The University Senate of Michigan Technological University
Proposal 24-15
(Voting Units: Academic)
“Amendment to Senate Policy 411.1: Graduate Certificates”
PDF Version of Proposal 24-15
Submitter
Graduate School, on behalf of the Graduate Faculty Council.
Background/Rationale
Currently, degree-seeking graduate students are required to apply and be accepted to a certificate program in order to earn a certificate. At the time of the original Senate proposal, the Graduate School thought that having students apply to certificate programs would be useful in tracking students’ progress toward degrees and their level of interest in different certificate programs.
In practice, the majority of degree-seeking students are not applying to the certificate programs until they are close to completing their degrees during their final semester on campus. The Graduate School has been enforcing the requirement that students apply to a certificate program, and this has caused the students and their departments to have to work through the certificate application and review process very quickly. Having the application submitted and accepted so late in a student’s degree program does not provide the Graduate School with the data it had hoped to collect about current students’ involvement with certificate programs.
Therefore, the Graduate School is proposing this amendment so that students enrolled in a degree program at Michigan Tech will no longer have to apply to and be accepted to a certificate program in order to earn a certificate.
Non-degree students will still be required to apply to the certificate program, as described in Senate Policy 411.1.
The Graduate Faculty Council supports this proposal.
Proposal
It is proposed to amend one sentence in Senate Policy 411.1 as described below.
Current text
From https://www.admin.mtu.edu/usenate/policies/p411-1.htm
Michigan Tech degree-seeking graduate students who wish to earn a graduate certificate must complete an application for the certificate program available through the graduate school.
Recommended text
Michigan Tech degree-seeking graduate students who wish to earn a graduate certificate must be enrolled in a degree program in the semester they wish to complete their graduate certificate, and submit the appropriate Degree schedule, available through the Graduate School.
Introduced to Senate: February 4, 2015
Approved by Senate: February 18, 2015
Approved by Administration: February 23, 2015