The bachelor’s geomatics program and the master’s marine and environmental biology programs on campus have been flagged as “low-completers” despite being relatively new to the University and unique to the state.The Louisiana Board of Regents has flagged over 50 programs throughout the state as “low-completers,” bachelor’s programs that produce less than eight graduates a year and master’s programs that produce less than five graduates a year, both over a five-year period.
Departments with flagged programs are asked to deliver a short report explaining why their programs should not be terminated. In the reports, the Board of Regents looks for a statewide need for graduates as well as job placements related to the education provided by the programs in question. Programs that are selected for termination enter a “phase out” period, restricting new enrollments so the programs can be removed from the catalog while allowing all students currently enrolled in the programs to graduate.
The bachelor’s in the geomatics program at Nicholls has been flagged despite having been established at the University for a short time. The program has been at Nicholls for five years and has produced two years of graduates.
Carrol Falcon, provost and vice president for academic affairs, said that it’s unusual for a program only in its third year of graduates to be flagged as a low-completer. The Nicholls geomatics program, the only one in the state, had an enrollment of 52 majors for the spring 2009 semester and has received over $800,000 in grants in its five years on campus.
The master’s in marine and environmental biology programs have also been flagged as low-completers, but Falcon said that in 2005 graduates in both programs were negatively affected by Hurricane Katrina.
The Board of Regents has announced that the data from the 2005-2006 school year is unreliable and that a revised list of low-completers will be generated in October of 2009 replacing the 2005-2006 data with that of 2008-2009.
Despite being flagged as low-completers, Falcon said that he is hopeful and confident that all three programs will not be terminated.
“We can project that the programs are and will be producing a sufficient number of graduates,” Falcon said.
