Academic Catalog
- NAU
- Academic Catalog
- Academic Policies
100201
Academic Plans, Undergraduate (Definitions)
Future policy-for reference onlySummary
An academic plan is a course of study defined by Northern Arizona University, following Arizona Board of Regents standards. Typically, as part of a student's degree program, the student will complete some combination of the following academic plans:
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A Major is defined as a set of required courses that provides a level of expertise in a particular field.
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A Minor is a secondary field of academic study with focused courses in a specific discipline or interdisciplinary area.
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An Emphasis is a focused subset of a major that enables students to delve deeper into a specific area of their chosen field.
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A Concentration or Track is a label for smaller groupings of courses within the major, minor, or certificate used for advising purposes and does not appear on any credential.
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A Certificate is a short program of study focused on practical training and workforce skill development.
Unit Criteria
30 or more units
Definition
A major is a structured program of study in a specific academic discipline, containing 30 or more units focused on the development of expertise in that field. It serves as the primary focus of a student's degree, providing both foundational and advanced knowledge, preparing students for relevant career paths or further education.
Function
A major provides students with in-depth knowledge and training in a specific discipline. While some majors are directly tied to specific career paths (e.g., education, engineering, nursing), others provide broad skills in critical thinking, research, and problem-solving that can apply to multiple fields or industries.
Description
A major is differentiated by required course commonality: 18 units of a major must be unique and not used as a required course in another major. If there are not 18 unique units, the program will need to justify why the major is not conforming to this request and implement a prohibiting policy statement on the academic plan pages of the catalog to prevent students from earning duplicate dual majors/dual degrees.
Beginning in the 2014-2015 catalog, up to 9 units of a student's major courses (defined by the major prefix) may be used to satisfy both major and Liberal Studies/General Studies requirements.
Each discipline should offer only one major unless there are distinct sub-disciplines that are organized as separate majors and there is sufficient student demand for the additional majors (e.g., the Biological Sciences' creation of the Biology BS, Biomedical Science BS, Microbiology BS, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology BS, and Exercise Physiology BS). Specialized degree paths can also be created through the use of emphases (sub-plans). The minimum units required for a major with emphases to align with ABOR's policy 2-221 sub-specialization policy is 42 units. To establish emphases, the major must have a 24-unit required core that is common to all plan/sub-plan combinations and more than one emphasis. Major and Emphasis titles are listed on the diploma and the transcript.
Printed as Credential?
Yes - Printed on the Diploma
Printed on the Transcript?
Yes
Unit Criteria
15 to 24 units
Definition
A secondary field of academic study consisting of a focused set of courses in a specific discipline or interdisciplinary area. For example, an Exercise Physiology major with career aspirations in Athletic Training might choose to minor in Health and Wellness Coaching.
Function
Minors allow students to broaden their knowledge, enhance their major field of study, or pursue a personal interest without committing to another major.
Description
A minor is at least 15 units and no more than 24 units; completed with a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0. Because some academic units offer more than one minor and/or interdisciplinary minors, no more than fifty percent of the units used to satisfy minor requirements may be used to satisfy major requirements. Additionally, for students taking multiple minors, no more than fifty percent of the units used to satisfy one set of minor requirements may be used to satisfy a second set of minor requirements.
A student may also use the same course or courses to meet both liberal studies/general studies and minor requirements as long as the student meets all requirements for the minor. There is no limit to the number of Liberal Studies/ General Studies courses within a student’s minor that may satisfy Liberal Studies/ General Studies, as long as the minor does not overlap more than 50% with the student’s major.
Minors must be pursued and completed concurrently with a degree program.
Printed as Credential?
No
Printed on the Transcript?
Yes
Unit Criteria
18 or more units
Definition
An Emphasis is a focused subset of a major, enabling students to delve deeper into a specific area of their chosen field. For example, an Informatics major might choose an emphasis in Bioinformatics.
