Curriculum & Catalog

All four-year undergraduate majors without specialized accreditation, regardless of location or modality, are required to have at least 15 credits of open general electives while not exceeding 120 total credit hours to complete.

Four-year undergraduate programs with specialized accreditation will work to incorporate general electives to the extent possible within their current accreditation standards and with regard for industry norms as well as to draw as near to 120 total credit hours as possible.

Curriculum Deadlines

New courses and course changes/alterations must be approved by the March Faculty Senate meeting to be effective in the Fall term, and by the October Faculty Senate meeting to be effective in the Spring or Summer terms.

New course proposals that miss this deadline can still be considered until the December, April, or June Faculty Senate meetings for the Spring, Summer, and Fall terms, respectively, but such courses will not be listed in the initial schedule of courses and will not appear in the catalog's program requirements.

To make it on the agenda for a given Faculty Senate meeting, a course must be passed by the previous Faculty Senate Executive Committee meeting. To make it on the agenda for the Executive Committee meeting, it must be passed by the Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee at least 10 calendar days prior to the Executive Committee meeting.

Please take into account any additional time required for department and college committees to pass the course before it is forwarded to the Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee.

All changes to existing degree programs must be ratified by all approval levels no later than April 30 to go into effect for the next academic year. New degree programs must be ratified by all approval levels (including the Board of Governors) no later than April 30 to go into effect for the next academic year.

Workflow Calendar Academic Year Fall 2025 - Spring 2026

Past dates 

Workflow Calendar Academic Year Fall 2024 - Spring 2025

Policy Related to Creating, Changing, and Terminating Academic Programs

A uniform, institutional standard for the categorization of all degree programs, majors, minors, areas of emphasis, and undergraduate and graduate certificate programs at current locations currently served by West Virginia University has been developed. The relevant approval processes are implemented through the Curriculum Inventory Management (CIM) system. 

Guidelines Concerning Degree Program Titles and Designations

Approved degree programs at WVU are listed in the WVU Curriculum Matrix, available at http://registrar.wvu.edu/curriculum-matrix. Guidelines were developed to facilitate selection of appropriate degree program titles and designations and to establish principles to maintain uniformity across programs at WVU. Please see the document below for details on guidelines for degree designations at WVU.

Degree Designations Guidelines

Course Offerings and Course Deactivation Policy

The WVU Course Offerings and Course Deactivation Policy outlines the guidelines for course offerings and course deactivations. Please see the document below for details on required course offering frequency and the regulations and process to deactivate a course.

Course Offerings and Course Deactivation  

WVU Subject Code Policy

The WVU Subject Code Policy outlines the process by which new subject codes are created. Please see the document below for details on establishing new subject codes at WVU.

WVU Subject Code Policy