BOT looks to terminate four degree programs

SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

The Board of Trustees (BOT) is looking into dismantling four majors throughout the university system due to lack of enrollment. 

Three of the majors — bachelor's in business administration  at the St. Petersburg campus, master's in reading teacher education and a bachelor's in early childhood education at the Sarasota-Manatee campus — currently don't have any students enrolled for Fall of 2016 and no administration is designated to the degrees, according to the 2015-16 Degree Productivity Annual Review. This means doing away with them would have no financial impact on the university system.

As for USF Tampa, the BOT is looking into doing away with the master's program for general engineering. The program currently had four students enrolled. Those students would be able to complete their degrees, but no newly admitted students would be allowed to pursue it.

According to the report, the degree has no faculty or staff dedicated to it and would therefore have no financial impact on the university.

All four degrees have been determined by the BOT Academics and Campus Environment committee to not meet the USF system or the Board of Governors' threshold for degree productivity over the past five years as each has awarded fewer than 25 degrees in the past five years.

The decision to terminate will come down to the full BOT in March.