THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE 
                         FACULTY SENATE 

Senate Document Number   0490F 
Date of Senate Approval   10/11/90

 
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Statement of Faculty Senate Action:   

  APC #2:  Proposal for the Creation of the Course Prefix MCNC

Effective Date:  Fall, 1991      

MCNC is a public-private non-private partnership involving
industry and universities.  Incorporated in July of 1980, MCNC
is directed by a 16-member Board of Directors with industry,
university, and state representation.  MCNC's mission is to build
North Carolina's technical infrastructure for science-based
economic development; to keep North Carolina universities at the
forefront of research and education in communications, 
microelectronics, and supercomputing; and to manage a statewide
communications network, an advanced research and technology
laboratory and program in microelectronics, and a supercomputing
center that promotes collaborative research and education among
North Carolina participating universities and industry.

One of the major programs and research areas at MCNC is the
Communications Division.  To permit timely participation in
research and education projects, the MCNC Center for
Communications operates CONCERT, a private telecommunications
network interconnecting all universities, medical centers,
research institutions, and graduate centers in North Carolina.
With interactive video and high-speed data transmission, CONCERT
is becoming nationally recognized as a model for education and
research collaboration.

CONCERT enables universities to transmit and receive
microelectronic courses; until recently, these courses were
offered through the "sending" (or teaching) institutions for
graduate credit only.  The CONCERT network last month
approved the enrollment of undergraduate students who meet
the following criteria at their home institutions:

1.  enrolled as degree seeking students
2.  enrolled on a full-time basis
3.  permission of dean (or equivalent) to enroll for credit
    in CONCERT courses
4.  maximum participation of one CONCERT course per semester

UNCA has an extraordinary opportunity to enroll undergraduates
through the MCNC CONCERT program.  Since the administration,
structure, and management of the curriculum differ from those
courses normally offered by UNCA, we must develop a mechanism
for enrolling students who wish to participate.  The following
method is proposed:

1.  Create the new subject prefix "MCNC".  This would allow us to
distinguish MCNC courses from those staffed by our regular
faculty and taught on our Asheville campus.  The subject prefix
would act as a department and would allow us to administer the
program appropriately on our campus and track our students'
participation.

2.  Designate all CONCERT courses at the 400 level. Since
classes at the originating institutions may consist primarily
(or exclusively) of graduate students and since our students
will be graded in this same class by the same instructor, a
high level of preparation is required and, in turn, should be
recognized in the record keeping system.

3.  Assign the course number each semester based on the
number of courses enrolling students on the UNC Asheville
campus.  The course subtitles can vary from course-to-course
and term-to-term to accurately describe content.

4.  Include in the course title the name of the sending
(originating) institution.  This would allow us to provide
other institutions and our students accurate information on
which institution sponsored classes for which our students
enrolled.  

The MCNC CONCERT network limits enrollment at receiving
institutions to regularly admitted degree-seeking students
only; non-degree students must be admitted and registered
through the originating institution.