UC San Diego Credit Hour Policy

ACADEMIC SENATE: SAN DIEGO DIVISION

Unit value for course offerings is described in general terms by Academic Senate Regulation (SR) 760:

760. The value of a course in units shall be reckoned at the rate of one unit for three hours' work per

week per term on the part of a student, or the equivalent.

Quarter system. As UCSD uses the quarter system (ten weeks of instruction), the credit hour in this policy

will be reckoned the “one quarter-based hour of credit”.

Definition of one hour of instruction. In this policy, one hour of instruction is reckoned to accrue from 50

minutes net of time spent in the classroom or in interaction with the instructor.

Three-hour work unit. In agreement with the WASC Senior College and University Commission’s

(WSCUC) Credit Hour Policy, the three-hour work unit as a commonly accepted quantification of student

academic learning shall be composed of

(1) one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction or instructor-led discussion and a minimum of two

hours of out-of- class student work each week of the ten week quarter; or

(2) an equivalent amount of work for other academic activities as established by the institution, including

laboratory work, internships, practica, studio work, and other academic work leading to the award of

credit hours.

Justification of course units. If the unit value proposed for a course deviates from this policy, the responsible

department needs to submit to the Undergraduate or Graduate Council a course approval request with a

detailed description of how unit value is justified.

Compensation for variable duration. A course offered in a quarter term of less than ten weeks shall contain

the same contact hours, preparation time, content, and requirements as the same course offered over a ten-week

quarter. For instance, one unit for a lecture-based course taught in the summer quarter over the duration of five

weeks will consist of two hours of lecture and four hours of out-of-class student preparation per week.

Additional units. An additional unit of credit may be requested for courses that demand extensive reading,

writing, or other academic work outside the classroom. All proposals for increased unit values beyond what are

stipulated in Senate Regulations and EPC policy must be specifically justified for each course affected and

approved by the Undergraduate Council for undergraduate courses and the Graduate Council for graduate

courses. Specific justification for the additional unit implies that the student is expected to have to dedicate

time above and beyond the normal amount of hours per unit. As a guide, instructors should keep in mind that

an additional unit represents 30 additional hours of work expected of a student during the quarter. In justifying

an additional unit, an instructor must explain how students will have to commit this additional time to the

course (e.g., extra readings or extra assignments). This requirement is applied to all new courses and all new

requests for changes in unit value or course format.

Largest number of units. In general, undergraduate courses should not be assigned more than four units.

Exceptions should be limited to cases where intensive study is appropriate and practicable, such as

introductory language courses. Special justification must be presented for courses with more than four units of

credit.

Remote courses. A lecture or seminar course may be delivered by “remote” instruction as defined in the

Policy on Remote and Distance Instruction

Additional level of justification for remote courses. For a remote course, justification of the format of the

course must be submitted with the goal of ensuring equivalency of the amount of work performed by a student

in the remote course to the three-hour work unit for a lecture/seminar course as quantified in (1) and (2).

Approved by the Educational Policy Committee on March 20, 2017and effective September 1, 2017.

SUPPLEMENTALINFORMATIONABOUTTHEUCSANDIEGOCREDITHOURPOLICY

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EffectiveDate

TheCreditHourPolicyiseffectiveSeptember1,2017.Allrequestsfornewcoursesandrequeststo

changeanexistingcoursesubmittedbydepartmentsandprogramsonorafterSeptember1,2017with

aproposedeffectivedateofFall2017orafterarerequiredtofollowtheUCSanDiegoCredit

Hour

Policy’srequirements.

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AbouttheCreditHourPolicy

TheCreditHourPolicywasdevelopedbytheAcademicSenate’sEd ucationalPolicyCommittee(EPC)in

responsetoarequirementfromtheWASCSeniorCollegeandUniversityCommission(WSCUC)that

eachinstitutionitaccreditsprovideareasonableandtransparentformuladescribinghowcoursecredits

areawardedandisconsistentwithWSCUC’sCredit

HourPolicy.

