UC Santa Barbara Policy 1010
Policies
Issuing Unit: Academic Affairs Date: October 1, 1973
MINIMUM CLASS SIZE
I. REFERENCES:
A. President Hitch's memorandum to Chancellors, dated March 14,
1973.
II. POLICY:
A. The University has established minimum class enrollment norms:
Lower Division 12 students
Upper Division 8 students
Graduate Division 4 students
These norms apply to primary section enrollments of each course
and to the average enrollment of each type of subsection
(Laboratory, quiz, discussion). The norms do not apply,
however, to independent study, research or thesis work.
B. In the event that enrollment in a class falls below the
specified norm in two successive offerings, the class should be
conducted again only with the advance approval of the Vice
Chancellor-Academic Affairs or the Chancellor. (The phrase "two
successive offerings" should not be interpreted merely to mean
offerings in consecutive quarters of an academic year.
Offerings in non-consecutive quarters or in consecutive
academic years are also subject to the policy.)
1. Courses taught as "overload" by individual professors
which fall below the class size minimum shall be justified
by showing the other classes taught by the respective
instructor(s) as part of their usual workload.
a. The course is an opportunity for a freshman student
to participate in a small group class directly taught
by a faculty member in one of the professorial ranks.
b. The course is required for graduation, and if the
class were cancelled, the date of graduation of
students who wish to enroll in the course would be
affected.
c. The course is required in a major program and the
class must be offered at a particular time in order
to maintain proper sequence of courses.
d. The course (and/or the program of which it is a part)
has been offered for only a short time, and has not
yet developed to its full potential.
e. The course is experimental, either in its subject
matter or in its mode of teaching, or both, and time
is needed to assess its potentialities.
f. The need for special facilities (laboratory, studio,
etc.) limits the size of the class.
g. The need for close personal supervision of the
students by the instructor limits the size of the
class (e.g., certain types of fine arts instruction,
clinical teaching, etc.).
h. The course is an offering in a subject field which
does not attract a large student clientele, but which
nevertheless should be included among the
instructional offerings of a major university because
of its importance to scholarship.
2. If such a course on being offered for the third time fails
to attain the minimum enrollment size after the second day
of enrollment, it should not be offered during that term,
and not be scheduled again until there is convincing
evidence that it will meet the prescribed norm.
C. Courses for which permanent exemption from the minimum sizes
can be adequately justified under criteria f, g, and h above
should be reported to the Vice President-Planning with the
stated justification in each case.
III. PROCEDURE:
A. Upon receipt of the DSIR 62XX report, the Chancellor's Office,
Planning, Analysis and Budget Section, will review the report
of those classes which have below minimum class size, will
compare that data with data of the previous offering of each
class, and will distribute a list of those classes which have
fallen below the specified enrollment norm for two successive
offerings to the appropriate deans and provost. (Interpretation
instructions will also be included.)
B. The addressees will review those classes in their area of
responsibility, will discuss the classes with the department
chairmen involved, and will prepare recommendations for
elimination or continuation of each particular course, with
justification for any recommended continuation. (Less frequent
offerings of a class may eliminate the need for special
consideration.)
C. The deans/provost will forward their recommendations to the
Academic Senate Committee on Undergraduate Courses or the
Graduate Council as appropriate.
D. The Committee on Undergraduate Courses and the Graduate Council
will (a) review the list of classes which have had below
minimum enrollments and the recommendations of the
deans/provost, (b) determine whether continuation of the course
is justified, and (c) forward their recommendations to the Vice
Chancellor-Academic Affairs.
E. The Vice Chancellor-Academic Affairs will review the list and
the various recommendations and will make final determination
as to whether the class should be eliminated, not offered so
frequently, or continued.
F. The Chancellor's Office will prepare the Minimum Class Size
Policy Report Form and will forward the report to the Office of
the Vice President-Planning, with copies to the deans, provost,
Graduate Council and the Committee on Undergraduate Courses and
the Registrar.
G. The Registrar will take appropriate action regarding the
scheduling of the classes.
Please direct questions about these policies to Meta.Clow@vcadmin.ucsb.edu. For questions or comments regarding the format of the above information, please contact webcontact@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu.
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Last Modified By: DEH, 3/3/03