Function
Emphases allow students to gain specialized knowledge and skills that can enhance their expertise and career prospects in a particular niche within their major.
Description
The minimum units for a major with emphases to align with ABOR’s sub-specialization policy 2-221 is:
- 42 or more total units.
- 18 units of the required credit hours of a major must be unique to that major.
- 24 units of the major must be common to all plan/sub-plan combinations.
- An emphasis will comprise at least 18 units.
- At least 15 units of the emphasis must be unique to that emphasis to differentiate it from other emphases.
- Emphasis requirements can account for up to 60% of the total major requirements.
- Emphases must be pursued and completed concurrently with a degree program.
- At least 60% of the coursework must be resident credit (awarded by NAU).
- Up to 20% of the coursework may include course lines such as Cooperative Education, Fieldwork Experience, Undergraduate Research, Independent Study, and/or credit received through proficiency examinations acceptable to the unit awarding the certificate.
Emphases must be pursued and completed concurrently with a degree program.
Printed as Credential?
Yes – Printed on the Diploma with the Major. Example: Bachelor of Science in Informatics with an Emphasis in Bioinformatics
Printed on the Transcript?
Yes
Unit Criteria
15 or fewer units
Description
A major, minor, or certificate may label smaller groupings of courses as concentrations or tracks within the major, minor, or certificate.
Function
Concentrations or tracks are permitted for the purpose of advising students to consider or engage in categories of coursework aligned with student interests.
Description
Courses put forward for a concentration or track are in no way evaluated by the Academic Advisement Report as requirements for a major but are treated by the Academic Advisement Report as lists of electives from which students may select courses (e.g., there is no requirement tracking of these course lists, nor any constraints on student course selection).
Concentrations are implemented when a student in a particular major, minor or certificate would benefit from understanding these additional categories of elective coursework for the major, minor or certificate.
Tracks are used exclusively to guide students to specific coursework, typically for a minor, that allows a student within a specific plan (major or minor) to take courses for another plan (major or minor) such that course selections do not impinge upon rules of overlap between/among plans.
Printed as Credential?
No
Printed on the Transcript?
No
Unit Criteria
1 or more units
Definition
Specialized plans that recognize the acquisition of specific skills, competencies, or knowledge in a particular industry or academic area. These credentials provide a flexible and targeted approach to professional development, allowing individuals to enhance their expertise and career prospects. A certificate focuses on practical training and workforce skill development in a particular field.
Function
Certificates provide targeted education and training for specific careers or job roles. They provide new skills or enhance existing skills.
Description
Certificates can stack into other credentials - 100% of Certificate coursework may stack into, or duplicate, the requirements of a major, minor, or emphasis. Credentials intended to be “stacked” into a bachelor's degree must incorporate a plan for completion of general studies requirements to allow students to seamlessly integrate their credentials into a degree pathway. With clear articulation of credits, learning outcomes, and pathways between each credential, certificates offered by NAU may be designed with a modular structure, allowing students to earn individual certificates that can be stacked towards a certificate and/or degree program. Stackable credentials should be intentionally scaffolded, beginning with foundational skills and progressively advancing to more complex competencies, ensuring a structured learning progression that supports student development and career readiness.
When Certificates are stacked into other credentials, specific naming conventions are followed to duplicate names of similar credentials wherever possible.
Not-for-credit badges or certificates cannot be offered as for-credit certificates. Note that students may request to transfer not-for-credit badges for review of potential equivalency of Prior Learning Assessment credit per the transfer policy. Lists of transferable not-for-credit badges can be found here.
Certificate Design Parameters, based on Units of Credit Required:
For the purposes of this section, the nomenclature of “Skills” Certificates, “Professional” Certificates, and “Career” Certificates are used to differentiate the design of certificates based on units of credit required. This nomenclature does not carry to the presentation of this credential type to the diploma, transcript, or catalog.
