It has come to my attention that a few of my claims in my previous article “Unannounced academic changes” had some minor logistical inaccuracies.
First, it is not the case that the Certificate of International Business is no longer available to students seeking it. It is still available.
The Minor in International Business is currently undergoing a lengthy 10-step process of approval. It was approved at the college level in April, 2015, but it has yet to be approved by the University Committee on Academic Programs (CAP). Proponents of the Minor hope it will be approved at the university level this Fall.
Until the minor is approved at the university level, the Certificate of International Business will remain available. If and when the minor is approved, the Certificate will become “deactivated.”
This means simply that incoming students will not be able to apply for the Certificate, minus certain exceptions (such as some transfer students), while students already in the process of obtaining the Certificate will have the choice between the Certificate and the Minor, assuming they fulfilled the requirements for one or the other.
However, once either has been obtained by a student and that student has since graduated, the student may not retroactively request the other, even if they fulfilled requirements for it.
Though there is no pressing reason to alert students to the potential Minor until it is proved on the university level, there is no formalized mechanism to announce it to students when it is approved.
The thesis of my last article on the subject was that there could be better mechanisms for such announcements, and I maintain that is still the case.
Currently, the best way students have to learn about the Minor is by seeing its pending availability on the college’s website, and by gleaning the benefits of it based on the information given.
Another way to learn is by discussing it with an academic advisor. That is, assuming those academic advisors have the incentive to inform each student they speak to of the availability of the Minor.
There are classes in each that overlap, and there are entry-level courses college-wide that can act as venues for professors to divulge information about the Minor to students.
One impetus behind the development and proposal for the Minor is that it is a credential that can be included on your diploma, rather than a document all its own, as is the case with the Certificate.
Students must be aware of this opportunity, especially because of those hardworking proponents of the Minor within the Robinson College of Business.
Though my example turned out to be not entirely accurate, the tenor remains the same: communication within departments is essential to students’ awareness of the availability of classes.
While that may not be possible during the long process of having the Minor approved at the highest level, it will be a good practice on part of the college to inform students of the change if and when it is Madeleine.
