Standard 11: Educational Offerings

Standard 11: Educational Offerings (Graduate Education)

The institution’s educational offerings display academic content, rigor, and coherence that are appropriate to its higher education mission. The institution identifies student learning goals and objectives, including knowledge and skills, for its educational offerings.

An accredited institution is expected to possess or demonstrate the following attributes or activities. These elements also apply to all other educational activities addressed within Standard 13.

1. educational offerings congruent with its mission, which include appropriate areas of academic study of sufficient content, breadth and length, and conducted at levels of rigor appropriate to the programs or degrees offered;

This element for undergraduate education is covered in the self-study.

For Graduate Education:

As New Jersey’s only comprehensive public research university, Rutgers ’ mission is to provide opportunities for both graduate and professional study in a wide range of fields on all three of its regional campuses. These programs are offered through 17 degree-granting units (#585, #585.10 through #585.30), and the faculties of three additional undergraduate professional units – College of Nursing, School of Engineering, and School of Environmental and Biological Sciences – teach graduate programs through arts and sciences graduate schools. The graduate programs annually enroll approximately 13,000 students. The programs offered within each school are designed to be consistent with the respective school’s mission. (see section 10.1.3 (#640) of the University Policy Library.)

Rutgers University offers several types of graduate and professional degree programs at different levels, including master’s degrees, first professional degrees, and doctoral degrees. Master’s degrees include the professional type which involves advanced study for practice in an applied field and the disciplinary type which involves advanced study in a particular discipline in the arts and sciences. First professional degrees are offered in law and pharmacy. Specific doctoral degrees are offered in education, musical arts, psychology, and public health. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy is offered in various arts and sciences disciplines. Scholastic requirements for students at different degree levels are determined by the Scholastic Standing Committee of the appropriate degree-granting unit. (section 10.2.1) (#696) Every degree-granting unit of the university utilizes a grading system for the appraisal of student work (section 10.2.2) (#697) and must establish policy and procedures for final examinations. (section 10.2.3) (#698) The credit value of each course (section 10.2.4) (#699) is determined by the respective unit that authorized the course on the basis of the time expected to be devoted to the course. Each degree-granting unit defines its quantitative requirements for graduation. (section 10.2.5) (#700). Each graduate and professional school may set residence requirements, or specify a minimum number of courses or credits which must be taken at Rutgers University toward its own advanced degrees.

2. formal undergraduate, graduate, and/or professional programs—leading to a degree or other recognized higher education credential—designed to foster a coherent student learning experience and to promote synthesis of learning;

This element for undergraduate education is covered in the self-study.

For Graduate Education:

Each school has oversight of the programs they offer, with standards for curricular development and oversight and faculty involvement. (see standard 10, element 2) (#R35) Graduate catalogs (#586, #586.10 through #586.30) for each school provide listings of all courses offered and degree requirements.

All new programs go through an extensive internal planning phase and external review process that address issues of need, quality, student learning outcomes, assessment, and resources. (see Standard 2, Element 2) (#R15).

Individual programs are largely responsible for fostering coherence and synthesis of graduate student learning. Some examples across the university include:

· Camden Biology (#704)

· Camden Business (#705)

· Camden Creative Writing (#706)

· Camden Liberal Studies (#707)

· Camden Psychology (#708)

· Newark American Studies (#709)

· Newark Nursing (#710)

· Newark Psychology (#711)

· Newark Public Administration (#712)

· Newark Urban Systems (#713)

· New Brunswick Classics (#714)

· New Brunswick English (#715)

· New Brunswick History (#716)

· New Brunswick Microbiology and Molecular Genetics (#717)

· New Brunswick Musical Arts (#718)

· New Brunswick Professional Psychology (#719)

· New Brunswick Social Work (#720)

· New Brunswick Statistics and Biostatistics (#721)

· New Brunswick Women’s and Gender Studies (#722)

· Newark and New Brunswick Accounting and Business (#723)

· Newark and New Brunswick Biological, Mathematical, and Physical Sciences (BioMaPS) (#724)

3. program goals that are stated in terms of student learning outcomes;

This is covered in Section VI of the Self-Study.

4. periodic evaluation of the effectiveness of any curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular experiences that the institution provides its students and utilization of evaluation results as a basis for improving its student development program and for enabling students to understand their own educational progress (see Standards 9: Student Support Services and 14: Assessment of Student Learning);

Where undergraduate and graduate curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular experiences are intertwined, these are covered in the Self-Study (section II, section VI). See also standard 9, element 10 (#R32) for a discussion of assessment activities of student support services for graduate students.

5. learning resources, facilities, instructional equipment, library services, and professional library staff adequate to support the institution’s educational programs; and

collaboration among professional library staff, faculty, and administrators in fostering information literacy and technological competency skills across the curriculum;

This element for undergraduate education is covered in the self-study.