Common design parameters pertaining to all certificates:
- Coursework may be lower-division, upper-division, or a mixture of both.
- Courses for certificates must either have no prerequisites or the prerequisite must be included as a required course in the certificate.
- Courses with co-requisites must include the co-requisite as a required course in the certificate.
Design Parameters for “Skills” Certificates – 1-5 units of credit
- 100% residency requirement (All courses must be taken at NAU).
- Certificates can be “stand-alone,” but as they are under 6 units of credit, they cannot qualify for federal financial aid. Note that students enrolled in a major/degree program can use federal financial aid from their major/degree program for the certificate, if they are eligible for financial aid.
- All credits/units of credit must be letter-graded.
- Coursework may not include course lines such as Cooperative Education, Fieldwork Experience, Undergraduate Research, Independent Study, and/or credit received through proficiency examinations. If internship/ fieldwork or research experience is the intended basis of the certificate, the program will create a specific course and will not use the existing internship/fieldwork or research course line.
Design Parameters for “Professional” Certificates – 6-11 units of credit
- 100% residency requirement (All units of credit must be taken for-credit at NAU).
- Certificates can be stand-alone (e.g., students must be enrolled in a degree program to enroll in the certificate).
- Students can receive federal financial aid for the certificate if the certificate CIP Code is on the high-demand ABOR degree list and the DHS STEM Designated Degree Program List.
- All credits/units of credit must be letter-graded.
- Coursework may not include course lines such as Cooperative Education, Fieldwork Experience, Undergraduate Research, Independent Study, and/or credit received through proficiency examinations. If internship/ fieldwork or research experience is the intended basis of the certificate, the program will create a specific course and will not use the existing internship/fieldwork or research course line.
Design Parameters for “Career” Certificates – 12 or more units of credit
- Minimum seventy-five percent residency requirement.
- Certificates can be stand-alone (e.g., students can enroll in a certificate without being enrolled in a Bachelor’s degree at NAU).
- If the certificate CIP Code is on the high-demand ABOR degree list and the DHS STEM Designated Degree Program List, then the certificate can apply for receipt of federal financial aid as a stand-alone certificate.
- Seventy-five percent of the credits/units of credit must be letter-graded.
- Coursework may not include course lines such as Cooperative Education, Fieldwork Experience, Undergraduate Research, Independent Study, and/or credit received through proficiency examinations. If internship/ fieldwork or research experience is the intended basis of the certificate, the program will create a specific course and will not use the existing internship/fieldwork or research course line.
Certificates may be pursued and completed concurrently with a degree program or as a stand-alone certificate, as specified by NAU Policy 100304: Catalog to Use for Academic Plan Requirements.
Admissions and Time Limits for Certificates
For NAU undergraduate students already admitted to pursue degrees or certificates, no admissions process is needed to pursue certificates. Undergraduate students will earn units toward certificates as they take certificate courses, yet students must declare the certificate in order to receive the verification for the certificate. Students must declare the certificate prior to graduating from the larger program. If a student does not declare the certificate by the time they apply for graduation of their diploma or credential, they have forfeited their ability to request the certificate. Students combining a certificate with a degree program must complete all courses within the time limit specified for the degree. All students are encouraged to consult their advisors in advance of working toward a certificate.
Students who are not current NAU students who intend to pursue a certificate must apply to NAU as certificate-seeking and be admitted to the university in order to enroll. Enrollment in a stand-alone certificate that is eligible for financial aid is necessary in order to apply for that financial aid. Minimum university and program-level admissions requirements apply.
Printed as Credential?
Yes – Printed as a “Certificate” of Completion. Completion of a Certificate does not appear on the diploma, since it receives its own printed credential.
Printed on the Transcript?
Yes
Additional Information
All academic programs will use the program vitality matrix to assess the continued viability of programs printed as credentials or on the transcript, including majors, minors, emphases, and certificates, during their self-study for Academic Program Review.