Undergraduate Program Advisory Committee (UPAC)
Procedures and Guidelines
Step 1 Review UFV policies to determine which policies will affect your proposal
110.29 Program and Course Approval , including Appendix C template for new program proposals
310.09 Change in Program Content
340.15 Change in Administration Requirements
340.17 Change in Prerequisites
340.20 Re-Admission
340.21 Continuance in a Program
340.23 Prior Learning Assessment (PLA)
340.26 Residency
340.29 English Language Entrance Proficiency
340.30 English Language Continuance Proficiency
350.05 Assignment of Course Credit
Operating Policies
Cross-listed courses policy (.pdf)
Service courses policy (.pdf)
Step 2 Review Pre-UPAC consultation requirements
All courses and programs being submitted for UPAC approval must first go through the Pre-UPAC consultation with supporting areas.
Step 3 Prepare proposal
Ensure that a proposed implementation date and rationale for the changes/new program or course is included in the covering memo.
Step 4 Send proposal to Pre-UPAC for consultation
Your proposal will be added to the next Pre-UPAC agenda (consultation occurs every week) and will be reviewed in the week following its addition to a Pre-UPAC agenda. Generally, items are reviewed via a week-long email consultation with the Pre-UPAC members. The consultation members will ask questions, raise concerns which may result in the revision of the proposal, and offer their comments for improvements. Department representatives are asked to respond to the Pre-UPAC members' concerns and comments. Departments with proposals requiring further review may need to attend a meeting to further discuss the proposal. Once all Pre-UPAC concerns have been addressed and department has responded, the UPAC assistant will notify the department that the Pre-UPAC consultation is complete. Some proposals may require further consultation, in which case the UPAC assistant will notify the department of any outstanding concerns before proceeding to department approval.
Step 5 Department/Faculty Approval
The Department will
revise the proposal, as required, and submit to Faculty Council for approval. Any changes resulting from the Faculty Council consultation must be made before department submits to the dean for approval.
Step 6 Revise proposal, as required, and submit to dean for approval, with a copy to the UPAC assistant (including a copy of the proposal being sent to the dean)
The department will make any changes to the proposal resulting from consultation with Faculty Council. The implementation date will be revised if required, and rationale for changes/new program or course must be included in the cover memo. A calendar copy with track changes are required for any calendar additions or changes.
Step 7 Dean approves and forwards approval to UPAC assistant
If changes are made to the proposal by the dean, the department will revise the proposal and submit a revised copy to UPAC, with these additional changes outlined in the cover memo. If no changes are made at the dean level, the proposal, submitted in Step 6, which was copied to the UPAC assistant, will be added to the UPAC agenda.
Step 8 UPAC Approval
When dean approval has been received, the UPAC assistant will add the proposal to the next UPAC agenda. Departments will be notified in order that a representative may attend the meeting to address any questions or concerns.
Step 9 What happens next?
» Courses are sent to Banner and published in the calendar with implementation date requested by department
» Minor program revisions are made to the next year's draft calendar
» Major program revisions are forwarded to Senate for approval
» New programs are approved by Senate and Board of Governors and sent externally for review (DQAB)
