Five graduate education policies posted for review

The following message is posted on behalf of Nita Krevans, associate professor and chair of the Graduate Education Policy Review Committee.

Five policies developed by the Graduate Education Policy Review committee have now been approved by the President's Policy Committee and posted for a 30-day public comment period at http://policy.umn.edu/User/POLICIESREVIEW.html. Because of the Senate and PPC calendar, this public comment period falls during summer break and we wanted to make sure that groups involved in graduate education were notified about the comment period. Please forward this email to anyone else you think may wish to comment on the policies.

I have summarized the policies below and provided a direct link to each posting on the Policy Library website; significant changes from previous Graduate School policies are noted in capital letters but that these policies apply to all post-baccalaureate degrees except first professional degrees (JD, MD, PharmD, DVM, DDS, LLM) and many policies will therefore be new for programs which were not formerly affiliated with the Graduate School.

Please note that

• existing programs will not be required to be in compliance with policies that may require curriculum revision until 2013
• Directors of Graduate Studies currently serving are grandfathered for the remainder of their appointment term

The policies are:

Adding, Changing, or Discontinuing Academic Plans
(Revises previous policy in line with new approval process.)
http://policy.umn.edu/Policies/Education/Colleges/ACADEMICPROGRAM_REV.html

Appointments as Directors of Graduate Studies
(Continues previous policy, bases appointments in collegiate units.)
http://policy.umn.edu/Policies/Education/Education/APPOINTDGS.html

Application of Graduate Credits to Degree Requirements
(Continues, with REVISIONS TO LIMITS ON NON-DEGREE COURSEWORK, policies for transfer of graduate credits from other institutions or application of University graduate credits across programs.)
http://policy.umn.edu/Policies/Education/Education/GRADCREDITDEGREE.html

Credit Requirements for Master's and Doctoral Degrees
(Sets minimum AND MAXIMUM required credits for graduate degrees INCLUDING doctoral degrees; CONTAINS NO REQUIREMENT FOR COURSEWORK OUTSIDE THE MAJOR FIELD.)
http://policy.umn.edu/Policies/Education/Education/MAPHDDEGREEREQ.html

Leave of Absence and Reinstatement from a Leave: Graduate Students
(NEW: Establishes a process for leaves of absence for graduate students who unexpectedly need to interrupt their studies. Parallels the already-existing undergraduate policy.)
http://policy.umn.edu/Policies/Education/Education/GRADSTUDENTLEAVE.html

There is a comment link attached to each policy; more general queries about the work of the committee can go to gepolicy@umn.edu.

Thank you!

Nita Krevans, Chair, Graduate Education Policy Review Committee