Southwestern Community College publishes academic policies that adhere to principles of good educational practice.

Published academic policies are reviewed and approved by the College’s Curriculum and Instruction Committee to ensure good educational practice (1). The Curriculum and Instruction Committee at SCC is composed of a balanced constituency of both faculty and administrative personnel representing a cross section of academic program areas and administrative responsibilities. Faculty, deans, and student services staff bring policy and procedure recommendations to the committee.

Using established guidelines from North Carolina Community College System Curriculum Standards, faculty program coordinators are responsible for maintaining the requirements for completion of degree programs. Faculty review the requirements for their programs and initiate changes through the Curriculum and Instruction Committee. For example, modifications to the Business Administration program requirements were developed and presented by the faculty coordinator and approved by the committee (2).

The president of the Faculty Senate participates (3) with academic deans as a member of the Instruction and Student Services Administrators (ISSA) group. The ISSA group also makes recommendations for maintaining academic policies, such as Academic Forgiveness, to be discussed and voted on by the Curriculum and Instruction Committee (2).

The Board of Trustees determines general academic policy statements deemed consistent with good educational practice. The board approves academic policies, such as the Curriculum Course Prerequisite policy (4), which are included in the Southwestern Community College Policies and Procedures Manual (5). While the Board of Trustees may establish academic policy, good educational practice is assured through the faculty and staff administration and implementation of that policy. For example, the board adopted policy 6.11 that outlines general expectations for attendance requirements, and faculty exercise the freedom and responsibility for determining the specific attendance policies appropriate for their courses.

College academic policies and procedures are published in the Student Handbook, Faculty Handbook, College Catalog, Policies and Procedures Manual, and the College website.

Student Handbook

The Student Handbook is published annually and provided to participants of new student orientation sessions, distributed annually to faculty, and published on the College website (6). Students, faculty, and other interested parties may obtain additional copies from Student Services, Instructional Services, and academic division offices.

The Student Handbook includes an Academic Information section with policies and procedures addressing (7):

Additionally, the Regulations section of the handbook provides policies and procedures addressing (8):

Faculty Handbook

The Curriculum Faculty Handbook is published annually by the College and is an important source of information for administrative and academic procedures. The faculty handbook is available on the College website (9), and printed copies are made available to faculty. Faculty and other interested parties may obtain copies from Instructional Services and academic division offices.

The handbook includes an Academic Policies and Procedures section (10) addressing:

College Catalog

The College catalog is provided to participants of new student orientation sessions, distributed annually to faculty, provided to prospective students, and published on the College website (11). Students, faculty, and other interested parties may obtain additional printed copies from Student Services, Instructional Services, and academic division offices.

The catalog includes an Academic Information section (12) with policies and procedures addressing:

A Policies/Procedures subsection of Academic Information addresses:

Policies and Procedures Manual

The Southwestern Community College Policies and Procedures Manual is a statement of the policies of the Board of Trustees relating to the philosophy and governance of Southwestern Community College and administrative statements and procedures deemed appropriate by the president to implement board policies (13). Changes to the manual are a result of policy actions taken by the SCC Board of Trustees and procedure statements of the president. The manual exists in an electronic format on the College website and is available to faculty, students, and other interested parties. Employees of the College provide written acknowledgement that the College has provided the address of the manual and that the employee is responsible for reading, understanding, and adhering to its statements (14).

Chapter Five of the manual provides policy and procedure statements relevant to instructional services. These include academic related policies and procedures addressing:

Chapter Six of the manual provides policy and procedure statements relevant to student services. These include academic related policies and procedures addressing:

Online Resources

The College website is an important resource for disseminating academic policies to students, faculty, and other interested parties. The address of the website is included in College advertisements and publications including applications for admission, recruiting materials, catalogs, handbooks, class schedules, and College correspondence.

Electronic versions of College publications that provide academic policy information are available on the website. These include the Student Handbook, Faculty Handbook, College Catalog, and the Policies and Procedures Manual. In addition to replicating printed publications, the website is also a source for uniquely organizing and presenting academic policy information. The Admission/Enrollment page of the website includes a link for “Academic Information” that provides an index of links to academic policy and procedure descriptions (15). The Academic Information page is also linked under the Academics section of the Current Students page (16) and the Faculty and Staff page (17).

An online orientation to the College is accessible to students, faculty, and interested parties (18). New students who do not attend face-to-face orientation sessions are required to complete the online orientation. Academic policy information regarding testing, academic progress, and grades is included in the online orientation.

Accuracy of Publications

College policy (19) designates the Public Information Office as the area of the College responsible for developing and maintaining publication guidelines that include a review and approval process. The accuracy of publications is ensured through a thorough proofing and review process. This includes personnel from departments preparing the documents, faculty and staff from affected academic and student service areas, Public Information Office staff, and the College webmaster.