Graduate Credit in Graduate Level and Combined Undergraduate/Graduate Level Courses

Courses requiring full review by the Graduate Curriculum Committee

A. General syllabus requirements for all courses offering graduate credit (designated as U/G or G)

In addition to the specific requirements listed in this policy, the GCC requires each syllabus submitted for review to contain the elements specified in the table below, which conform to the following UWM policies:

• Faculty Doc 1895R6: Uniform Syllabus Policy
• Faculty Doc 2838: UWM Credit Hour Policy
• Faculty Doc 2691 APC change to Selected Academic and
  Administrative Policy 22 (Examinations, Final)

Where applicable, specific guidance for U/G syllabi is noted in the context of the
table below, with reference to Section B of this document.

Programs and instructors are encouraged to use the following table as a checklist in preparing syllabi.

Requirement	Source
1. Course title and number	1895R6 A. 1a
2. Class meeting times and location	1895R6 A. 1b
3. Instructor’s name, e-mail address, and/or phone number(s)	1895R6 A. 1c&d
4. Course overview or description	1895R6 A.
5. Course objectives (may include learning objectives) For U/G courses, course objectives associated with graduate credit must be graduate-level (see B. below).	1895R6 A. 1e
6. Required and recommended readings with full citations for each textbook and each reading outside the textbook(s). The GCC will not have access for your Canvas site, so a reading list must be included in the syllabus uploaded to the Course Inventory Management (CIM) course form.	1895R6 A. 1f
7. Readings: Many of which are current (published within the last 5 years). Note: Exceptions are made for primary, historical sources. Representing sufficient breadth. For U/G courses, readings associated with graduate credit must be graduate-level.	GCC guidelines
8. Attendance requirements and polices (e.g., if attendance is required, what penalties will there be for absences?)	1895R56 A. 2d
9. Assignment detail (scope of work, qualitative expectations) For U/G courses, a clear differentiation between graduate and undergraduate work may be required (as outlined in section B – Option 1, below).	1895R6 A. 2f
10. Information on the investment of time necessary by the average student to achieve the learning goals of the course. For U/G courses, investment of time may need to be differentiated into 2 tables for graduate and undergraduate students (see section B – Option 1 below).	2838
11. Policy on work submitted late (e.g., not accepted or point/grade deduction)	1895R6 A. 2f
12. Specification of the final assessment tool (e.g., final exam, paper, etc.) For U/G courses, if different for graduate and undergraduate students (Option 1), this should be clearly stated.	2691
13. Grading scheme including weight given to each graded component For U/G courses, the grading scheme may need to be differentiated into 2 tables for graduate and undergraduate students (See B.5 – Option 1, below)	3196R1
14. Schedule or chronology of topics including approximate due dates for assignments and exam dates. (For GCC purposes, format of “class meeting 1, class meeting 2…” is acceptable in lieu of specific dates.)	1895R6 A. 1h
15. Web links to University policies if the policies are not included in the syllabus or distributed as an attachment.	1895R6

B. Specific requirements for courses designated as U/G

Two options are available for U/G courses –

• Option 1: The undergraduate and graduate offerings of the course are intentionally different.
  • U/G course proposals following Option 1 must include differential requirements and associated grading schemes for graduate and undergraduate students. (See table below for details)
• Option 2: The undergraduate and graduate offering of the course are equivalent. (This option meets the needs of some fields, where an upper level UG course is equivalent to an early graduate level course).
  • U/G course proposals following Option 2 must include requirements and associated grading schemes that are commensurate with early graduate-level work. (See table below for details).

Guidance per Options 1 and 2 for U/G syllabi

Specific Syllabus Requirements	Option 1: U and G taught and/or assessed differently	Option 2: U and G both taught and assessed at graduate level
1. Differential requirements	U/G course proposals must include differential requirements and associated grading schemes for graduate and undergraduate students. The specific expectations for graduate students must be stated in the syllabus.	U/G course proposals must include requirements and associated grading schemes commensurate with (early) graduate level expectations.
2. Learning Objectives	Syllabi must include 1 or 2 higher level learning objectives targeted to graduate students in the course. Use of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Measurable Verbs is strongly encouraged to support development of higher level learning objectives.	Syllabi must include graduate-level learning objectives. Use of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Measurable Verbs is strongly encouraged to support development of graduate-level learning objectives.
3. Learning-experience	Students taking the course for graduate credit should be asked to complete course requirements that are consistent with the goals of graduate education in the field of the course (e.g., mastery of knowledge, creative scholarship, research competence). If a “special” project is utilized for graduate work, the project must be outlined in detail and should substitute for or supplement undergraduate work. Unique contributions of special project(s) to the grade must be clearly identified. See examples of appropriate graduate-level work below.	Course requirements should be consistent with the goals of graduate education in the field of the course (e.g., mastery of knowledge, creative scholarship, research competence). See examples of appropriate graduate-level work below.
4. Workload/time investment table(s)	Two workload/time investment tables are required: Graduate-level coursework and workload must be meaningfully different than under-graduate-level coursework and should extend from clear graduate-level learning objectives. a. A workload/time investment table for undergraduate students. b. A workload/time investment table for graduate students. Note: The total # of hours per credit will not be different, but the breakdown of time for work may be different for graduate level coursework.	One workload/time investment table is required: Coursework and workload must be commensurate with (early) graduate-level education and should extend from clear graduate-level learning objectives. a. A workload/time investment table for graduate-level work.
5. Grading table(s)	Two grading tables required. a. A grading table for undergraduate students to clearly state undergraduate level assignments, weighting, etc. b. A grading table for graduate students to clearly state graduate level assignments, weighting, etc. Note that simply assigning different weights to the same set of requirements for undergraduate and graduate students is not sufficient to differentiate graduate level work.	One grading table is required. a. A grading table to clearly state graduate-level assignments, weighting, etc.

Examples of appropriate graduate-level work include:

Leading a class discussion

• Delivering a presentation with graduate-level expectations
• Completing a more sophisticated research or laboratory project, to be
  graded with a graduate-level rubric
• Writing a substantial research paper
• Critically analyzing current literature in the field
• Participating in separate web-based graduate student discussions with
  graduate-level expectations
• Participating in U/G discussions with graduate-level expectations for
  writing amount, quality, and content.

C. Switching or converting an existing U/G syllabus approved under Option 1 to Option 2 (or vice versa) requires full review by the Graduate Curriculum Committee

Previous approval of a U/G course under U/G Course designation option does not automatically transfer if the course is modified to be taught following the other U/G Course designation option. This conversion will require full review by the Graduate Curriculum Committee.

Note, historic approvals prior to Fall 2025 will be assumed to meet the criteria for Option 1 and do not need to be re-approved as long as they remain consistent with the criteria for this work/assessment option.

Graduate courses that may not require full review by the Graduate Curriculum Committee

Certain new graduate credit (G) courses may not require full review by the GCC. Courses that qualify for this more limited level of review include:

1. Zero credit courses (e.g., Candidate for Degree)
2. Thesis credit and dissertation credit courses
3. Independent study courses
4. Special topics/varying topic courses (eg. 590)

Instructors and programs need not submit full syllabi in such cases. Instead, such courses can be reviewed by GCC as automatic consent items.

September 20, 2018

No. 3196

March 14, 2019

No. 3196R1

September 18, 2025

No. 3196R2