A certificate-granting program at Wright State University is a non-degree program of study designed to serve a variety of purposes: to provide the student a formal opportunity to complement a major field of study or to enhance professional performance or to acquire credentials. Generally, these programs are still oriented and enable students to acquire or improve skills.

Certificate programs are designed by academic departments. Each certificate program must be reviewed and approved by the appropriate college curriculum committee, the University Curriculum Committee, the Academic Council, and the Board of Trustees.

The programs should include at least twenty hours of course work at the two- to four-hundred level and no more than twenty-three hours.3 In some certificate programs on-the-job training may be substituted for some formal course work.

After completing program requirements, the certificate candidate must pass a comprehensive evaluation by a faculty committee of at least three members selected by the academic department. The evaluation may be a written or oral examination or a portfolio review.

The awarding of a certificate will be noted on the permanent record at the time that all requirements are completed. A campus communication form should be used by the awarding unit to notify the Registrar's Office of the completion of a certificate program.

Resource Review:

Before program proposals are sent forward to the University Curriculum Committee, a systematic review of program resource requirements and costs should be conducted by the appropriate College or School. This review should address program needs as they pertain to faculty, staff. overhead, space requirements, equipment, impact on computer resources, and library resources. In addressing the need for and impact on computer resources, the Vice President for Information Resource Management should be consulted. In addressing the question of the adequacy of library resources, the University Librarian should be consulted. The results of this review, along with a discussion of the impact of the proposed program on existing programs, should be included in the program proposal.

These regulations governing the granting of certificates apply to certificate programs on the main campus only; a separate approval process and procedures apply at the Lake Campus.

Certificate programs approved prior to the adoption of this policy statement will be considered as approved.

3This limitation is consistent with Ohio Board of Regents regulations which require graduate certificate programs of twenty-four hours or more to be approved by the Regents. No such regulations exist for undergraduate certificate programs; however, this limitation maintains parallelism between graduate and undergraduate certificate programs, and puts an effective cap on undergraduate certificate programs.

Approved by Academic Council 5/6/85
Revised by Academic Council 3/7/88