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| 2000-2004 WASC Accreditation |
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2.3: The institution's expectations for learning and student attainment are clearly reflected in its academic programs and policies. These include the organization and content of the institution 's curricula; admissions and graduation policies; the organization and delivery of advisement; the use of its library and information resources; and (where applicable) experience in the wider learning environment provided by the campus and/or co-curriculum.
For undergraduate students, the Catalog of Courses provides specific guidance for completing each requirement in each program. To assist students interpret these expectations and requirements, a cadre of professional advisors in each college counsel undergraduate students individually to ensure their academic progress. When students encounter academic difficulties, college Provosts adjudicate their cases and attempt to keep them on track. Our residential college system ensures that academic advisors and other academic support staff know their students personally and can provide support tailored to their particular needs. To ensure smoother transitions from undeclared to choosing and declaring majors, the campus has recently instituted a system of advising clusters. New students are required to make a preliminary declaration from among ten broad categories of programs, which facilitates their receiving early advice preparing them for their eventual declared majors. For declared students, academic departments appoint staff advisors with specialized knowledge of the departments to help students interpret departmental course and graduation requirements. Faculty, during office hours, at formal advising events, and through informal contact in the colleges and classrooms, provide students with personal guidance on their program decisions and career prospects. UCSC also leads UC campuses in the implementation of a student portal, a collection of web-based student services available to each student with a single log on. The freshmen class of 2004 will be the first to take advantage of the improved features of the new PeopleSoft™ Academic Information System, including a degree audit component. The degree audit system will provide a powerful tool for improving student advising. It will contain in its code every campus rule and regulation regarding general education requirements, departmental requirements, and overall graduation requirements. The system will offer students on-demand reports specifying which requirements they have satisfied, which are in progress, and which remain outstanding. It will also enable students to propose hypothetical questions, such as, “If I change my major to economics, what remaining requirements would I still have to fulfill? In effect, the automated degree audit will enable students to advise themselves. At the graduate level, degree requirements are spelled out in detail in the Catalog of Courses supplemented by departmental web sites and publications. The University library and instructional computing laboratories provide students with orientation classes on library and technology resources and on-going support for literature reviews and investigations of source materials, and data searches and analyses.
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Copyright ©2003 UC Regents | Maintained by susan.jessen@adm.ucsc.edu |
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