Academic Structure

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Policy Number:
UW-1052
Responsible Office:
Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research

University Policy

Rationale/​Purpose:

This policy is a codified source for information about the academic structure which:

  • Clarifies how academic divisions (school/colleges) are related to academic units (departments and department-like units), and how academic units are related to academic programs and subject listings.
  • Defines how elements of the academic structure are related to budgetary units.
  • Provides common definitions for data systems that consume the academic structure.
  • Ensures consistency in data and reports.
Definitions:
Academic Division (School/College)
An academic group of the university, defined in UW-803 Faculty Policies and Procedures Chapter 3, that serves as a school, college or like unit and is led by a dean or director who reports to the provost.
Academic Program
An area of study that leads to a degree/major, certificate, minor or named option, also referred to as a plan or subplan.
Academic Structure
The organization of the university by careers, academic divisions, departments, plans and subplans, and subject listings.
Academic Unit
The academic and administrative home for an academic program or subject listing, also known as an academic department, housed within an academic division (school/college). The academic unit originates all program and curricular changes through academic governance; ensures the curriculum is appropriate and that courses are offered regularly; provides student support services such as advising; prepares all content for the Guide and assures the program and subject listing is represented accurately at all times; oversees the course evaluation process; coordinates assessment and program review; and receives allocation for program enrollment, degrees, certificates and credits in the information systems. Three types of academic units exist at UW-Madison:
Department
A group of faculty with a common field of knowledge or closely related scholarly interests. A department serves as the tenure home for faculty, exercises a broad range of functions and duties in relation to faculty academic life, and may house academic programs and course subject listings. A department is approved as such by the University Academic Planning Council, the University Committee, and the Faculty Senate per UW-805 Faculty Policies and Procedures Chapter 5. In some cases, the academic division serves as the department.
Department-like Unit with Tenure

A group of faculty who are not all in the same department but who share responsibilities for departmental functions. This unit exercises a broad range of functions and duties in relation to faculty academic life, and generally houses at least one academic program (degree/major or certificate) or subject listing. A department-like academic unit usually does not serve as a tenure home. When a department-like academic unit is approved to serve as a tenure home, each faculty member’s tenure home will be approved on a case-by-case basis by the University Committee.

An academic organization that has department-like status and serves as a faculty tenure home, sometimes with restrictions, is approved as such by the University Academic Planning Council, the University Committee, and the Faculty Senate per UW-805 Faculty Policies and Procedures Chapter 5.

Department-like Unit without Tenure
A group of faculty who are not all in the same department but who share responsibilities for departmental functions. This unit exercises a broad range of functions and duties in relation to faculty academic life, and generally houses at least one academic program (degree/major or certificate) or subject listing but does not grant tenure or act as a tenure home.
Curricular and Academic Operational Data Store
A set of web services that provides curricular, roster, academic structure, advisor, and student data to authorized recipient systems.
Date Warehouse
A repository for data from multiple databases that is analyzed and used to make decisions.
Subject Listing
Structure for organizing groups of courses in a related subject area or topic that represent a coherent area of study.
UDDS
An organizational code comprised of the Business Unit (U), Division (D), Department (D), and Sub-Department (S).
Scope:

All academic divisions and units.

Policy:

The academic structure and its elements are the building blocks for an academic institution; it is a representation of academic divisions (school/colleges) as the umbrella organization responsible for academic units (departments and department-like units) which, in turn, are the home of tenured faculty, academic programs (degrees, certificates, minors, named options) and subject listings (courses). The faculty and staff are responsible for carrying out the duties of the academic unit. Faculty ensure compliance of policies and procedures via shared governance bodies. Each component of the academic structure has a foundation in policies of the UW System Board of Regents, UW-Madison Faculty Policy and Procedures, and accreditation bodies. The official academic structure is maintained in the Student Information System (SIS) and is accessed electronically through the data extracts from the data warehouse. The SIS stores codes that uniquely identify the elements of the academic structure. Codes may have attributes associated with them that further describe their place and role in the academic structure.

  1. All elements that comprise the academic structure must be approved through faculty governance including the Graduate Faculty Executive Committee, the University Academic Planning Council, University Curriculum Committee, and the UW Board of Regents as applicable.
  2. The provost or provost’s designee is the sole authority to communicate the completed governance actions to the Registrar’s Office for entry into the specified systems.
  3. The Student Information System (SIS) is the system of record for the academic structure. All other data systems that consume this information acquire it through an integration with the Student Information System, or from an integration with the Curricular and Academic Data Store (CAOS) or the data warehouse, both of which receive data directly from the SIS.
  4. The academic structure defines the relationships between academic programs (degrees, enrollments) and academic units (chair, faculty, instructors, staff, budgets, expenditures) and subject listings (course enrollments, student credit hours) for budget and financial purposes via the UDDS associated with the academic unit.
Related UW-Madison Policies:
Related UW–Madison Documents, Web Pages, or Other Resources:
External References:

Policy Administration

Approval Authority:
Vice Provost for Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research
Policy Manager:
Vice Provost for Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research
Contact:
Associate Director, Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research -- Michelle Young, MEYOUNG@WISC.EDU, (608) 262-2143
Effective Date:
09-01-2017
Date Issued:
08-22-2017
Revised Dates:

04-26-2023

Retrieved:
07-20-2025 22:03:58