C.38 Graduate Certificate Policy

Download as PDF
Date

Graduate Certificate Policy

  1. A graduate certificate is a programmatic or topically-linked series of courses, either from a single field or across disciplinary boundaries. The certificate provides a focused, structure, and interrelated set of courses that enhances the graduate experience. Creating relevant and academically rigorous graduate certificates presents an opportunity to respond to the evolving environmental conditions in higher education and concurrent shifts in student needs. Interested students should contact the academic department for more information.
    1. Graduate certificate programs have specific admission and/or prerequisite requirements. Interested students must apply for admission to a specific program.
      1. Students may declare a certificate before completing degree requirements.
      2. Certificates may be declared as stand-alone programs.
    2. The total number of credit hours required for a graduate certificate may vary by academic discipline but must require a minimum of nine (9) credit hours. A minimum of six (6) credit hours used to satisfy certificate requirements must be earned at USI.
    3. All University policies apply, including academic, grading, admission, retention, contact hours, and faculty eligibility to teach.
    4. Credit hours earned for a certificate may be applied toward another degree program.
    5. Academic departments may determine whether coursework taken to complete a certificate can also be applied to a degree program.
    6. Coursework taken more than seven (7) years before the certificate is awarded cannot be applied, unless a Petition to Validate an Expired Graduate Course has been approved.
    7. Certificates may be structured as either discipline-specific or cross-disciplinary. Academic departments applying for certificates must consult with and/or obtain support for related programs and departments who ensure the availability of courses required for the certificate.
    8. An approved certificate cannot include separate concentrations.
    9. Certificates may be stand-alone or linked to an existing degree program.
    10. Courses applied to a certificate must be legitimate academic courses approved by the University Graduate Council.
    11. All certificates (including post-baccalaureate and post-masters) must be approved through the University’s curricular review process as a new program.
    12. Certificates should enhance existing programs. Sufficient resources must exist to support the certificate without penalizing existing academic programs, including concentrations.
    13. Officially approved certificates will be posted to University of Southern Indiana transcripts and will be issued by the Registrar’s Office. A Formal Application for Graduation must be completed for certificate programs.

Guidelines

For information about proposing a new graduate certificate - application procedures and approval process - as well as procedures for managing approved certificates can be found in the University Handbook under Procedures for Changes in Graduate Curricula.