Curriculum Planning

Curriculum Planning at NIU supports the university's ongoing commitment to providing high-quality academic programs that address student and societal needs. Curriculum Planning supports NIU's mission to empower students through educational excellence and experiential learning through the pursuit of knowledge, sharing of research and artistry, and engagement of communities for the benefit of the region, state, nation and world. Core components of curriculum planning include oversight of new program development and ongoing program review of existing academic programs.

Please review the procedures for curriculum approval. You may also review the process for proposals for new degree programs or courses, proposals for changes to courses or degree programs, or proposals to delete courses or programs.

You are also encouraged to review how to add or change a Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code when proposing new academic programs.

Responsibility for the university’s curriculum is vested in its faculty overseen by the Faculty Senate, which delegates this authority to the Baccalaureate Council for undergraduate curriculum and to the Graduate Council for graduate curriculum.

The curriculum for undergraduate students includes general education requirements in Foundational Studies and Knowledge Domains.

Submit proposals for new courses/programs, deletion of courses/programs or changes to courses/programs using Curriculum.

Procedure for requesting a new degree program:

A chair/director will initiate discussions with their college dean about creating a new degree program. If the dean supports the initial proposal, the dean will confer with the provost about the feasibility of the request. If the provost agrees to proceed, the chair/director will initiate a curriculum proposal through curriculum which will then be reviewed through the curricular process.

Academic Degree Program Assessment