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SEBS Minors and Certificates Policy

Introduction

The purpose of articulating a policy over minor and certificate programs is:

(1) to provide guidance to SEBS faculty when they consider creating a new minor or certificate, or proposing a revision of an existing minor or certificate and proposing the new or revised program to the Curriculum and Education Policy Committee

(2) to align SEBS minors and certificates with Rutgers University policy

(3) to articulate long-standing practice on the non-requirement for SEBS undergraduates to complete a minor or certificate program. Therefore, this policy document is primarily faculty facing, not student facing.

This policy shall take effect immediately upon ratification and will apply to all newly proposed minors/certificates and those proposed for revision.

The SEBS faculty ratified the policy on February 25, 2021.

Undergraduate Minor Programs

  1. An undergraduate minor is a group of credit-bearing courses in a coherent sequence that lays out a secondary plan of study. A major is defined as a primary plan of study toward a bachelor’s degree. The minor does not require the same level of immersion as a major.
  2. Minors are a degree program, just like majors are. Minors are declared and completed by matriculated undergraduate students in the process of earning a bachelor’s degree.
  3. Minors are intended to expand or supplement an educational experience beyond a student’s declared major. The courses fulfilling a minor should not significantly overlap course requirements of a student’s declared major. In order to help students choose a minor, the minor program description should describe which majors are incompatible.
  4. Completion of a minor is optional for undergraduates matriculating at SEBS.
  5. Minors must require a minimum of 18 credits and must require a reasonable mix of lower-level and upper-level courses.
  6. Minors may be directly related to a major program or may be interdisciplinary.
  7. A minor must be managed by one designated department. The minor will be managed by a designee who is a full-time faculty member in the department and operates under the title of “Advisor.”
  8. The graduation requirements of a minor may not overlap significantly with other minors or internal certificates but may overlap with a stand-alone certificate. Students may complete either the overlapping minor or stand-alone certificate, not both. Certificate programs are defined by Rutgers University policy (see below).

Undergraduate Certificate Programs

  1. A certificate is a group of credit-bearing courses in a coherent sequence that form a plan of study in a vocational or professional subject. Certificates add a vocational/professional skill or set of skills and enhance vocational/professional standing.1
  2. Certificate programs may be of two types.2 Internal certificates are available only to students admitted to and enrolled in a degree program (matriculated status). Stand-alone certificates are targeted to external students (nonmatriculated status). Even so, stand-alone certificates are available to matriculated students.
  3. Completion of either an internal certificate or a stand-alone certificate is so indicated on a student’s transcript.

Internal Certificate Programs

  1. Internal certificates are administratively equivalent to minors, and all provisions of the minor program policy apply.
  2. Proposals for new or revised internal certificate programs must justify and support the reasons why the program should be a certificate and not a minor.
  3. The requirements for internal certificates may not overlap significantly with other certificates or minors.
  4. If the courses for an internal certificate are completed by a nonmatriculated student, it will not be considered a completion of a degree program and will not be so indicated on the student’s Rutgers University transcript. The program may acknowledge completion of the courses toward an internal certificate in the form of a certificate or diploma document.

Stand-Alone Certificate Programs

  1. Stand-alone certificates are targeted to nonmatriculated students. This provision notwithstanding, stand-alone certificates are available to matriculated students.
  2. The requirements for stand-alone certificates may overlap with other certificates or minors within SEBS. This provision notwithstanding, when declared by a matriculated student, and if the stand-alone certificate is significantly similar to another minor or certificate, the student may complete only one program, not both.
  3. Stand-alone certificates must be approved by SEBS, the Rutgers New Brunswick Provost and Chancellor, and the Rutgers Board of Governors and must be presented to the New Jersey Department of Education.
  4. Proposals for stand-alone certificates must include a statement that nonmatriculated students who seek to enroll in the program are ineligible for financial aid (Federal Gainful Employment rules, provide a statement in this regard from the Rutgers Department of Enrollment Management).

Proposing new or revised minors, internal certificates, and stand-alone certificates

  1. All proposals must include the following information:
    1. title and purpose of the minor or certificate program
    2. need/demand
    3. admission requirements
    4. curriculum/required credits
    5. learning goals and learning outcome assessment plan (24k Word file)
    6. relationship to any other degree programs at Rutgers New Brunswick
    7. mode of delivery (in-person, hybrid/distance education)
    8. location(s) to be offered
    9. restrictions
    10. resource considerations
    11. for stand-alone certificates, a statement of compliance with Federal Gainful Employment requirements (consult with the Department of Enrollment Management) or a statement that students are ineligible for federal financial aid

1Certificate programs offered by SEBS are different from certificates offered by the Office of Continuing Professional Education or the Division of Continuing Studies. OCPE and DoCS certificates are generally single, non-credit-bearing courses, whereas SEBS certificates are degree programs, a group of credit-bearing courses in a coherent sequence.

2oirap.rutgers.edu/Academic_Program_Development_Process_FAQ.pdf (PDF)