Policies and Procedures

Revalidation of Courses

Normally, a course may not be counted toward degree require­ments if it has been completed more than (a) five years prior to the awarding of the degree for master’s students or, (b) seven years prior to the passing of the qualifying examination for Ph.D. students. The graduate advisor, after consultation with the advisory committee, may, however, recommend to the dean that course work taken prior to the above deadlines be revalidated if it can be demonstrated that the knowledge con­tained in the course(s) remains current. Currency of knowledge may be demonstrated by such things as: (a) passing an exami­nation specifically on the material covered by the course; (b) passing a more advanced course in the same subject area; (c) passing a comprehensive examination in which the student demonstrates substantial knowledge of the content of the course; (d) teaching a comparable course; or (e) publishing scholarly research demonstrating substantial knowledge of the content and fundamental principles of the course. Each course for which consideration for revalidation is being requested should be justified separately. If the qualifying examination is used for the purpose of revalidation, the number of courses to be revalidated by this method should be limited to two in order to avoid compromising the integrity of the qualifying examination process.

Academic Bulletins

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