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TheSanDiegoDivisionoftheAcademicSenatefollowssystemwideSenateRegulation760,which

specifiesthat“Thevalueofacourseinunitsshallbereckonedattherateofoneunitforthreehours

workperweekpertermonthepartofastudent,ortheequivalent.”The

WSCUC’sPolicyismore

precise,specifyingthatacredithourisanamountofworkrepresentedinintendedlearningoutcomes

andverifiedbyevidenceofstuden tachievementthatisestablishedbytheinstitution.

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TheUCSanDiegoCreditHourPolicydevelopedbyEPCmeetsthesemorespecificrequirements.

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Definingthe

Policy’sthree(3)‐hourworkunit

InagreementwiththeWASCUC’sCreditHourPolicy,the3‐hourworkunitisacommonlyaccepted

quantificationofstudentacademiclearning.

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 Totalinstructionalhoursmustequal3timesthenumberofunitsforfixedorvariableunit

courses.

 Forclassroom‐basedcourses,1unitisequivalentto

1hourofclassroomtimeand2hoursof

outsidepreparationperweekduringthe10‐weekquarter.

o Classroomtimeisthenumberofclasscontacthoursrequiredeachweekandmay

includeaninstructor‐ledlecture,discussion,orseminar.

o Asanexample,a4‐unitcourseshouldhave

aminimumof4hoursofclassroomordirect

facultyinstructionorinstructor‐leddiscussion(e.g.3hoursoflectureanda1hour

discussionsection)and8hoursofoutsidepreparationeachweek.

 Coursesthatoffercreditforotheracademicactivities,suchaslaboratorywork,internships,

practicaor

studiowork,mustincludeanequivalentamountofworktocomprise3hoursofwork

perunit.

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AlternativeDistributionofHours

TheUndergraduateCouncil,forundergraduatecourses,andGraduateCouncil,forgraduatecourses,will

considerrequestsfromdepartmentsandprogramstoassignaunitvalueforacoursethatdeviatesfrom

the3‐hourworkunitiftheresponsibledepartmentprovidesanappropriatejustification.Todoso,the

departmentorprogrammust

includea1‐2sentencedescriptionasacommentineCourseexplaining

howstudentswillhavetocommittheirtimeinthecoursetojustifytheunitvalue.

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 Forexample,ifadepartmentorprogramwouldliketoproposea4‐unitcoursewith3hoursof

classroomtimeand9hoursofoutsidepreparationeachweekduringthequarter,the

departmentorprogrammustexplainwhatworkisexpectedofthestudents(e.g.extrareading,

extrawriting,

orotheracademicworkrequiredoutsideoftheclassroom)tojustifyanadditional

unitofcreditforthe3additionalhoursofoutsideworkperweek.TheUndergraduateCouncil

andtheGraduateCouncilwillreviewthejustificationduringitsreviewofthecourseapproval

form.

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ExistingCourses

ItisexpectedthatallcoursesapprovedorsubmittedineCoursepriortoSeptember1,2017withan

alternativedistributionofhourstothe3‐hourworkunitrequireadditionalworkthatjustifiesthe

assignedunitvalue.

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 Ifadepartmentorprogramsubmitsarequestinthefutureto

changethecourseandplansto

maintainanalternativedistributionofhours,thedepartmentorprogramshouldincludea1‐2

sentencedescriptioninasacommentineCoursetodocumenthowstudentscommittheirtime

inthecoursetojustifytheunitvalue.

 NoadditionaldocumentationineCourseis

requiredforexistingcoursesthatalreadymeetthe

Policy’sdefinitionofa3‐hourworkunitofifthedepartmentorprogramisrequestingtochange

thehoursofanexistingcoursetomeetthe3‐hourworkunit.

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Questions

ForquestionsabouttheCreditHourPolicythatarenotaddressedaboveorabouthowtocompletethe

courseapprovalforms,pleasecontactSenateAnalystLindaVong([email protected])forundergraduate

coursesandSenateAssociateDirectorLoriHullings([email protected])forgraduatecourses.

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