Instructional Policies & Curriculum Committee

The IPCC is responsible to ensure that a comprehensive, coherent curriculum is offered by the College appropriate to its mission. 

The IPCC will review and approve curriculum within the parameters of Title 5 standards for course development including: 

• Course Outline of Record: title, description, content, SLOs, methods of instruction and evaluation, grading, assignments, textbooks, and articulation if appropriate 
• New and revised credit and non-credit courses 
• Credit Hours: Carnegie Unit 
• Pre-requisites, Co-requisites, and Advisories 

• Distance Education 
• Course Repetition 
• Cal-GETC Standards

The IPCC will review and approve programs within the parameters of Title 5 standards for program development and discontinuance including: 

• Major degree and certificate requirements 
• General education requirements 
• Graduation requirements

The IPCC will disseminate curricular information and recommendations to the faculty and administration, and governing board for final approval. 

The IPCC will carry out state and federal mandated regulations or policies that affect curriculum. 

The IPCC shall consist of eleven (11) members, nine (9) of which are voting members and two (2) that are non-voting members. 

Voting members: 

• Five (5) full-time faculty, appointed by the SJCC Academic Senate 
• The College Articulation Officer 
• Vice President of Academic Affairs
• Two (2) administrators appointed by the College President 

Non-Voting members 

• The College Curriculum Coordinator 
• One ex officio administrator appointed by the College President

The faculty will represent as broadly as possible the college’s academic and student services divisions. Members are appointed to three-year renewable terms. The Chair will be selected from among the faculty committee members. The Chair will serve a renewable three-year term. The committee shall advise the Academic Senate of any faculty member vacancies. 

Member Responsibilities

• Members of IPCC are expected to: 

  • Attend meetings–the Chair may request that the Academic Senate appoint a new faculty member if an IPCC member misses more than two (2) meetings during a semester (If a member votes by proxy, it does not constitute an absence). 
  • Prepare to discuss curriculum meeting agenda items. 
  • Review all curriculum proposals to ensure completeness, accuracy, and consistency with district and state regulations. 
  • Provide curriculum review assistance and/or guidance to their division when a proposal needs to be re-submitted to the IPCC for approval. 
  • Disseminate information between the IPCC and their division and faculty. 

QUORUM

• A quorum shall be established by Robert’s Rules of Order. In absence of a quorum, the IPCC may consider a proxy vote for course approval. 

• Because Title 5 specifies that curriculum is recommended to the Board by the curriculum committee [Title 5 §55002(a)], it is not the role of the senate to change the recommendations.
• However, it is appropriate for the senate to review the policies and procedures used [Title 5 §53203(a)] and call attention to any irregularities which might require a recommendation to be returned to the committee for reconsideration.

THE CURRICULUM COMMITTEE: ROLE, STRUCTURE, DUTIES, AND STANDARDS OF GOOD PRACTICE

ADOPTED FALL 1996

The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges 

Prior to curriculum proposal being reviewed in IPCC, the proposal is discussed in Technical Review. Technical Review is a work group meeting. Sponsoring faculty should expect the Technical Review team to review all aspects of the curriculum proposal on CurriQunet and to respond to any questions or comments the Technical Review team may have. Faculty should be aware that a Curriculum Conference may be required prior to a curriculum proposal’s discussion in Technical Review.

The SJCC Technical Review team consists of the IPCC Chair, Articulation Officer, Curriculum Coordinator, and the SJECCD Educational Services Coordinator.

• The IPCC Chair’s role in Technical Review is to facilitate the meetings and provide feedback on the curriculum proposals.
• The Articulation Officer is responsible for assisting and providing information for all curricular items relating to articulation which include transferability of courses, graduation requirements, General Education (GE), C-ID, and AD-Ts. Additionally, the college Articulation Officer may provide guidance with curricular items that benefit student success and achievement. Review and feedback during Curriculum Conferences, Technical Review, and IPCC provided by the Articulation Officer is essential for the preservation and development of all college curriculum.
• The Curriculum Coordinator assists with scheduling the Technical Review meetings with faculty and administrators, assists with edits on CurriQunet, and provides feedback and commentary on curriculum proposals, local policies, and state policies.
• The Educational Services Coordinator serves as a resource for the curriculum process by reviewing curriculum proposals to ensure compliance with state and local guidelines, including Title 5 and CCC System Office requirements. 

During Technical Review, one of the following will occur: advance the proposal to IPCC, request further changes to be made outside of the meeting time, schedule a future curriculum conference with the sponsoring faculty, or decline to move the proposal forward to IPCC. Due to the types of questions and feedback that may come up in the meeting, it is required a discipline faculty is present in the meeting. Discipline faculty who do not attend the Technical Review meeting will not have their course reviewed by the Technical Review team and will be rescheduled for a later date.

Technical Review meets weekly during the academic year. The day and time of meetings will be determined and announced before the beginning of each semester. Additional meetings may be scheduled if necessary. Due to the limited time, Technical Review meetings will be invite-only.  

IPCC meetings are on the 1st and/or 3rd Wednesday of each month during the academic year. Time of meetings will be determined and announced before the beginning of each semester. Additional meetings may be scheduled if necessary. All are welcome to attend.  

IPCC meeting agendas are posted publicly on the SJCC website and in the SJCC office of academic affairs at least seventy-two (72) hours before each meeting. Meeting updates are posted via email.  

