Incoming students will no longer be able to major in manufacturing engineering technology, according to a Board of Regents decision last week.Seven other academic programs were terminated across the state for not achieving the national accreditation required by Louisiana’s Master Plan for Public Postsecondary Education. Three other unaccredited Nicholls programs associated with petroleum services are under review and were granted up to one year to become accredited.

“The decision was very much a surprise,” George Watt, director of applied sciences, said. “The department was told we were not supposed to be on the agenda.”

Classes will still be offered to allow students who are currently enrolled in the program to finish their degree, but no new students can be admitted to the program.

“The students are extremely upset and feel betrayed,” Watt said. “Members of our industry advisory committee are also quite upset about the decision. There may be some chance for appeal, but I don’t know how likely that is.”

University Provost Carroll Falcon said University President Stephen Hulbert had indicated to the Board of Supervisors and the Board of Regents staff that the program was under review. Nicholls asked for patience while it continued to gather concerns about the program from constituents, such as businesses in that industry, the parish council, donors, etc.

“They just acted sooner than we had expected,” Falcon said. “However, they have final authority. It’s not to say our concerns were different from theirs, but we had just asked for adequate time to go through due process. Unfortunately, the program just never attracted a lot of students.”

The board’s report said a similar bachelor’s program in engineering technology at Nicholls was terminated in 1996 because of its low enrollment numbers. When the current program was developed in 2000, its proposal estimated that the program would have about 242 students enrolled in 2006. However, only 42 students are currently majoring in the program and only nine students have graduated with the degree since 2000.

“This relatively low level of student interest is simply insufficient to underwrite the very high costs of a program of this type,” the board’s report states. “The staff further observes that the University currently has four programs under conditional status-all of which required additional resources to be maintained. It is highly unlikely that the University will be able to respond to all of these needs given the current and likely future limited levels of state support.”

The associate’s program in petroleum services, associate’s program in petroleum services safety technology and bachelor’s program in petroleum services are under review due to lack of national accreditation. The associate’s program in petroleum services safety technology and bachelor’s program in petroleum services have been given until May 1, 2006. The associate’s program in petroleum services has been given until March 15, 2007. The National Association of Industrial Technology must recommend the programs for them to remain on campus.

“I already know we do meet the basic criteria to be accredited,” Michael Flowers, associate professor of applied sciences, said. “We just have to wait until the NAIT consultant tells that to the school. I don’t feel like we’re gambling.”

As of Jan. 31, 33 students were enrolled in the associate’s of petroleum services program. Seventy are enrolled in the bachelor’s program, and 39 are enrolled in the associate’s of petroleum services safety technology program.

“The story here is not the handful of programs that were terminated for lack of accreditation but rather that more than 98 percent of the programs mandated for accreditation have responded successfully to the call for improved quality and accountability,” Commissioner of Higher Education Joseph Savoie said. “Louisiana’s public colleges and universities have made significant progress as a result of the reform initiatives driven by the Master Plan. Program accreditation, of course, is part of a much larger success story.”

Falcon said he would like to clarify that the pre-engineering program in no under review.