Course and Programme Approval

The Curriculum Management System (CMS) supports the approval process for introducing new courses and programmes or amending or withdrawing existing courses and programmes.

New and Withdrawn Programmes and Stand Alone Courses

Schools wishing to establish new programmes and/or withdraw existing programmes from their portfolio should use the templates below. For further information please contact the Programme Management Committee (PMC) via bcag@abdn.ac.uk.

Please note: In adherence to the School Planning process a development consent form is required for all new programmes and these, together with the withdrawal of programmes, should be reflected in School plans and projections.

•  
• Development Consent – use along with the finance template to request PMC approval to develop a new programme for QAC review and approval.
• Finance Template – use along with the development consent template to request PMC approval to develop a new programme for QAC review and approval.
• New Programmes – use once PMC approval granted to submit a new programme for QAC review and approval.
• Stand Alone Courses – use to request PMC approval to develop a new stand-alone course. Use New Course Proposal template once PMC approval granted.
• Programme Withdrawal – use to request PMC approval to withdraw an existing programme.

Completed templates should be emailed to bcag@abdn.ac.uk.

New and Withdrawn Courses, Course Modifications and Course Status Changes

• New Course Proposal – use when proposing a brand-new course, or proposing radical changes to a course.
• Course Status Change – use for withdrawals only. All other status changes are completed in-system by Schools.
• Course Change – use to propose changes to an existing course and one variant.
• Variant Change – use in conjunction with the Course Change template when there are multiple variants associated with one master.
• Request to CAP or change a CAP on a Course – use to request that a course is capped or request changes to a cap already in place.

Completed templates should be emailed to the relevant Curriculum Administrator (CA) by 30 November at the latest. The CA will be responsible for ensuring that the data is entered into the CMS.

The Quality Assurance Committee (QAC) will review the Schools’ submissions via the CMS and Schools will be notified via the system when QAC has a query in regard to a submission and when QAC approval has been given. Schools will be required to respond to any QAC queries directly using the system.

Programme Modifications

Schools wishing to make modifications to an existing programme should use the template below.

Programme Modification – use to propose changes to a programme.

Completed templates should be emailed to the relevant Curriculum Administrator (CA) by the end of the winter term at the latest. The CA will be responsible for ensuring that the data is entered into the CMS.

Currently the approval process will be undertaken via email.

Course Assessment Changes

Schools wishing to make assessment changes after the teaching/assessment of a course has finished and before the next delivery of a course will be able to submit assessment change requests outwith the planning cycle for:-

Sub-Session 1 (First Half-Session) Courses – in April

Sub-Session 2 (Second Half-Session) and Full Year Courses – in September/October

Curriculum Administrators

Your CA is always available to answer any questions you may have about the above.

The University Calendar and the Catalogue of Courses

Once approved, courses and programmes are made available to staff and students via the:

• University Calendar – lists every programme offered by the University in a given academic year, the academic regulations which must be adhered to, and the courses which must be studied to ensure a student can graduate.
• Catalogue of Courses – a catalogue of all the courses the University offers, listed by subject area.

The approval process is summarised in flow chart format here.