To: The Representative Assembly of the Davis Division of the Academic Senate

In the Fall, 1998, the Committee on Educational Policy was requested to consider changing DD Regulation 552. (A), which currently defines the Davis campus's minimum progress requirement as 12 units passed per quarter. Students on the Davis campus take an average of 4.7 years to attain their degrees and our conversion ratio is the second lowest in the UC system (ahead of only UCLA). This has fiscal implications both for the campus and for individual students. The following proposed changes are CEP's recommendations:

Current Wording A552. (A). Minimum Progress Defined. A full-time regular undergraduate student (see Davis Division Regulation C561 for definition of a part-time student) shall be considered to make normal progress with an average of 15 units passed per quarter. Minimum progress shall be defined as an average of 12 units passed per quarter, calculated at the end of every quarter for the preceding three quarters. Any student who falls below minimum progress shall be "subject to academic disqualification."

Proposed Wording A552. (A). Minimum Progress Defined. A full-time regular undergraduate student (see Davis Division Regulation C561 for definition of a part-time student) shall be considered to make normal progress with an average of 15 units passed per quarter. Minimum progress shall be defined as an average of 36 UCD units passed after the first three quarters plus a summer, 76 units passed after six quarters plus two summers, 120 UCD units passed after nine quarters plus three summers, and 165 UCD units passed after twelve quarters plus four summers. Any student who falls below minimum progress shall be "subject to academic disqualification."

Justification: After considering several different approaches to the question of minimum progress, we voted for a definition based on a sliding scale that gradually increases the number of required units from year to year. Our reasoning was based on our desire to ease freshmen and transfer students into the rigors of a UCD education. Nonetheless it is our intent to communicate the message that we want students to complete their education in four years. Consequently, we have recommended, in effect, that the average number of units required to satisfy the minimum progress requirement be raised from 12 to 13.75.