For Graduate Education:

Educational offerings for graduate students at Rutgers are significantly enhanced by library services that support instruction and educational programs. The Rutgers University Libraries promote the use of information and learning resources and services accessible through its website (#604), including point-of-need assistance for selecting and using appropriate resources and services. (For a complete listing of these features, see the report (#727) of the University Libraries.

Some University's twenty-six libraries and centers especially serve particular graduate units or programs. These include the Camden Law Library (#728), the Don M. Gottfredson Library of Criminal Justice (#729), the Institute of Jazz Studies (#730) collection, the Rutgers Law Library-Newark (#731), and the Center of Alcohol Studies Library(#732).

The Office of Informational Technology also plays an important role in supporting Rutgers educational programs for graduate students. Through providing instructional services to teaching faculty at Rutgers , OIT enables graduate faculty to incorporate the most advanced learning tools (#733) available into their curricula. OIT also provides support for computing labs throughout the university (Camden (#734), Newark (#735), and New Brunswick (#736) computing labs); and is responsible for many services that students, both undergraduate and graduate, use in their curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities (Computing services for students on the Camden (#737), Newark (#738), and New Brunswick (#739) campuses). In addition, individual graduate schools and programs at Rutgers offer their graduate students department-based facilities such as labs and other learning resources that support the educational mission of their programs.

7. programs that promote student use of a variety of information and learning resources;

This element for undergraduate education is covered in the self-study.

For Graduate Education:

In addition to its libraries and the Office of Informational Technology, Rutgers promotes the use of a variety of information and learning resources, equipment, and facilities by graduate students. A brief sample of these resources include:

· Research laboratories in Psychology (#740)

· Instrumentation Resources in Food Science (#741)

· The nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (#742) on the Camden Campus

· The Marine Field Station (#743)

· The Center for Molecular and Behavioral Science (#744)

· The University Heights Center for Advanced Imaging (#745)

· The Southern African Large Telescope (#746)

· The Cell and DNA Repository (#747)

· The Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience (#748)

· Microscopy Facilities (#749)

· Supercomputing Facilities (#750)

· Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum Collections (#751)

· Facilities for the creative and performing arts, including music (#752), theater arts (#753), and visual arts (#754).

8. provision of comparable quality of teaching/instruction, academic rigor, and educational effectiveness of the institution’s courses and programs regardless of the location or delivery mode;

This element for graduate education is covered in Section IV of the Self-Study concerning Off-Campus and Distance Education.

9. published and implemented policies and procedures regarding transfer credit. The consideration of transfer credit or recognition of degrees will not be determined exclusively on the basis of the accreditation of the sending institution or the mode of delivery but, rather, will consider course equivalencies, including expected learning outcomes, with those of the receiving institution’s curricula and standards. Such criteria will be fair, consistently applied, and publicly communicated;

At Rutgers , the transfer of credit and the recognition of degrees is not determined exclusively on the basis of the accreditation of the sending institution or the mode of delivery. Transfer credit and recognition of degrees considers course equivalencies, including expected learning outcomes, with the university’s curricula and standards. Policies and procedures regarding the transfer of credit are published in university catalogs (e.g., see Camden (#755), Newark (#756), and New Brunswick (#757) graduate catalogs).

10. policies and procedures to assure that the educational expectations, rigor, and student learning within any accelerated degree program are comparable to those that characterize more traditional program formats;

Accelerated dual-degree programs at Rutgers are carefully designed to assure that the educational expectations, rigor, and student learning are comparable to those in the regular formats. Admission standards for an accelerated dual-degree program (#758) at Rutgers may be higher than the regular program.

11. consistent with the institution’s educational programs and student cohorts, practices and policies that reflect the needs of adult learners;

This element which applies specifically to undergraduate education is covered in the self-study.

12. course syllabi that incorporate expected learning outcomes; and

13. assessment of student learning and program outcomes relative to the goals and objectives of the undergraduate programs and the use of the results to improve student learning and program effectiveness (see Standard 14: Assessment of Student Learning).

These elements are covered in Section VI (Assessment of Student Learning) of the Self-Study.

Educational Offerings (Additional Elements for Graduate and Professional Education)

Additional elements for graduate and professional education

1. graduate curricula providing for the development of research and independent thinking that studies at the advanced level presuppose;

Graduate curricula are detailed in university catalogs (#586, #596.10 through #586.30) and departmental websites for the Camden Campus (#760), Newark Campus (#761), and New Brunswick Campus (#762).

2. faculty with credentials appropriate to the graduate curricula; and

Preparation and qualifications for faculty is covered in Standard 10 Element 1 (#R34). Scholarship and competence for graduate instruction, including supervision of doctoral dissertations, are the bases for membership in the Graduate Faculty (#764).

3. assessment of student learning and program outcomes relative to the goals and objectives of the graduate programs (including professional and clinical skills, professional examinations and professional placement where applicable) and the use of the results to improve student learning and program effectiveness (see Standard 14: Assessment of Student Learning).

This element is covered in the self-study in section VI on Assessment of Student Learning.

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