Program/Course Approval
ICCB staff is responsible for the review and approval of all courses and curricula offered at the colleges. Courses may be credit or non-credit and include Baccalaureate/Transfer courses, Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses, Vocational Skills courses, Remedial Education courses, Adult Education courses and English as a Second Language courses. Curricula may be degree or certificate programs and include all Baccalaureate/Transfer options (A.S., A.A., A.F.A., A.E.S., A.G.S., A.A.T.) and CTE options (A.A.S. and Certificates).
Colleges are required to submit requests for new courses/programs and revisions to existing courses/programs to ICCB staff prior to being offered at their institution. Requests for new programs require ICCB Board approval. For more information regarding the review/approval of courses and programs contact the following staff:
Baccalaureate/Transfer Education: Marcus Brown
Career & Technical Education, Vocational Skills, and Remedial Education: Tricia Broughton
Adult Education and ESL: Kathy Olesen-Tracey, Senior Director for Adult Education & Literacy
Documents:
- Course & Program Approval FAQs
- ICCIS – ICCB’s online tool that has been developed for tracking program/course requests submitted by community colleges.
- Generic Course List
- Program Approval Manual
- Course & Program Approval Presentation
Program Review
Purpose and Authority
The Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) is mandated by the Illinois Public Community College Act to coordinate a statewide program review system (see P.A. 78- 669). Various program areas and services, including instructional programs, are required to be reviewed once every five years by their respective community college and submitted to the ICCB, but more frequent and continuous reviews (e.g. annual) are encouraged. This manual offers guidance and outlines all reporting and submission requirements.
The purpose of Statewide Program Review is to:
1. support strategic campus-level planning and decision-making related to instructional programming and academic support services, including but not limited to program revisions, program closures, and revisions to services;
2. address inequities to support program improvement;
3. support the delivery of locally responsive, cost-effective, high quality programs and services across Illinois’ community college system.
This purpose aligns with the ICCB goals focused on reducing inequities, strengthening programming, and contributing to the economic development of the state.
Resources
1. Career and Technical Education
2. Academic Disciplines
3. Cross-Disciplinary Instruction:
ICCIS
ICCIS is ICCB’s online tool for submitting course additions/deletions/modifications and program deletions/modifications. (We do not currently accept new program requests through ICCIS.)
Following is a series of Training Videos that will introduce you to using ICCIS for updating the college’s master file through submission of proposal requests to ICCB. Videos cover the following content:
Video #1 – Introduction to ICCIS
Video #2 – Settings & Master File sections
Video #5 – Track & BULK sections
If you have questions about adding a new user at your institution, an issue with submission or general question please contact Tricia Broughton at 217-785-0082 or tricia.broughton@illinois.gov for assistance.