Four graduate programs at UNC-Chapel Hill are on pause and under consideration to be discontinued.
That’s the outcome of a review of each of the university’s 275 degree programs — a project that provost Magnus Egerstedt inherited from past leadership.
The review resulted in 28 programs flagged for having a small number of degree completions or a substantive decline in degrees awarded. Of those, four graduate degrees might not make the cut for continued investment, Egerstedt said at a UNC Board of Trustees committee meeting Wednesday. Those are:
- Digital Curation and Management. This master’s of professional studies in the School of Information and Library Science will be absorbed as a concentration in an existing master’s degree. Two students are currently enrolled in the program.
- Curriculum and Instruction. This doctorate in the School of Education has zero enrollment.
- Environmental Sciences and Engineering. This master’s of science in public health in the Gillings School of Global Public Health has zero enrollment. The university is “rethinking this degree given a larger context of engineering at UNC.”
- Health Policy and Management. This master’s of science in public health in the Gillings School of Global Public Health has two students currently enrolled. The university is considering the degree’s “return as terminal degree option and BSPH-MSPH pathway given undergraduate interest in health administration.”
“We wanted this to be rational, data-driven, and fully transparent. We’re not trying to hide anything,” Egerstedt said. “…. I have been asked, perhaps with a hint of surprise, that this is actually kind of a small number, given that we looked at 275 programs. There is a reason for that…