SENATE DOCUMENT #18

                          ACADEMIC POLICIES COMMITTEE

                                  DOCUMENT #13

                                   1984-85



The Academic Policies Committee recommends adoption of the following statement
regarding the granting of "Certificates" in the name of UNCA:


DEFINITION OF CERTIFICATE

A certificate is a simple but formal attestation of:
     1)  a set of specified courses and experiences,
     2)  unified by a determined purpose or function,
     3)  completed with a certain measure of success.
The set of courses is designed to stand by itself, without necessary reference
to an academic degree, a major, or a minor. 



REVIEW PROCEDURE FOR CERTIFICATES

Certificates are subject to the normal academic review procedures of the
University.  This includes Certifices granted by the Center for Continuing
Education with the exception of Certificates of continuing education units
(CEU's) and Certificates which merely attest to attendance at a workshop or
conference. 

Normally a Certificate will be proposed by those academic departments which
will be providing the instruction. Such a proposal must clearly show: 
     1) admission requirements for the certificate program. Particular
        attention should be paid to whether the program will function at the
        pre-baccalaureate or post-baccalaureate level. 
     2) the standards of performance expected of students in the program.
     3) the degree to which the certificate program provides the level of
        competence which might be expected by an accreditation body or 
        professional agency of someone holding a certificate. 
     4) consultation with those employers, agencies, and groups in the
        community who might be involved in the certificate program. 
     5) the academic content of the program.  It is expected that most
        certificate programs will be based on existing credit courses offered 
        by the University.  Where other resources and techniques are to be 
        used, these are to be justified on the same basis and applying the same
        standards that the University uses in approving regular credit courses.



OTHER POLICIES RELATING TO CERTIFICATES

The University will include descriptions of Certificates that it plans to
offer on a regular basis in its Catalog so that information about what each
Certificate represents may be readily available. 

Each Certificate will clearly indicate, either in its title or its content, 
the nature of the program for which it is awarded and whether it is being 
awarded for attendance only or for satisfactory performance in the program.