Higher Learning Commission (HLC) Annual Audit Process 

The CoE Registrar served on a working group from the University RO and Provost’s Office as the CoE representative. The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) felt that the University of Michigan did not have a consistent Assignment of Credit Hour Policy and that all of the schools and colleges needed to create their own. Therefore, in accordance with the Provost’s Office, they would post it on their college website(s) and have a way to review if their courses met their policy. The University RO provides an annual report which includes all sections of courses from the last academic year and indicates whether they were in HLC compliance.

Per the Provost’s Office, it is expected that faculty members and instructors, with oversight and guidance from their school/college curriculum committee (in the College of Engineering, the College of Engineering Curriculum Committee (CCC), is responsible for ensuring courses are designed and delivered in ways that align with these standards. This is to ensure continued Title IV student financial aid eligibility that our programs are following applicable federal rules and guidelines. This process needed to be developed to ensure that CoE leadership, Departmental and Unit leadership, and faculty & staff are fully aware and are following the CoE Policy for the Assignment of Credit Hours.

The CoE RO and the ADUE Office developed the following HLC Annual Audit Review process for the College of Engineering:

1. At the beginning of each term, the Engineering RO’s office will break down the HLC Annual Audit Report by department and unit, with the matching previous term’s courses that did not meet the CoE Policy for the Assignment of Credit Hours, did not cancel the sections that did not meet, or sections with zero enrollment (eg. FA 23 will send the WN 23 courses that failed to meet the minimum number of credit hours, did not cancel sections that did not meet, or had zero enrollment, so that WN 24 courses can be brought into compliance before the academic freeze for WN 24 course scheduling).  
   1. Please note, if the course is cross-listed with another course, inside or outside of the College of Engineering, despite who is the home unit, it is expected that the department/unit will communicate with the cross-listed department/unit to find solutions and report back on the supplied spreadsheet.
2. This spreadsheet will be sent to the Department Chair, Undergraduate and Graduate Chairs, Program Directors, UA’s, Curriculum Maintainers, and CoE Curriculum Committee Member with a one-month deadline (so that the work is complete on those courses in the future, prior to the Academic Freeze and prior to backpacking).
3. Per sponsors request, we now will be including HLC Failed-Zero Meet Occurrence classes on the HLC spreadsheets provided to each department/unit with non-compliant courses. These sections will only need to be addressed one time (once input is provided for each course, it will not be requested again for future terms). Zero Meet Occurence classes will be on their own tab in the spreadsheet sent to departments/units. 
   1. Example: Study abroad, ENGR 301, this is a placeholder for students that are abroad, to allow the student to have access to all U-M systems.
   2. Example: MDP project courses, ENGR 255/355/455, engineering Design Project using faculty/industry mentored multi-disciplinary team-based project work that does not always meet in CoE Classrooms.  Can function more as an independent study, with subteam and team meetings, many of which are evenings and weekends.
   3. Example: ENGR 280/UROP, students are participating in research, some with peer facilitator-led seminars that take place across the entire campus.
4. It is the Department/Unit’s responsibility to engage with their departmental faculty, CoE Curriculum Committee Member, their Curriculum Maintainers, their departmental CC Chairs, program committees and instructors to review the information and send back the complete spreadsheet.
5. The Department/Unit will use the spreadsheet to confirm that their courses for the following term comply with the CoE Credit Hour Policy.
6. Those courses that can be easily fixed will be done (eg. failed to meet the minimum number of credit hours, did not cancel sections that did not meet, or had zero enrollment submit a CARF modification to the CoE CCC, update the Maintain Schedule of Classes tile in MPathways to provide the proper number of contact hours/week) and marked in the spreadsheet.
7. Those courses that can’t be easily fixed, the Chairs will need to distill that information into questions and record it in the spreadsheet, so that will be addressed by the CCC.
8. The CCC will meet and discuss a response at their next scheduled meeting and utilize the submitted questions, identified course categories and if needed, reference the CoE Policy for the Assignment of Credit Hours and consult with curriculum experts if needed (Mike Solomon, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Dean of Rackham, Christine Gerdes, Special Counsel to the Provost)
9. The CoE Curriculum Committee will update our CoE Policy for the Assignment of Credit Hours based on the results of these questions. The CCC will identify what behaviors count as contact hours (eg. asynchronous, online modules in CANVAS) as part of the CoE Policy for the Assignment of Credit Hours. Information will be shared with the ADUE/OGPE Office to confirm.

Office of the Registrar Credit Hour Guidance

To ensure continued Title IV student financial aid eligibility, all academic programs must follow applicable federal rules and guidance from U-M’s regional accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), concerning credit hour definitions. Faculty members and instructors — with oversight and guidance from curriculum committees that oversee program curricula — are responsible for ensuring that courses are designed and delivered in ways that conform with these standards. Adopting and following the Office of the Provost Guidance on Defining the Academic Credit Hour ensures that academic programs meet the HLC requirements and federal rules concerning credit hour definitions. See full webpage: Office of the Registrar Credit Hour Guidance.