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Degree Programs & Curriculum Management Requirements

Story Prefix: DEG Feature Area: Degree Programs & Curriculum Management System Overview: university-reg-features.md Related docs: Academic Records (degree audit) → academic-records-requirements.md | Course Catalogue → course-catalogue-requirements.md | Student Profile (program declaration) → student-profile-requirements.md | Transfer Credit (equivalency mapping) → transfer-credit-requirements.md (XFER-002, XFER-005) | Graduation (pre-grad audit) → graduation-commencement-requirements.md (GRAD-003)

DEG-001: Create a Degree Program​

As an Academic Staff member I want to create a new degree program in the system So that students can declare it and the degree audit engine has a complete requirement set to evaluate against

Acceptance Criteria​

  • Academic Staff and Administrators can create a degree program with: program name, degree type (B.A., B.S., M.A., M.S., Ph.D., Certificate, etc.), department/college, total credit hours required, and expected completion terms
  • Program codes must be unique; duplicate codes are rejected with an error
  • A new program defaults to "Draft" status and is not available for student declaration until published by an Administrator
  • Publishing a program makes it available in the student profile program selector (PROF-004)

DEG-002: Update Degree Requirements​

As an Academic Staff member I want to update the requirements for an existing degree program So that the program reflects current curriculum decisions and accreditation standards

Acceptance Criteria​

  • Academic Staff and Administrators can add, edit, or remove requirement categories and individual course requirements (DEG-004)
  • Each change is saved with a timestamped change history entry (who changed it, what changed, when)
  • Requirement changes are versioned: students declared under an earlier catalog year are evaluated against the requirements in effect at their declaration date, not the current version
  • Advisors are notified when a program they advise students in has been updated

DEG-003: Retire a Degree Program​

As an Academic Staff member I want to retire a degree program that is no longer offered So that new students cannot declare it while existing students are not disrupted

Acceptance Criteria​

  • Academic Staff and Administrators can set a program status to "Retired"
  • Retired programs are hidden from the student-facing program selector (PROF-004) but remain fully accessible for existing declared students' degree audits (REC-006)
  • Retiring a program with active declared students requires an Administrator confirmation step
  • Administrators are shown a count of currently enrolled students with that declared program before confirming retirement
  • Affected students and their Advisors receive a notification when a program is retired, directing them to consult with their Advisor about alternatives

DEG-004: Define Requirement Categories​

As an Academic Staff member I want to organize a degree program's requirements into named categories So that students and advisors can clearly see which obligations belong to core requirements, electives, concentrations, and general education

Acceptance Criteria​

  • Each degree program can contain multiple named requirement categories (e.g., "Core Requirements", "Technical Electives", "General Education", "Capstone")
  • Each category specifies: a name, a minimum credit-hour total to satisfy it, and whether it is required or optional (e.g., a concentration track)
  • Categories can be reordered for display purposes without affecting requirement logic
  • The degree audit (REC-006) groups results by category and shows fulfilled vs. outstanding credit hours per category
  • A category can be shared across multiple programs (e.g., a common General Education block)

DEG-005: Map Courses and Equivalencies to Requirements​

As an Academic Staff member I want to specify which courses satisfy each degree requirement So that the degree audit engine can automatically match a student's completed courses to their remaining obligations

Acceptance Criteria​

  • Academic Staff can map one or more catalogue courses (CAT-001) to each requirement slot
  • Equivalency rules can be defined: a course at another institution (transfer credit) can be marked as equivalent to a specific Curriculab course for audit purposes
  • A single course can satisfy requirements in multiple categories if the program rules allow it (double-counting); programs can restrict double-counting per category
  • "Elective" slots can be defined with constraints (e.g., "any 3-credit CSCI course at the 300 level or above") rather than specific course codes
  • Changes to course mappings are versioned consistent with DEG-002 catalog-year rules

DEG-006: View Catalog Year for a Student's Program​

As an Advisor I want to see which catalog year governs a student's degree requirements So that I can advise them accurately using the correct version of the program requirements

Acceptance Criteria​

  • The student's declared program record displays the catalog year under which they are evaluated (defaulting to the academic year of their program declaration — PROF-004)
  • Advisors and Administrators can change a student's catalog year with a required reason note; the change is logged and the student is notified
  • The degree audit (REC-006) clearly states the catalog year in use at the top of the report
  • Students can view their own catalog year on their profile page but cannot change it without advisor action