Course Numbering Protocol (Including Special Course Types)

Course numbers should be assigned based on the level of the course as follows:

• 100 – 199: Lower-level undergraduate. These courses are generally intended for students with first-year classification.
• 200 – 299: Lower-level undergraduate. These courses are generally intended for students with sophomore and pre-junior classification.
• 300 – 399: Upper-level undergraduate. These courses are generally intended for students with pre-junior and junior classification.
• 400 – 499: Upper-level undergraduate. These courses are generally intended for students with senior classification.
• 500 – 599: 1^st year Master's degree. These courses are generally intended for Master's degree students in their 1^st year and undergraduate students under “Graduate Courses Open to Undergraduate Day Students” policy.
• 600-699: 2^nd Year Master's degree. These courses are generally intended for Master's degree students in their 2^nd year.
• 700 – 799: Upper-level graduate. These courses are generally intended for post-Master's and pre-candidacy PhD students.
• 800 – 999: Upper-level graduate. These courses are generally intended for post-candidacy PhD students.

Notes:

• Lower-level courses, especially in the 1xx series should present introductory and fundamental subject matter that should generally be accessible to most disciplines and majors.
• Upper-level courses should present advanced subject matter that builds upon lower-level course work and should generally be major specific.
• Course levels for elective courses may vary as students fulfill elective requirements throughout the plan of study.

Special Course Types

Consistency in the numbering of specialty course types, especially those with types of courses that allow variable titles per section, is necessary to allow students and staff to easily identify courses for purposes including but not limited to registration and degree clearance. To maintain consistency across academic units, special courses including Special Topics, Independent Study, Dissertation, Research and Thesis, should be numbered as follows:

Special Topics: Course topics decided upon by an academic unit which is not part of a standard curriculum. Special topics are offered as a "pilot" course of interest to faculty and/or students to determine student demand and before formally submitting the course as a required or elective course. Departments are responsible for creating new special topics courses according to the following scheme:

• Undergraduate numbers: T180, T280, T380, T480
• Graduate numbers: T580, T680, T780, T880, T980

Two academic years (not necessarily in succession) is the time span allotted for a department to offer a special topics course before it must be submitted formally with a permanent course number in CourseLeaf Course Inventory Management.

Courses identified as special topics can only be used as a degree requirement with approval from the Office of the Provost.

Variable Topic: A course focusing on an advanced subject matter within a field of study offered outside the standardized special topics course numbering, which is updated regularly to cover evolving current topics in a specified sub-field. Variable Topic courses may be repeated for credit but cannot betaken more than once within a single term. To differentiate this special course type, departments should begin the name of a Variable Topic course using "Topics in" and clearly communicate the dynamic nature of the course in the course description.

Independent Study: Self-directed study that requires intermittent consultation with a designated instructor.

• Undergraduate numbers: I199, I299, I399, I499
• Graduate numbers: I599, I699, I799, I899, I999

Research: Independent study done by a student working toward a larger project, such as a master's thesis, senior project, or dissertation.

• Undergraduate Number: 497
• Graduate numbers: Varies

Thesis: An independent, written work required as partial fulfillment for an advanced degree. 

• Undergraduate Number: 493
• Master's level: 698
• Doctoral level: 998

In situations where a sequence of courses exists, the number listed is the last number in the series.