MACRAO colleagues:
OCHE is looking to revamp our degree inventory. Our current inventory (https://apps.mus.edu/Degrees/degree_default.asp) is badly out of date, has inaccurate information, and a data structure that is not useful for some of our key needs.
Campuses have been rightfully frustrated, as this list is not only a potential source of information for prospective students, but it is also the list the US Department of Education is likely to first look to when identifying approved programs for Title IV funding.
A subgroup of registrars and admission administrators have been helping me to build a template for a new inventory (see attached). Our vision is that campuses would fill in this inventory, OCHE would validate through BOR records, adding BOR item numbers where available, and then this would become the basis for an online academic program submission and approval web app to keep the inventory up-to-date as programs change in future.
However, I would really value your input before we start gathering this information. Could you please take a look at the attached template and let me know if you think anything is missing or ill-put? Is this a template your campus could fill out with the definitions and instructions provided? Is the information being requested useful to our audiences (prospective students; US DOE; others?)
If you have any ideas or comments please respond to me at jthiel@montana.edu no later than Friday, February 28th.
Kind Regards,
Joseph Thiel
Director of Academic Policy and Research
Montana University System
