This information is no longer current; now covered in R601
See current policy
Professional-Technical Certificate Programs'
General Education/Related Instruction Requirements Policy
* The Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges, Division of Vocational/ Technical Education, and the Carl Perkins Vocational Act require a general education or related instruction component for all certificate programs of one year or more. All PCC certificate programs of one year or more will have a significant body of instruction in program-related areas of safety, industrial safety and environmental awareness. In addition, PCC certificate programs of one year or more shall meet the requirements of related instruction in communications, computation and human relations, including issues of diversity, in one of the following ways:
- A program may require its students to take nine credit hours or more of approved PCC courses distributed among the areas of communications, computation and human relations. Issues of diversity should be addressed in the human relations course work.
- Each certificate program may demonstrate evidence of a recognizable body of instruction in communications, computation and human relations, including issues of diversity, embedded in courses required for the certificate and in keeping with the intent of the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges related instruction requirement.
- Certificate programs may develop a combination of numbers one and two.
Effective Date: June 1992
The Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges requirements stipulate that "programs of an academic year or more in length in which certificates are granted, must contain a recognizable body of instruction in program-related areas of 1) communication, 2) computation, and 3) human relations." PCC further stipulates that issues of diversity be addressed also. This content may be embedded within the program curriculum and "taught by faculty who are appropriately qualified."
To meet these directives, the appropriate SACC or program shall include the following criteria:
- documentation of industry and/or accreditation standards (e.g., as developed by the advisory committee, or accreditation standards, or industry survey, etc.)
- documentation of instructional content in the Course Content Guide.
- identification of related student outcomes in the Course Content Guide.
- demonstration under "evaluation" in the Course Content Guide that embedded material is a significant part of the final course grade.
- identification and documentation of criteria to determine appropriately qualified faculty (e.g., coursework, special training, experience, demonstrated competency.)
*CRITERIA FOR RECOGNIZABLE BODY OF INSTRUCTION AND APPROPRIATELY QUALIFIED FACULTY FOR EMBEDDED COURSES