The Programs and Curriculum group is responsible for supporting curriculum change, publishing the Academic Calendar, and coordinating Cyclical External Reviews at the University of Toronto Scarborough.
External Reviews
The Programs and Curriculum team work with departments during each stage of the cyclical review, including:
- Commissioning the review
- Developing key documents, such as the self study
- Coordinating the planning and scheduling of the review site visit
- Developing the administrative response in follow-up to the review
Programs and Curriculum staff will contact departments when it is time to start planning for their upcoming review. For any questions, please reach out to programs.curriculum.utsc@utoronto.ca.
Types of Curriculum Change
Undergraduate academic change at University of Toronto Scarborough is part of the annual curriculum cycle. The cycle follows the timeline set out by the annual Call for Curriculum, which is issued by the Dean’s office in the Winter term and can be found below. The Call for Curriculum outlines the timeline for departments to submit their major and minor modifications for governance approval.
The most common curriculum changes will be minor modifications, which include:
- New courses
- Course retirements
- Changes to course prerequisites, title, or description
- Changes to existing courses or programs.
Modifications to existing programs are considered minor when they do not alter the program’s learning outcomes or impact how current students move through the program.
Major modifications to programs are more significant and may include:
- Program restructuring
- Addition of new sets of requirements with new program learning outcomes
- Creation of a new Stream for a Specialist or Major (such as a Co-op Specialist)
- Creation of a new Freestanding Minor
A new program is defined as a brand new Specialist or Major program, where there is no existing Major or Specialist.
Governance at a Glance
- Minor Modifications
- Department Level: Modification is discussed at departmental level, likely at Department Curriculum Committee
- OVPD Level: Modification is submitted to the Programs and Curriculums Team in the Office of the Vice-Dean Principal
- Review: Modification is reviewed by Programs and Curriculum Team and revised collaboratively
- Governance: Modification is submitted to Academic Affairs Committee for final review and approval
- Implementation: If approved, the Academic Calendar is updated to reflect the new modification, and the change is made available to students
- Major Modifications
- The timelines for major modifications will be different depending on the type of modification being planned. Contact the Academic Programs Officer for more information at programs.curriculum.utsc@utoronto.ca.
For in-depth information on the curriculum modification process, please see the Policy for Approval and Review of Academic Programs and Units. The University of Toronto Quality Assurance Process (UTQAP) outlines the protocols for the assessment and approval of new programs, review of existing programs, modifications to existing programs, and closures of programs. The Academic Affairs Committee is the governing body responsible for approving these modifications.
Please feel free to reach out to the Programs and Curriculum team at any time if you have further questions that are not answered by the materials on this website. The team can be reached at programs.curriculum.utsc@utoronto.ca