UC Santa Cruz - WASC Accreditation Process

Selected Exhibits Cross-referenced to WASC Standards

Standard 2: Achieving Educational Objectives Through Core Functions

•	Teaching and Learning
•	Scholarship and Creative Activity
•	Support for Student Learning

The institution achieves its institutional purposes and attains its educational objectives through the core functions of teaching and learning, scholarship and creative activity, and support for student learning. It demonstrates that these core functions are performed effectively and that they support one another in the institution's efforts to attain educational effectiveness.

UC Santa Cruz Standard 2 Reflective Essay

Teaching and Learning

Click each of the Criteria for Review to read the UC Santa Cruz response.

2.1-The institution's educational programs are appropriate in content, standards, and nomenclature for the degree level awarded, regardless of mode of delivery, and are staffed by sufficient numbers of faculty qualified for the type and level of curriculum offered.

WASC Guidelines
The content, length, and standards of the institution's academic programs conform to recognized disciplinary or professional standards and are subject to peer review.

2.2-All degrees - undergraduate and graduate - awarded by the institution are clearly defined in terms of entry-level requirements and in terms of levels of student achievement necessary for graduation that represent more than simply an accumulation of courses or credits.

WASC Guidelines
Competencies required for graduation are reflected in course syllabi for both General Education and the major.

Baccalaureate programs engage students in an integrated course of study of sufficient breadth and depth to prepare them for work, citizenship, and a fulfilling life. These programs also ensure the development of core learning abilities and competencies including, but not limited to, college-level written and oral communication; college-level quantitative skills; information literacy; and the habit of critical analysis of data and argument. In addition, baccalaureate programs actively foster an understanding of diversity; civic responsibility; the ability to work with others; and the capability to engage in lifelong learning. Baccalaureate programs also ensure breadth for all students in the areas of cultural and aesthetic, social and political, as well as scientific and technical knowledge expected of educated persons in this society. Finally, students are required to engage in an in-depth, focused, and sustained program of study as part of their baccalaureate programs.

The institution has a program of General Education that is integrated throughout the curriculum, including at the upper division level, consisting of a minimum of 45 semester credit hours (or the equivalent), together with significant study in depth in a given area of knowledge (typically described in terms of a major).

Graduate programs are consistent with the purpose and character of their institutions; are in keeping with the expectations of their respective disciplines and professions; and are described through nomenclature that is appropriate to the several levels of graduate and professional degrees offered. Graduate curricula are visibly structured to include active involvement with the literature of the field and ongoing student engagement in research and/or appropriate high-level professional practice and training experiences. Additionally, admission criteria to graduate programs normally include a baccalaureate degree in an appropriate undergraduate program.

The institution employs at least one full-time faculty member for each graduate degree program offered.

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.

WASC Guidelines
The use of information and learning resources beyond textbooks is evidenced in syllabi throughout the undergraduate and graduate curriculum.

2.4-The institution's expectations for learning and student attainment are developed and widely shared among its members (including faculty, students, staff, and where appropriate, external stakeholders). The institution's faculty takes collective responsibility for establishing, reviewing, fostering, and demonstrating the attainment of these expectations.

2.5-The institution's academic programs actively involve students in learning, challenge them to achieve high expectations, and provide them with appropriate and ongoing feedback about their performance and how it can be improved.

2.6-The institution demonstrates that its graduates consistently achieve its stated levels of attainment and ensures that its expectations for student learning are embedded in the standards faculty use to evaluate student work.

2.7-In order to improve program currency and effectiveness, all programs offered by the institution are subject to review, including analyses of the achievement of the program's learning objectives and outcomes. Where appropriate, evidence from external constituencies such as employers and professional societies is included in such reviews.

WASC Guidelines
The institution incorporates in its assessment of educational objectives results with respect to student achievement, including program completion, license examination, and placement rates results.

Scholarship and Creative Activity

Click each of the Criteria for Review to read the UC Santa Cruz response.

2.8-The institution actively values and promotes scholarship, curricular and instructional innovation, and creative activity, as well as their dissemination at levels and of the kinds appropriate to the institution's purposes and character.

2.9-The institution recognizes and promotes appropriate linkages among scholarship, teaching, student learning and service.

Support for Student Learning

Click each of the Criteria for Review to read the UC Santa Cruz response.

2.10-Regardless of mode of program delivery, the institution regularly identifies the characteristics of its students and assesses their needs, experiences, and levels of satisfaction. This information is used to help shape a learning-centered environment and to actively promote student success.

2.11-Consistent with its purposes, the institution develops and implements co-curricular programs that are integrated with its academic goals and programs, and supports student professional and personal development.

2.12-The institution ensures that all students understand the requirements of their academic programs and receive timely, useful, and regular information and advising about relevant academic requirements.

WASC Guidelines
Recruiting and admission practices, academic calendars, publications, and advertising are accurate, current, disclosing, and are readily available to support student needs.

2.13-Student support services including financial aid, registration, advising, career counseling, computer labs, and library and information services are designed to meet the needs of the specific types of students the institution serves and the curricula it offers.

2.14-Institutions that serve transfer students assume an obligation to provide clear and accurate information about transfer requirements, ensure equitable treatment for such students with respect to academic policies, and ensure that such students are not unduly disadvantaged by transfer requirements.


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