Hillsborough Community College publishes academic policies that adhere to the principles of good educational practice.  HCC faculty participate in the College's Academic Affairs process to make sure that appropriate academic policies are developed, approved, and reviewed, and that these policies also are developed in accordance with State of Florida statutes and State Board of Education Administrative Rules, both of which establish principles of good educational practice in the state of Florida (Statutes and Rules).  

Development, Approval, and Review of Academic Policies

To ensure that the affected constituencies are involved in the review and approval process, academic policies are distributed to the HCC community prior to approval.  Administrative Rule 2.02 Development, Maintenance and Implementation of the Administrative Rules and Administrative Procedures provides detail on the dissemination and approval process.  To ensure accuracy, HCC academic policies are reviewed annually during the yearly Catalog review process, as all academic policies are to be published in the HCC Catalog.  This review process involves dissemination of policies to HCC academic and student services units as well as requests for review from deans, directors, program managers, and other constituents.  Any modifications to HCC policies undergo the College-wide review process.  Ultimately, the Catalog is approved by the College President and Cabinet.

The Role of Faculty in the Development and Approval Process

Hillsborough Community College faculty participates in the development of academic policies not only individually through the college wide review process, but also through participation in the College Academic Affairs process, which is described in the Academic Affairs Handbook.   A flowchart of the process appears below, and the expanded version appears on page 11 of the Academic Affairs Handbook.

Initiator → Faculty Curriculum Cluster Review → Technical Review →

Academic Affairs Committee  → Vice President of Education and Student Development/Cabinet  →

President  → Board of Trustees

The HCC Academic Affairs process is as follows:

• The initiator submits a recommendation to one of the 14 Faculty Curriculum Clusters. 
• The Cluster reviews the proposal and votes for or against it.  If the Cluster votes against the proposal, the initiator may still submit it to the Academic Affairs Committee (AAC).
• Prior to being reviewed by the AAC, the Technical Review Committee (TRC) reviews the proposal for accuracy.  The TRC votes for or against moving the proposal forward to the AAC. 
• The AAC makes recommendations on the proposal to the Vice President of Education and Student Development, who makes recommendations in concert with the College's President's Cabinet.  If approved, the President makes the final recommendation to the HCC District Board of Trustees.  If not approved, the recommendations are returned to College Department of Academic Affairs.

Sample minutes are included (AAC sample minutes).  One recent example of faculty involvement in the revision of an academic policy is in regard to the grading policy.  In that revision, an “Fx” grade was included in the policy to indicate failure rates tied to excessive absences rather than academic performance (AAC minutes reflecting FX Grade)

Availability of Academic Policies

Dissemination of these academic policies to students, faculty, and other interested parties occurs through HCC publications that accurately represent the programs and services of the College.  For example, a majority of academic policies are published in the HCC Catalog, such as policies related to admissions, academic process, academic support services, grading, general education requirements, and program requirements.  Several academic policies are also published in the Student Handbook, including the Student Academic Grievance policy, the College-Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) policy, and the Forgiveness Policy. 

The table below summarizes the location of these policies:

Communication about academic policies includes and is not limited to the following:

• Students receive copies of the Catalog and the Student Handbook in New Student Orientation; 
• The College faculty receives copies of the HCC Catalog and Student Handbook annually at in-service meetings;
• The part-time College faculty receive copies of the HCC Catalog;
• Changes to academic policies are discussed at in-services and other faculty and staff meetings;
• Faculty members also help to disseminate academic policy information by including selected policy statements in their course syllabi; and
• Copies of the HCC Catalog are distributed upon request.  For example, the Education and Student Development e-Newsletter includes updates about academic policies (sample newsletter.)

Finally, the HCC Catalog, which contains academic policies, is published on the College website, and individual academic policies are published in electronic public folders on the HCC intranet, an internal file system housed in Microsoft Outlook for the use of College employees.