Determination of a New Degree

The Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills requires British Columbia public institutions to submit for review all new degree programs at the baccalaureate, master’s, or doctoral level. A new degree program is defined as:

• An associate degree granted or provided by a private or out-of-province public institution governed under the Degree Authorization Act,
• A baccalaureate, master’s or doctoral degree that has not been previously granted or conferred by the post-secondary institution in British Columbia, or
• A baccalaureate, master’s or doctoral degree granted or conferred by the post-secondary institution in British Columbia containing one or more of the following elements:
  •  a new major or field of specialization (although a new honours program in a field in which a major is currently offered will not require review);
  • an existing interdisciplinary major for which the majority of the courses are new or are substantially altered to conform to the program’s objectives;
  • a joint major if one or more of the fields in the joint major is not already represented by an approved major;
  • revision of a program’s major objectives resulting in significant changes;
  • a change in degree designation or credential that may be precedent-setting for the institution or the post-secondary system in the province (see Appendix 7 for the Guidelines on Naming of Degrees); and,
  • significant revision of a program that warrants credential renaming.