Course Inventory

A proposal for a new course, change in course or withdrawal of a course must go through the curricular approval/review process. The following resources serve to assist administrators, faculty and staff with this process and the procedures related to undergraduate, graduate and professional course proposal approvals/reviews.

Courses that are approved/reviewed during the calendar year are added to course inventory (COMPASS) and catalog, and are effective the following academic year.  Courses are reported to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board each May during our annual course inventory reporting period.

Course Proposals

Please go to Howdy to access the Curricular Approval Request System (CARS) under the Employee tab.

The following are additional resources that may assist in course preparation.

A syllabus is required for new courses and changes to course hours and course numbers.

Refer to the Minimum Syllabus Requirements for a template and other details.

Refer to our Course Description Style Guide for the preferred catalog course description format.

Non-Traditional Courses

In order for courses to be taught in a non-traditional format as either online (NTFO) or a different part of term (NTFD), they must be submitted for approval through the Curricular Approval Request System (CARS). The question on the CARS form "Will sections of this course be taught as non-traditional?" must be answered. In addition, a non-traditional syllabus must be attached to the proposal and must clearly reference online coursework or the difference in duration. Reference University Rule 11.03.99.M1 for additional information.

Courses that are currently exempt from this process are special topics courses (x89). These specific courses are currently classified as non-traditional format exclude (NTEO and NTED).

A report of courses currently approved for non-traditional format is available through COMPASS Reports (PWS_NON_TRAD_CRSE_ATTR_XX). If you don't have access to this report, please ask your PAA to add the report to your account.

Resources

Assignment of Undergraduate Course Levels

CIP Codes

CIP Codes, Course and Program Inventory

Visit the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) website for CIP codes, course and program inventory at Texas A&M University, and proposal tracking.

CIP Codes, Course and Program Inventory

THECB – Criteria for Assigning Texas CIP Codes
- Instructions on how to access the course inventory list
- Go to http://www.txhighereddata.org
- Select Course and Program Inventories (under Online Applications)
- Select University Courses
- Under Inventory Year, select year (for example, 2022-2023)
- Under Institution, select Texas A&M University
- Under Rubric and Number, type course prefix (for example, GEOG) in the first empty block
- Select desired output (screen, Excel, PDF)
- Click on Display Courses

COMPASS Course Inventory - Helpful COMPASS Forms

SCACRSE – course inventory detail includes title, hours, first 6 digits of CIP code
SCADETL – cross-listed courses, core curriculum, course description
STVSUBJ – subject / prefix codes
SZACXRF – state CIPC 4 (last 4 digits of CIP code, includes fund code), admin unit number, course level
SZVTAUC – administrative unit and department codes

Cross-Listed Courses

Cross-listed courses must be exactly alike (with the exception of the course prefix, and sometimes the course number). Approval by both department heads will be handled through workflow in the Curricular Approval Request System (CARS). To add a cross-listing to an existing course, simply edit the course in CARS. If the courses do not exist, create one new course and add the cross-listing. Only one course proposal is required.

Minimum Syllabus Requirements

Approved Minimum Syllabus Requirements

Minimum Syllabus Requirements and Syllabus Template

Useful Websites

Religious Observance
Center for Teaching Excellence
Institutional Effectiveness & Evaluation (Useful for Learning Outcomes)
Center for Teaching Excellence - Course Syllabus (Useful for Learning Outcomes)
Disability Resources

Stacked Courses

Stacked courses are defined as courses in which graduate and undergraduate students meet for a class (3xx/6xx or 4xx/6xx) at the same time with the same instructor but at their respective level of instruction.  More rigorous activities (for example, extra laboratories, papers or assignments) are provided for graduate students to ensure work at the graduate level.

In order to offer a stacked course the following requirements must be met:

The instructor of record must be a member of the Graduate Faculty.

The head(s) of the department(s) in which the stacked courses are listed must approve the stacked course offering.

The syllabus for the graduate students shall clearly indicate the additional work required.

Stacked Courses Policy - FS.18.033; Approved November 9, 2000*

*You may request a copy of the official specific policy documentation from Curricular Services at cars@tamu.edu.

