Departments try to limit major requirements to 45 units, based on Challenge 45
By Rotem Ben-Shachar
Nov. 9, 2009 10:40 p.m.
Because of a 20 percent decrease in state funding for the 2009-2010 year, UCLA is reexamining its academic structure and looking at new ways to cut costs without diminishing the quality of education.
Departments are currently focusing on cutting requirements for majors. However, changes in general university and college requirements such as general education and writing requirements are unlikely to occur in the next couple years, said Judith Smith, dean and vice provost for undergraduate education.
“Only once we are comfortable with major requirements will we look at more general requirements,” Smith said.
In July, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Scott Waugh issued Challenge 45, asking departments to conduct a self-review and try to consolidate major requirements to around 45 units.
“More is not better,” Smith said. “The range of courses we have is two times as large as UC Berkeley and three times as large as Harvard. This is a chance to examine what courses are most important.”
Challenge 45 will also give students a chance to add on minors, do additional research or graduate earlier, Smith said.
“We are not expecting all departments to hit this target, but we are looking at a significant reduction,” said Raymond Knapp, chair of the UCLA Faculty Executive Committee, which reviews new courses and changes in degree programs and makes recommendations to the Undergraduate Council.
Since most departments will not be hiring faculty any time in the near future, it will be difficult to maintain the number of courses offered because faculty cannot increase their workload. This will most likely result in a reduction in the number of elective courses.
“Programs tend to be streamlining, taking away electives and simplifying the degree so the core is clearer,” Knapp said.
Smith said the challenge for faculty is to give students a broad education that will provide them with the tools to solve problems without knowing everything about every topic.
“We want students to have literacy in the field, but not necessarily have every fact at their fingerprints,” Smith said.
Five departments have already submitted changes, but all departments must submit a report to their respective dean by Dec. 15.
“This is an ongoing process of renewal. We are doing this with the hope that it will make it easier for students to get the education they want,” said Robin Garrell, chair of the Academic Senate, which sets, supervises and approves all courses and curricula.
One department that has made significant changes is the Chicana and Chicano studies department, which reduced the number of units from the low 70s to the low 50s by substantially reorganizing the major, Smith said.
These changes, however, will not affect students currently in the major, who will have the option of completing the major with or without the new changes, Garrell said.
“Any time we are changing majors, we take into account the current students in the major,” Garrell said.
Not all departments are expected to make changes.
“History, for example, currently requires 40 upper division units, so there is no reason to change it,” Smith said.
This is an opportunity for students to have more freedom in deciding which classes to take, she said.
“Other universities are less prescriptive than UCLA,” Smith said. “They give a great core and then let students drive their own education. This way students are more in control of their own education.”
Smith said that a common criticism of UCLA by outside reviewers from schools such as Yale, Harvard and Stanford universities is that UCLA offers too many courses, which may lead to an emphasis on quantity rather than quality.
“Faculty tend to add new requirements without looking at what classes could be reduced. This is a welcome chance to change that,” she said.
If a department does submit changes, Smith said, it must be approved by the Faculty Education Committee and the Undergraduate Council and the changes will go into effect the following quarter.
Changing a university or college requirement such as the language or general education requirements is often more difficult because there must be a full faculty vote.
Though there has been speculation of eliminating the language requirement, both Knapp and Smith said that this is unlikely.
“The goal is to preserve what we do as much as we can,” Knapp said.
A requirement that is in no danger of being eliminated is the writing requirement, Smith said.
“We are looking for new ways to fund these programs, but faculty think these (writing) programs are too important to give up,” she said.
Smith said the administration is making sure that the quality of education is not compromised.
“We are making these changes slowly and in a very thoughtful way in order to maintain quality,” she said.
