Program Planning & Development

Formal change proposals to degree programs such as: creating a new academic degree program or unit, changing the name of an existing program, or transferring, consolidating, discontinuing, and disestablishing (TCDD) an existing program or unit must undergo institutional and senate review. Depending on the complexities and potential impact of the changes, the proposals also may require the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) and WSCUC review. Below is information on various types of changes, including forms and samples. If you are interested in scheduling a consultation meeting, please contact Sautra Yazdanian, Project Director, Division of Academic Planning (sautray@uci.edu).
All program changes are required to go through the Five-Year Planning Perspectives review process (Step 1). Depending on the type of change (e.g., creating a new academic program or unit), some changes will require full proposals (Step 2). These full Post-Perspectives proposals and review processes, such as a new graduate program proposal, typically take two years from start to finish.

We recommend that those units interested in creating new programs/units, making changes to existing programs/units, and discontinuing/disestablishing programs/units also consult with the Academic Senate, Undergraduate Division, and Graduate Division as appropriate.
If you would like to review the process in detail, please reference the Compendium: Universitywide Review Processes for Academic Programs, Academic Units, & Research Units, available on the UCOP website.