UW-Madison Guidelines for New Certificate Programs

A certificate program is a designated set of courses focused upon a specific topic or theme which students may study separately from, or in addition to, their major(s) and degree requirements. The purpose of a certificate program is to give students the opportunity independently to pursue a subject of interest in a prescribed manner and, upon completion of the requirements, to have that achievement recognized by the awarding of a certificate (official document) from the sponsoring department(s). If the University officially approves a certificate program, students completing it also have an annotation posted to their student record (transcript).

Proposals for undergraduate certificate programs should be prepared according to the guidelines presented here. For graduate certificates and capstone certificates, sponsoring units should follow these guidelines for proposal development and also refer to the "Policies and Procedures for Capstone and Graduate Certificate Programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison". Contact Jocelyn Milner, Director of Academic Planning and Analysis, in the early stages of your planning to assure that you are structuring your request so that academic approvals will flow as smoothly as possible.

Sponsoring units prepare a proposal for the certificate program, which is considered by the dean of the school/college. Following approval at the school/college level, the proposal is forwarded to the Provost. The Provost will seek a recommendation from the University Academic Planning Council. The Provost's office will notify the Registrar's Office when certificate programs are approved. Sponsoring units will be asked to complete the Registrar's Office form "Undergraduate Certificate Program Request for Information" (link is to .pdf file).

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Policy Guidelines for Undergraduate Certificate Programs:

Academic Issues:

  1. Required course work for a certificate program shall usually consist of 15 to 25 credits.
  2. A minimum 2.0 GPA must be earned on all course work attempted for the certificate program, unless the student is a graduate student in which case a minimum 3.0 GPA must be maintained .
  3. Certificate program course requirements can be met by courses approved for Credit/No Credit (CR/N) grading.
  4. At least 50 percent of the credits applied toward the requirements of the certificate program must be taken in residence at UW-Madison. Credits earned by participation in a UW-Madison study abroad program are resident credits unless special considerations apply.
  5. In those instances where both exist, a student may not be awarded a Certificate and a Major in the same subject area.
  6. Both degree seeking and special students may be admitted to a certificate program unless the sponsoring department provides a justification in the proposal for admitting only a specified group of students to their certificate program.
  7. Substitutions for courses prescribed in a certificate program shall not be permitted. However, an exception may be recommended by the certificate program director to the student's Dean. In such cases, the substitute course(s) shall be considered for inclusion in the courses required for the certificate program. (Directed study courses and non-UW Madison equivalent transfer courses would constitute individual exceptions.)

Technical Stipulations:

  1. The course requirements for the certificate program should be defined discretely enough so that the Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS) can be encoded to support both advisers and students.
  2. The sponsoring department or program is responsible for the creation, production, and awarding of the certificate (formal document) to students who successfully complete their certificate program. They are also responsible for informing the Registrar's Office when students complete their certificate program and for supplying the Registrar's office with an up-to-date list of all certificate program requirements. If a certificate program has multiple sponsoring units, the sponsoring unit who will administer the program must be specified in the proposal.
  3. When a student completes the certificate program, the student's transcript will be annotated at that time unless, in the case of a degree-seeking student, the sponsoring department has stipulated that the certificate program annotation be held until the degree is awarded.
  4. When a student completes the requirements for a degree before completing a certificate program, the awarding of the degree will not be delayed for the completion of a certificate program. Students may re-enroll as special students to complete a certificate in a semester subsequent to awarding of a degree.
  5. For undergraduate certificate programs, after the proposal is approved and forwarded to the Registrar's Office, the Registrar's Office will require the sponsoring unit to complete an "Undergraduate Certificate Program Requirements" form

Proposal Development for Certificate Programs

The proposal for a new certificate programs should address the following points.

A. Sponsoring Center, Program or Department (may have multiple sponsors):

  1. How does this certificate program contribute to the mission of the unit(s) offering it?
  2. Is this certificate program interdepartmental and/or interdisciplinary? If not, what is unique about it or why is it needed? What is the estimated student enrollment in this certificate program? Will this certificate program address a perceived change in student educational objectives?
  3. Is this certificate program duplicative of an existing major? Is it anticipated that a major may be offered in the same or a similar subject? For example, Women's Studies began as a certificate program; now it is also a major.

B. Academic and Other Administrative Support:

  1. Is there an adequate core of faculty to support the certificate program and offer the courses it requires? Is the faculty and staffing structure adequate to support student advising? Will administration of and exceptions in the certificate program be assigned to a specific faculty/staff member?
  2. What resources, if any, will this certificate program require from other academic and student services units? For example, are seats available in courses required in other departments? Is adequate advising from other units available, if needed?
  3. What are the pre-requisites, including concurrent enrollment as a degree-seeking undergraduate or graduate student if appropriate , for acceptance into the certificate program?
  4. Of the courses required for the completion of this certificate program:

    • Is there a core set of courses required of all students? If not, what gives this certificate program its cohesiveness?
    • Are the courses offered frequently enough to meet the anticipated demand? Do the courses have enough capacity to meet the anticipated demand?

C. Academic Requirements:

  1. The required course work for the certificate program (usually 15 to 25 credits) should be clearly detailed in the proposal and should be consistent with the policy guidelines outlined above.
  2. Both degree seeking and special students may be admitted to a certificate program. If the sponsoring unit plans to restrict access to a specified group of students, the proposal should contain a justification for that restriction.

D. Resource Issues:

Describe briefly the source of funding for the faculty and staff involved with the certificate program. If additional staff will be needed, indicate the proposed source of funds. Also comment on the adequacy of any other support needed for the program (supplies and expenses, capital equipment, space needs, library resources, if relevant).

E. Technical Stipulations:

  1. Are the courses defined discretely enough so that the Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS) can be encoded to support both advisers and students? For example, because sections of courses are more difficult to encode than courses, course level requirements should be used.
  2. Because of their important responsibilities, the sponsoring unit should be clearly noted in the proposal. In the case of multiple sponsoring units, the sponsoring unit who will administer the program must be specified. The sponsoring department or program is responsible for the creation, production, and awarding of the certificate (formal document) to students who successfully complete their certificate program. They are also responsible for informing the Registrar's Office when students complete their certificate program and for supplying the Registrar's office with an up-to-date list of all certificate program requirements.
  3. When a student completes the certificate program the student's transcript will be annotated at that time unless, in the case of a degree-seeking student, the sponsoring department has stipulated that the certificate program annotation be held until the degree is awarded. If the sponsoring unit chooses to have the annotation held until the degree is awarded, such should be indicated in the proposal with a rationale.
  4. New proposals should be accompanied by a completed "Undergraduate Certificate Program Request for Information" form (linked as a .pdf file).

    5. Adopted UAPC May 1997
    Revisions adopted, October 2000