A quorum shall be established by Robert’s Rules of Order. In absence of a quorum, the IPCC may consider a proxy vote for course approval. If a member of the committee is unable to attend the meeting, they are responsible for informing the Chair and to find a proxy voter, if necessary. A voting member of IPCC cannot be a proxy voter.

The Chair, or designee, calls the meeting to order and runs the meeting. A quorum is met when more than 50% of the voting members are present (at least Five (5) voting members). The IPCC Chair, as an appointed faculty member, is allowed to vote and counts towards quorum.

The College Curriculum Coordinator provides curriculum documents, minutes, and posts information on the Curriculum Committee website. 

IPCC meeting agendas generally consists of six (6) sections and may include any combination of the following subsections:

• Call to Order 

• Adoption of IPCC Agenda 

• Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes 

• Public Comment
  • Reports  

• • Chair Report 

• • VPAA Report 

• • Articulation Report 

• • Curriculum Coordinator Report 

• • Guest Speakers 

• • Discussion Items, with possible vote 
  • Consent Agenda Items
  • Curriculum Training

• New Discussion/Action Items 

• • Course Revision Proposals 

• • New Course Proposals 

• • Program Revision Proposals 

• • New Program Proposals 

• • Course Deactivation Proposals 

• • Course Reactivation Proposals 

As discussed in the beginning of this section, all course updates must occur either every 2 years (CE courses) or every 5 years (non-CE courses). When a course is not updated within its revision due date, it is considered “delinquent,” per Title V. Current delinquent courses will be placed into 2 different categories: Level 1 Delinquent and Level 2 Delinquent.

Level 1 Delinquent courses are courses that have not been updated/revised in less than 2 years passed its original review due date. All courses that are labeled as Level 1 Delinquent will have 2 years to submit a modification or deactivation proposal to CurriQunet to begin the curriculum approval process. If a modification or deactivation proposal is not submitted to CurriQunet by the spring semester of the designated deadline, the course will not be offered the following fall semester nor can the department the delinquent course is in be allowed to submit new curriculum proposals.

• Example – ETH 030 is due for review by the end of the spring semester of the 2024-2025 academic year. If a modification or deactivation proposal is not submitted to CurriQunet by the end of spring semester of the of 2026-2027 academic year, it becomes a Level 1 Delinquent course. The Ethnic Studies department has until end of the spring 2027 semester to submit a modification or deactivation proposal to CurriQunet or the course will not be offered, nor can the Ethnic Studies department be allowed to submit new curriculum proposals starting in Fall 2028.

Level 2 Delinquent courses are courses that have not been updated/revised in more than 2 years passed its original review due date. All courses that are labeled as Level 2 Delinquent will have 1 year to submit a modification or deactivation proposal to CurriQunet to begin the curriculum approval process. If a modification or deactivation proposal is not submitted to CurriQunet by the spring semester of the designated deadline, the course will not be offered the following fall semester nor can the department the delinquent course is in be allowed to submit new curriculum proposals.

• Example – BIOL 004A was originally due for review by the end of the spring semester of the 2021-2022 academic year and, as of spring 2025, is 3 years passed its review date, making it a Level 2 Delinquent course. The Biology faculty have until the end of the spring 2026 semester to submit a modification or deactivation proposal to CurriQunet or the course will not be offered nor can the Biology department be allowed to submit new curriculum proposals starting in Fall 2027.

The IPCC Chair can extend or postpone the deadlines for delinquency course submissions in the situation where curriculum prioritization is impacted by legislative changes and/or state mandated changes. The IPCC Chair will inform impacted departments of any updates as soon as the decision is made and new deadlines are established.

If a delinquent course is submitted for deactivation but cannot proceed in the curriculum approval process due to it being in an impacted course, degree, or certificate (eg. the delinquent course is a requisite for another course and/or part of a degree or certificate), the course(s), degree(s), or certificate(s) the delinquent course is in will have 1 year from the course deactivation submission date to submit a modification proposal to CurriQunet. If a course, degree, or certificate modification proposal is not submitted by the designated deadline, an automatic deactivation proposal for said course(s), degrees(s), and/or certificate(s) will be launched by the College Curriculum Coordinator. It is expected that the impacted departments will work collaboratively to make the necessary modifications and prevent automatic deactivations from taking place.

Tier 1

• Curriculum impacted by State funding, law, and policy (eg. AB 705/1705, AB 928, AB 1111)
• State-Mandated Curriculum Changes (eg. 2.0 AD-T)
• Mandated Revisions for Accreditation
• New/Revised Course Submissions Denied for C-ID and/or GE
  

Tier 2

• Level 2 Delinquent Courses (Overdue for Review, 2-years or more)
• Level 1 Delinquent Courses (Overdue for Review, 1-year or less)
• Courses Due for Review
• Deactivations (Courses, Degrees, and Certificates)
  

Tier 3

• New Curriculum (Courses, Degrees, and Certificates)
• Degrees & Certificates Revisions
• Off-Cycle Course Revisions

• Curriculum Handbook
• Program and Course Approval Handbook (PCAH), 8th Edition

Curriculum-Course and Program Outlines​

 Click the links below for manuals.

• Curriqunet Login​
• How to Create a New Course in Curriqunet
• How to Revise a Course in Curriqunet
• How to Deactivate a Course in Curriqunet
• How to Reactivate a Course in Curriqunet