William J. Samford Hall at Auburn University, as seen on August 14, 2023 in Auburn, Alabama. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
The Auburn Board of Trustees approved a proposed closure to the Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design Studies at the Friday board meeting because few students have opted to enroll in the program.
“The Bachelor of Science, the program that is in front of you for your consideration is a post-baccalaureate degree for students who already have a bachelor’s in a non-design degree,” said Vini Nathan, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, for the Academic Affairs Committee. “They come and take an abbreviated accelerated pathway and then they apply to be in the master’s program, the master of industrial design.”
She said the program was founded in 2017 and has not met enrollment goals.
Ben Farrow, associate dean for academic affairs and international programs, wrote in response to emailed questions Tuesday that 11 people have gone through the program since it was established. Via a spokesperson, he also indicated that the program is not the same as the professional bachelor of industrial design program.
“ Our original proposal sought 8 students per year to be enrolled in the program. The program was created as a second undergraduate degree option for those students that wanted to enter the Master of Industrial Design program at Auburn from other majors,” he wrote. “With the creation of the Advanced Bachelor Masters (ABM) option a few years ago for undergraduate students at Auburn and faculty approaches to engaging other design majors in the Master of Industrial Design program, the demand for the Industrial Design Studies degree has waned.”
He wrote that the program was designed for students who wanted to pursue Master of Industrial Design but didn’t have a design background. Students completed 43 hours in industrial design to gain a second undergraduate degree over three semesters.
“This additional time demanded substantial resources from students limiting demand for the program,” he wrote.
He wrote that students in the program had gone onto similar industrial design careers as traditional undergraduate students and graduate students.
Nathan said there were no “special courses,” but they did not take general education classes and took classes with other programs.
Nathan said they had anticipated a different kind of enrollment and waited for it. She said that, if not for the pandemic, the course may have been brought before the Board years ago.
“There just is not that kind of demand,” she said. “Either our students come directly into the bachelors program or into the master’s program. This bridge is not quite needed.”
The change has further levels of approval to go through before it is complete.
Robin McGill, deputy director of academic affairs at the Alabama Commission of Higher Education, wrote over email Friday that there are administrative steps to go through when closing a major. She wrote that they need to notify ACHE of the closure, sometimes called a program deletion. The notification allows ACHE to update their records so no new students enroll.
Then, she wrote that they need to seek approval from their accreditation agency– she wrote that almost all Alabama’s public higher education institutions are accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges– for a “teach-out plan.” The plan explains how the institution will notify faculty, students and staff about the closure and how they will support students completing the program.
She wrote that sometimes students will be able complete the program but no new students can enroll. Sometimes students have the choice to switch into a related major.
“It is not uncommon for institutions to close existing programs due to under-enrollment, challenges with implementation, or a desire to make significant changes to the curriculum,” she wrote. “For instance, at ACHE’s upcoming meeting on June 14th, the Commission will receive notification of nine program closures across the two-year and four-year institutions.”
Via a spokesperson, the provost’s office of Auburn said that closing the programs like this one is not uncommon.
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