Nicholls has a prescribed and faculty-driven review procedure to assess the amount and level of credit for courses, regardless of format or mode of delivery. When a course is first proposed at the departmental level, curriculum content and level of credit awarded for the course are reviewed and approved as the proposal advances through a college-level review, such as through the Education Council, in the College of Education, or through the Associate of Nursing or Bachelor of Nursing Curriculum Committees. See Nicholls' response to Core Requirement 2.7.2 [1] and Comprehensive Standard 3.4.1 [2] for a detailed discussion of course development.

Each step in the review process is sound, and deliberations are conducted to assure that consideration is given to assess the quality and amount of credit awarded. The University of Louisiana System rule of 2,250 minutes of class time for a three-credit-hour course has been generally followed for traditional courses [3]. This University of Louisiana System rule has been recently relaxed to allow more flexibility at the University level. The current policy mandates that classes shall be "of reasonable length and include both content and contact sufficient to maintain high academic quality and standards commensurate with credit hours awarded." For example, in courses that are Web- or video-based, the faculty shall be expected to ensure through an assessment system that student achievements of learning are comparable to the level of the course.

A. Minimum Length for Academic Courses. For each semester hour of credit, a traditional lecture or laboratory course shall strive to meet a minimum of 750 minutes. Final exam periods may be counted as class time when computing required minutes.

With the growth in distance learning technologies, and increases in the number of readings/special topic courses, independent study courses, and other more flexible course presentations, the customary method of determining course length for such non-traditional courses has been reexamined. Consistent with Board of Regents policy (Seat-Time Policy for Academic Credit) all classes must be of reasonable length and include both content and contact sufficient to maintain high academic quality and standards commensurate with credit hours awarded. The basis for such certification of leaning is a valid, credible assessment system that reliably determines whether a student possesses clearly identified, standards-based knowledge, skills and abilities.

All new courses at the undergraduate level must be reviewed and approved by the University's Courses and Curricula Committee [4]. Minutes from Courses and Curricula document this process [5]. New graduate courses or pre-approved 400-level courses for which graduate credit can be earned must be reviewed and approved by the University's Graduate Council. Minutes from Graduate Council document this process [6A, 6B, 6C, 6D].

The faculties determine level of credit based on the depth and breadth of content and sequence of competencies needed in the discipline. Again, the Courses and Curricula Committee monitors this determination, along with department heads and deans. All courses approved by the Courses and Curricula Committee are also presented to the Faculty Senate for approval. Finally, the Vice President for Academic Affairs indicates approval.

External and internal reviews are ongoing. For those programs with external accreditations, a review of the level and amount of credit awarded for courses is completed during the process of accreditation/reaffirmation [7]. All of the University's academic programs are reviewed internally on a five-year rotation basis [8]. Section 3.1 of the review requires a comparison of Nicholls' course offerings to that of comparable institutions [9]. The Deans' Council examines the five-year reports and provides feedback to the involved departments [10].

To facilitate transfer of courses among state institutions, the Board of Regents established a course equivalency matrix (Statewide Student Transfer System [11]) with input by appropriate academic personnel at each state institution. These matrices provide a database of course equivalencies that are based on sound and acceptable evaluation practices. The Office of Admissions provides an initial assessment of transfer equivalencies from the data contained in the matrices.