Program Selection

Selecting Bachelor's Programs

Senate Bill 1453 provides specific guidelines and requirements for how we can offer bachelor’s degree awards in the community colleges of Arizona. We are working together as a District to coordinate our proposal efforts so that the selection process can be as informed and as equitable as possible; ensuring that the success of our students is our number one consideration.

The process is separate and distinct from certificate and associate degree viability.

Establishing an Initial Vision
Using the legislative intent as the baseline for discussions around program selection, a visioning session was held on August 31, 2021 (agenda). At this session, teams from each college were brought together to unpack the legislation to identify the key questions that should be asked, the data needed to answer these questions, the performance indicators to review proposals, and the relative weight of each criterion in the selection process.

The feedback from the session along with our existing MCCCD curricular idea Viability Study process was synthesized into program proposal guidelines and a rubric for recommendations for selection. The guidelines and the rubric were reviewed and validated by the Advisory Committee and shared out with the colleges as part of the proposal and selection process. Learn more about the initial Fall 2023 selection process.

Road Map for Our Future

A session, Building a Bachelor’s Road Map for MCCCD, was held in March 2022 at South Mountain Community College, where colleges discussed the future of bachelor’s degrees in MCCCD. The results of this session and subsequent stakeholder feedback, MCCCD Bachelor’s Program Guiding Principles & Success Metrics. An additional session was convened in August 2022 to apply these principles to help us identify program areas to develop for the next 3-5 years. Based on the discussion from these sessions, the Bachelor's Advisory Committee developed and the Chancellor's Executive Council endorsed Rationale for a Bachelor's Cycle to help us identify program areas to develop for the next 3-5 years and the means to demonstrate our success to students, the legislature, our employer partners, and the community at large, our accreditors, and ourselves.

Explore future cycle timelines and processes as they develop by selecting a cycle from the menu. Note these are subject to change.

Selection Decision
In each cycle, the Advisory Committee is responsible for reviewing and recommending the programs to advance to the Chancellor’s Executive Council (CEC).