Appendix F: UCOP Policy on Transfer, Consolidation, Disestablishment, and Discontinuance of Academic Programs and Units

Office of the President, September 19, 1979

Sound academic and fiscal planning requires that consideration be given to strengthening academic programs by intercampus transfer and consolidation and to terminating units and programs for which there is decreased long-term need or which cannot reasonably be expected to reach or maintain the level of quality expected in the University, or from which resources must be withdrawn to support higher priority programs.

The decision to transfer, consolidate, disestablish or discontinue an academic unit or program should be founded on considerations as careful and thorough as those for establishment. For the most part the same issues need to be examined, and the same Senate agencies and administrative officers should have the opportunity to participate consistent with the traditional system of shared governance in which the Academic Senate has the responsibility for approving academic programs and evaluating the quality of courses and curricula, and the administration has the responsibility for allocating resources and determining administrative organization. This policy is intended to further this concept of shared governance and to aid in the development of explicit and well- understood procedures by each campus for effecting such transfers and consolidations and or disestablishing academic units and discontinuing academic programs.

  1. Each campus shall have written procedures.19 Such procedures shall recognize the responsibility of the Academic Senate to judge program quality and academic value and the responsibility of the administration to decide on administrative organization and on the allocation and use of resources. Campuses shall incorporate into their procedures mechanisms to insure appropriate consultation with students.

19 Procedures throughout this document shall be understood to refer to the procedures for intercampus transfer and consolidation of academic programs and/or units and for the disestablishment of academic units and discontinuance of academic programs.

  1. These procedures shall be developed by the Chancellor in consultation with the divisional Academic Senate, and are subject to approval by the President with the advice of the systemwide Academic Senate. Appropriate consultation with students shall be carried out at the campuses and at the system level regarding these proposed 
  1. For purposes of this policy, academic units are schools, colleges, boards of study, departments, and divisions within departments, schools, and colleges. An academic program consists of a sequence of courses leading to a degree; it does not include a concentration within a major. Changes in such concentrations within a major which may prompt transfers of individual students are not required to conform to this procedure.
  1. The written procedures for each campus shall be based on the following policy considerations:
  1. Prior Review
    1. A decision to transfer or consolidate, to disestablish or discontinue an academic unit or program shall normally be preceded by a regular or ad hoc review of the unit or program conducted by a campus academic planning board or comparable bodies that guarantee board representation.
  2. Consultation
    1. Broad consultation, including faculty and students who are affected by the proposed change, is essential. Peer review from outside the University in judging academic quality should take place whenever possible.
    2. Committees of the divisional Academic Senate on Educational Policy, Academic Personnel, Planning and Budget and, if graduate programs are involved, Graduate Affairs shall be consulted as provided for in Senate regulations.
    3. If the unit or program being considered for transfer, consolidation or termination is unique in the University, or if its closure would have systemwide or intersegmental effects, the President shall be consulted early in the process.
  3. Phase Out
    1. Arrangements shall be made to allow students already enrolled in the program or unit to complete their degrees.
    2. Arrangements shall be made for the orderly and appropriate accommodations of academic and staff employees whose positions are affected by a decision to disestablish or discontinue or to transfer to another campus or to combine with another program or programs on a different campus. These arrangements shall be in accordance with existing personnel policies to the extent that they are adequate for each specific decision. Where existing policies are not adequate, supplemental policies shall be developed by the system-level Administration through appropriate consultation with the Academic Senate. Until such policies are adopted, historical precedent and established practice shall supplement existing personnel policies.
  4. Decisions
    1. The final decision on the disestablishment of schools and colleges and degrees is made by The Regents on the recommendation of the President.
    2. The final decisions on the intercampus transfer or consolidation, or on the disestablishment of other academic units, shall be made by the President upon consultation with the systemwide Academic Senate and students as appropriate.
    3. The final decision on intercampus transfer or consolidation or on discontinuance of an academic program is made by the Academic Senate and/or the Chancellors acting in their appropriate spheres of responsibility as delegated by The Regents.
    4. Campuses shall report such transfers, consolidations and discontinuances annually on their Academic Program Inventory.