Board of Regents Policy Areas of Study - CT State Community College

Oversight: The CSCU Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs or designee shall be the presiding authority over the application of this policy to CT State Community College. Application includes development, implementation, and maintenance of a set of meta-majors, to be known as Areas of Study, consistent with Guided Pathways practices for CT State Community College, as well as ensure the consistency of their application and use.

The Areas of Study will provide an organizational framework for all academic programs and provide students with clear paths to graduation. The CSCU Areas of Study are established to support ongoing efforts to improve student success at CT State Community College and in the CSCU system. Meta-majors provide an easy-to-understand entry point to the diverse program offerings at our colleges and help students begin to narrow their interests early in their academic journey.

Because academic programs within an Area of Study share similar courses and foundational skills, meta-majors provide a means to ensure that students register for relevant courses within coherent degree programs. This, in turn, means that students can explore multiple transfer and career options within an area of study while maintaining momentum toward completion and increases the likelihood that students will earn a meaningful credential and/or transfer in a timely fashion.

Meta-majors create cohorts of students with related interests, foster early connections between students and faculty experts within an area of study, and allow co-curricular programming (i.e., experiences and activities outside the classroom that support and reinforce class content) matched to student interests.

Meta-majors - collections of academic degree programs that have related courses and career goals and share common foundational skills. Meta-majors organize existing degree programs into smaller sets of related areas of study.

The Areas of Study will cluster existing degree programs under larger thematic umbrellas into sets of related areas of study. This does not change the overall number of programs offered, but simplifies the way in which program options are presented to students to afford a more informed decision-making process. Programs established for the singly accredited CT State Community College will exist within one of these six CSCU Areas of Study. Program establishment within a particular Area of Study will be part of the program approval process.

The six CSCU Areas of Study are as follows:

• Social and Behavioral Sciences, Education, and Public Service
• STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math)
• Manufacturing, Industry, and Technical Careers
• Health Careers
• Humanities and Creative Arts
• Business & Hospitality