Course approval process flowchart
Course approval process flowchart for new course and module proposals: chair check, resourcing, curriculum committee loop, quality check, senate and catalogue entry.
What the course approval process is
New courses fail for avoidable reasons: no one checked staffing, the outcomes overlap an existing course or the proposal bounces between committees. A written route makes the order of checks visible and shows proposers what a good submission needs.
The chart follows five roles: Faculty Proposer, Department Chair, Curriculum Committee, Academic Quality / Registrar and Academic Senate. The key loop is "Revise and resubmit", which returns the proposal through "Revise using the committee's comments" to "Check against programme learning outcomes". A second return sends a proposal back from the quality check if it fails on credits or level.
For a generic sign-off pattern see the [document approval workflow](/templates/document-approval-workflow). Pair this with the [student enrollment process](/templates/student-enrollment-process) when the new course must be open for registration. Names, steps and thresholds are illustrative.
What this flowchart covers
In this template
- The department stage: "Fits department plan and teaching capacity?", "Confirm staffing, rooms and library resources" and a "Wait for the dean's budget decision" delay when resources are not yet secured.
- The committee stage: "Check against programme learning outcomes", a committee outcome with approve, revise-and-resubmit and reject branches, then the quality gate "Meets credit and quality requirements?".
- Final approval and publication: "Senate decision?", "Enter the course in the catalogue with code and credits" and "Open the course for timetabling and enrolment".
When to use this template
- You are formalising how new courses or modules are proposed, reviewed and added to the catalogue.
- Proposers are unsure which committee sees a proposal next or what evidence it needs.
- You want to see where proposals stall, for example waiting on budget or looping through repeated revisions.
How it works
List the proposal contents
Agree what "Draft proposal: outcomes, assessment, credits, reading" must contain, and who runs "Check overlap with existing courses".
Limit the revision loop
State in your policy how many times the Curriculum Committee may return a proposal, so the revise-and-resubmit branch cannot repeat forever.
Connect to registration
Make the Registrar lane own the catalogue and timetabling steps, and link them to your [student enrollment process](/templates/student-enrollment-process) so a course is only offered once it is approved and published.
Frequently asked questions
Why check resources before committee review?
A course that cannot be staffed or housed wastes committee time. Confirming capacity at department level means the committee reviews academic merit rather than feasibility.
What does revise and resubmit mean here?
The committee returns the proposal with written comments and the proposer fixes them, then it is reviewed again. The loop in the chart makes that return path explicit.
Do all institutions use these committees?
No. Names, levels of approval and thresholds vary, and small institutions may combine steps. Edit the lanes and decisions to match your own governance.
Part of
- Education
- Academic governance