course Challenge Submit Form.
Please send course challenge material through the Portal.
Please note that new courses which are part of a new program or program option are not approved by Challenge, but rather are submitted with the program for approval by or through Academic Programs Committee. Courses may also be deleted by the Moribund Course Archive policy.
5. Make other curricular changes
Changes to admission selection criteria and to graduation and promotion standards are approved by colleges. Many straightforward changes to courses may be approved at the College level, provided they do not affect programs or courses outside your college:
- course label (in consultation with the Office of the Registrar)
- course number (in consultation with the Office of the Registrar)
- course title
- course level (ie 200-level to 300-level)
- course term
- Calendar description
- prerequisites and corequisites
- change in course content
- changes in course hours (for lectures, laboratory, etc)
- splitting or combining courses (ie splitting a 6-credit-unit course into two 3-credit-unit courses)
- changes to methods of evaluation
Consult the Office of the University Secretary for more information.
Where any of these changes require the use of a new course number (such as changing credit units or splitting a course), please contact the Office of the Registrar at Student and Enrolment Services to determine which course numbers are available for use. Course numbers cannot be reused for 10 years.
When these types of changes will affect the Catalogue Listings for other departments or colleges, they can be listed for information in the Course Challenge. Please submit these types of information documents with the University Course Challenge Submit Form through the Portal.
6. Make another type of administrative change, such as name changes
The Office of the University Secretary now has a form for name changes of all kinds: Name Change Form. Please submit your proposal through the Portal.
7. Post a new course for student registration.
Please note that departments must now complete the Course Creation Information Form from SESD in order to have courses posted for registration. This may also be submitted through the Portal.
Background documents, additional procedures and guidelines
Curricular approval chart changes (January, 2013)
Certificate and Diploma summary (updated February 2013)
Admissions policy (2012)
Academic Courses policy on course delivery, examinations and assessment of student learning (2011)
University Nomenclature Report (2011)
Policy for Special Topics Courses (1999)
Course and Program Termination procedures (pdf) (Word document)
Academic Program Changes Tutorial: Download PowerPoint file
Revised Policy and Procedures for Approval of Curricular Changes (approved by Council April 18, 2002)
Program Termination Procedure (approved by Council April 19, 2001) (Revised May 2008)
University Course Challenge Procedures and Moribund Course Procedures
Two keys to approval: be thorough & consult with your colleagues

