"Proprietary" courses are not acceptable as graduate-credit course offerings at Northern Illinois University. That is, for any course offered for graduate credit through NIU:

1. The instructor must be appointed (not merely approved) by Northern Illinois University. In addition, if the instructor is not a member of the NIU graduate faculty, that instructor must be approved to teach the particular course through the procedure established by the graduate faculty of NIU.
2. The course content cannot be proprietary in nature. The NIU faculty must be free to modify course content as appropriate in response to changes in the discipline or other considerations, and (except as restricted by copyright law) must also be free to share the course materials with other instructors, at NIU or elsewhere, to the benefit of the discipline.
3. Financial arrangements for courses must be in accordance with established NIU procedures. For example, charges must either be billed to students and collected through the Bursar, or paid by a collaborating agency to Northern Illinois University.

Approved by Graduate Council, May 3, 1993