Special Topics

Rule for Special Topics Courses-489 (FS.15.020*)
- Approved 1997 - "A new undergraduate course may be taught under the designation of special topics (489) twice following the initial approval for that designation. The course should then be given a regular course number and submitted for approval as a new course. A course may be taught as special topics for a third time providing it has been submitted for approval as a regular course. This will be monitored by each college internally."
Rule for Special Topics Courses-689 (FS.15.013*)
- Approved 1997 - "A new graduate course may be taught under the designation of special topics (689) twice following the initial approval for that designation. The course should then be given a regular course number and submitted for approval as a new course. A course may be taught as special topics for a third time providing it has been submitted for approval as a regular course. This will be monitored by the Office of Graduate Studies."

*You may request a copy of the official specific policy documentation from Curricular Services at cars@tamu.edu.

Other Information

CD and ICD Consideration

Cultural Diversity (CD) and International and Cultural Diversity (ICD) Graduation Requirements

The December meeting of the Core Curriculum Council (CCC) is the deadline to propose courses to meet the CD and ICD Graduation Requirements for the following academic year.

The Core Curriculum Council (CCC) will review the Cultural Discourse and International and Cultural Diversity Graduation Requirements. Implementation of any changes made to the graduation requirement or the courses that fulfill the CD and ICD requirements will go into effect the fall of the following academic year.

Course Submission for CD and ICD Consideration

Submit requests through the Curricular Approval Request System (CARS)

Contact CD and ICD Support

Jacob Miller, Mailstop TAMU 1125
- fso-ccc@tamu.edu
- (979) 458-1896

Core Curriculum

Elements of the Texas Core Curriculum (from THECB)

The Texas Core Curriculum (TCC) is a 42 Semester Credit Hour (SCH) core curriculum for all undergraduate students in Texas public higher education. Each institution selects the specific courses it will offer to fulfill that framework of the TCC in a way that takes into account the individual role and mission of the institution. The TCC implementation at each institution must receive approval from the Coordinating Board and institutions must evaluate the effectiveness of their TCC at regular intervals. Visit the Texas Core Curriculum page of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) website for additional information and resources. 

Visit https://us.tamu.edu/faculty-staff/core to learn more about Core Curriculum, course application, recertification, objectives, instructor resources, and more.

Courses Not Taught

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board requires institutions to remove courses from their inventory if they have not been taught consecutively in four years. Their reporting manual states the inclusion in the inventory and in the catalogs of courses not offered may mislead students about the breadth of learning opportunities at an institution. Any course untaught as an organized class or individual instruction course for four consecutive years will be deleted from the course inventory. Based on this, we will run reports annually to remove untaught courses from our inventory.

Course Prefix

Reinstate a Course

If a course has been removed from course inventory/catalog and the course needs to be reinstated, please submit the request through the Curricular Approval Request System (CARS) using one of the following options:

If the course is needed immediately, the course will be reinstated based on the last time the course appeared in course inventory/catalog. No changes to the course will be allowed. In addition to other boxes checked under "Rationale for Course Edit" on the form, select "Other" and indicate the course is being reinstated with the effective term. The course will be added to course inventory after approval is received from the department head and college dean. For tracking purposes, send an email of the impending reinstatement to cars@tamu.edu so that adjustments can be made to workflow.

If the course is not needed immediately and/or changes are made to the course, it will follow the same course approval process and course inventory schedule as any edited course (reference top of this page).

Reuse a Previously Used Course Number

A course number cannot be reused within a 10-year period.  For example, if a course was removed from course inventory in 2015, the next available term it can be reused is 2025. A report of currently used numbers is available through COMPASS Reports (PWS_COURSES_IN_USE_xx). If you don't have access to this report, please ask your PAA to add the security group to your account.

If you wish to use a course number from a previously inactivated course for a new course proposal, do not attempt to reinstate the course. Please email cars@tamu.edu or call (979) 845-8201 for assistance.

RESOURCES

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External Resources

Course Inventory

Resources

Other Information

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Course Inventory