The Course Challenge Procedure: A Fast but Not Furious Way to Update University Curriculums

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by awa

The paper presents the Course Challenge Procedure (CCP) at the University of Saskatchewan as a collegial, autonomous mechanism for peer review and approval of new courses, prerequisite updates, and program changes. It addresses faculty concern about slow, detailed committee deliberations by streamlining approvals while maintaining respect for college and department authority. The paper explains the CCP’s origins and design principles, its criteria for faster, accountable decision-making, and its potential implementation via web, email, or paper distribution.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages5

Reading Time13 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Context

Criteria

Principles

Defining Curricular Changes and the CCP

How the CCP Works

33 The Course Challenge Procedure: A Fast but Not Furious Way to Update University Curriculums Cathie M. Fornssler University of Saskatchewan Universities want to encourage faculty to keep curricula up-to-date and innovative, yetfaculty dread the prospect of arguing about course and program changes with college and university curriculum committees – which are overworked and overwhelmed with detail. The Course Challenge Procedure (CCP) at the University of Saskatchewan is a collegial yet autonomous way for peer review and approval of new courses, and pre-requisite and program changes. It encourages more faculty members to be informed about curricular changes in other units, yet also allows for faster approval. The CCP can be implemented as a web-based, email, or paper distribution system, and used as the basis for integrated curriculum approval processes at the department, college, and university level. Introduction My method to overcome a difficulty is to go around it. - George Pólya (1887–1985) FortomheraveUSsaiPdrsitidisenteasWieroodrto cohwanWgeiltsohn ie loscrapioutnedof a cemetery than to change the school curriculum.”Many faculty would likely agree – in fact, they would rather tackle the cemetery, whose occupants cannot object. Universities want to encourage faculty to keep curricula up-to-date and innovative, yet faculty dread the prospect of arguing about course and pro- gram changes with curriculum committees – which are themselves overworked and overwhelmed with detail. The result is that changes to university curriculums aren’t done frequently enough, can take too long to approve, and may result in unproductive controversy and too much documentation along the way. At the University of Saskatchewan, many curricular changes are now being approved by the Course Challenge Procedure (CCP) . This paper ex- plains the context of this procedure, how curricular changes are defined, the benefits of the procedure, how it works at the University and elsewhere, and faculty opinions. The CCP is used for fast approval of new courses, course deletions, pre-requisite changes, and program changes (Fornssler, 2008) . It incorporates peer review of these curricular changes, while respecting the authority of colleges and departments in managing their own curriculums. This university procedure encourages more faculty members to be informed about curricular changes in other units, yet also allows for faster approvals. At the University of Saskatchewan, the CCP is a web-based procedure, but could be implemented at any university as a web-based, email, or paper distribution system. It also has the potential to be used as the basis for integrated curriculum approval processes atthe department, college, and university levels. Context The University of Saskatchewan implemented the CCP following the changes in the University Act in 1995. Under the academic decision-making structure, which was followed from 1912 to 1995, every curriculum change, no matter how minor, had to be approved by a university committee. When this system was established, however, the university had only 50 faculty; by 1995, with 900 faculty, this course approval system was creating exhaustion and gridlock. In 1995, the passage of the new University Act provided the impetus to change the way things were done in many places in the institution, and introducing the CCP was one of these changes. An ad-hoc Committee produced a report in 1996, which outlined criteria and principles for this new procedure: Criteria 1. Increase the level of responsibility and accountability of Colleges for their curricula. 2. Encourage Colleges to keep calendar descriptions accurate with respect to what really happens with the courses they list. 3. Minimize the time delay in securing approvals for curricular changes. 4. Minimize the total effort required in the collegial decision making process. Principles 1. A University is more than a loose feder

FAQs

What problem does the Course Challenge Procedure (CCP) aim to solve?

CCP is designed to reduce delays and controversy in curriculum approvals by giving faculty a faster peer-reviewed route for course, prerequisite, and program changes.

Which types of curricular changes does the CCP support?

CCP covers fast approval for new courses, course deletions, prerequisite changes, and program changes, while using peer review in the process.

Why did the University of Saskatchewan introduce the CCP in 1995?

The university’s earlier committee-based structure caused exhaustion and gridlock by 1995 as faculty numbers grew, and the new University Act provided impetus to change the approval approach.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by awa