Satisfactory Academic Progress
- Departmental Guidelines and Handbooks
Having specific guidelines and procedures appropriate for graduate study in a discipline is necessary for an efficient and high quality graduate program. The departmental handbook must be available on the departmental webpage and linked from the Program Description Guide. See Handbook Guidelines for information that should be included in your handbook. Each degree should have clear guidelines and timetables for all program requirements, satisfactory academic progress, policies, procedures, and expectations. See the Satisfactory Academic Progress Guidelines page for suggestions. The Handbook should include information about non-academic resources for students, such as family friendly policies (Parental leave for Graduate Assistants, Temporary Alternative Duty Assignments for GAs, Time to Degree extensions, and other Resources for Student Parents) . A link to the Student Services page provides other resources.
- Annual evaluation of student progress.
Samples from FSC/FSHD Draft Assessment forms, University of Arizona:
Rubric-form_Assessments_COMPS_EXAM
Rubric-form_Assessments_MASTERS_THESIS
Rubric-form_Assessments_DISSERTATION
Samples from Other Institutes of Higher Education:
University of Illinois Toolkit for Annual Review of Graduate Students (link is external)
- Accurate Time to Degree (TTD) information and expectations are provided to students and faculty
Please view the dashboard in UAccess Analytics for data on your programs. Six and Eight year completion rate information can be found at UAccess Analytics > Dashboards > Student > Graduate Students > Completion Rate tab.
- Disqualifying a student from an academic program.
Departments lack the authority to disqualify a student directly and must request that the Graduate College do any disqualification. When a student fails to meet program guidelines for satisfactory progress, as outlined in Departmental Satisfactory Academic Progress Guidelines, remedial processes must take place before disqualification can be proposed. The student must receive written notification with clearly written instructions of what the student must do including a date by which each action must be completed. The Graduate College should receive a copy of letters of unsatisfactory progress (send to Associate Dean and Degree Counselor). The Associate Dean is happy to review drafts of such letters. Students must be given an opportunity to appeal or rebut items of unsatisfactory progress and departmental guidelines must indicate a process for such appeals. If the student fails to remediate and has exhausted departmental appeals, the program may send a formal request to the Associate Dean of the Graduate College recommending dismissal from the program and the Graduate career.
