The University Senate of Michigan Technological University


PROPOSAL 2-06

(Voting Units: Academic Departments)

UNDERGRADUATE CERTIFICATES

Proposed Catalog Copy

A certificate is a body of courses that, taken together, provides students with knowledge of a disciplinary or interdisciplinary subfield. Certificates are noted on official transcripts and allow departments to offer curricular options not able to be met by a minor or a concentration within a major degree.

Departments can offer certificates to both degree seeking and non-degree seeking students. Non-degree seeking students who wish to acquire a certificate must comply with procedures for admission to Michigan Tech. Students who wish to earn a certificate must indicate their interest to the appropriate department.

Certificate programs require at least 12 and no more than 25 credits, at least one-half of which must be at the 3000 level and higher. Students must earn a grade of C or better in each course that is used to meet certificate requirements. Departments offering certificates may establish GPA requirements up to 2.5.

Background Information

The Senate Curricular Policy Committee was asked to review the university policy on certificates and concluded that different departments are using certificates for different purposes. Some certificates were created before Tech offered minors and served as a substitute for minors; hence, they currently resemble minors. Others represent a level of specialization within a major degree program and therefore resemble concentrations within a major degree. Others fulfill a program niche not met by a minor or a concentration within a major degree. Some are open to non-degree students; others are not.

The committee recognizes a need for flexibility in allowing departments to create meaningful certificate programs. However, the committee concluded that a certificate program should only be created when a minor or a concentration within a major would not serve the same purpose. Although all existing certificate programs will be grandfathered in, the committee recommends that all departments review their existing certificate programs to determine if they offer a curricular option that could not be met by a minor or a concentration within a major.  

The undergraduate certificate programs currently recognized in the MTU catalog are:

          Certificate in International Business
          Industrial Forestry Certificate
          Media Certificate
          Certificate in Writing
          Language Certificate
          Advanced Language Certificate
          Certificate in Mine Environmental Engineering
          Design Engineering Certificate
          Certificate in Actuarial Science

In addition, the following certificate program is in review:

          Coaching Certificate

 

 

Introduced in the University Senate: 12 October 2005
Adopted by the University Senate: 26 October 2005
Approved by Administration: 8 November 2005
Became Senate Policy 407.1