CON Evaluation of Professional Graduate Student Progression to Graduation

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Student Policies

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER COLLEGE OF NURSING
Evaluation of Professional Graduate Student Progression to Graduation	Subsection: 5.3.11
Section 5.0 - Student Policies	Originating Date: May 1982
Responsible Reviewing Agency: Professional Graduate Nursing Affairs Committee Final Reviewing Agency: Graduate Faculty Organization	Revised: December 1987 Revised: January 1999 Revised: April 2008 Reviewed: January 2011 Revised: July 2012 Revised: February 2013 Revised: April 2014 Revised: April 2016 Revised: May 2016 Revised: October 2016 Revised: December 2017 Revised: March 2018 Revised: April 2020 Revised: March 2021

Policy

1. Students are expected to perform at a B (83.0%) or above for all courses. A grade of B- or lower will not be acceptable.
2. If a B- or below grade is received, the student will remediate by repeating the course at its earliest offering. The course may be retaken one time and the student must achieve a grade of B or higher. Students may be given the opportunity to repeat no more than two courses during their professional graduate program.
3. A receipt of two B- grades or lower will be a cause for dismissal.
4. To retake a course, a student must obtain the approval of the student’s advisor/supervisor, course instructor, and the Associate Dean for Academic Programs. A student reregistering for a course must notify the Office of Academic Records. Both grades will appear on the transcript but only the retaken course grade will be used in determining the grade point average (GPA).
5. A student whose overall GPA is below 3.0 will be placed on academic probation and have two semesters to meet the 3.0 GPA criteria. At the time that a B- or below is received, a student is not in good academic standing until the student remediates by retaking the course and achieving a grade of B (83.0%) or higher.
6. Scholarly activities comprise a major part of the graduate curriculum endeavors, excellence is expected of all students. Therefore, a failing grade in any portion of the scholarly activities (DNP scholarly project or clinical) may be grounds for dismissal.
7. Students must maintain a cumulative average of 83.0% in courses that use exams with 50 or more multiple choice questions as a method of evaluation. The weighted average of all tests, and examinations will be calculated first without rounding. This portion of the grade is to be based on work completed by the individual student. If the average of the test and exam grades is less than 83.0%, that will be the course grade.
8. If the exam average is greater than or equal to 83.0%, then other course assignments, group work scores will be added and the resulting average must be 83.0% or greater in order to pass. Only the final course score will be subject to mathematical rounding to the nearest whole number.
9. A student’s progress will be reviewed each semester by his/her faculty advisor, and academic concerns will be submitted each semester to the Professional Graduate Nursing Affairs Committee.
10. The MSN, Post MSN DNP, and Post MSN Certificate programs must be completed within 5 consecutive calendar years. BSN to DNP program must be completed within 7 consecutive calendar years.
11. All students must apply for candidacy one semester before filing for graduation.
12. The following criteria for candidacy have been established by the Professional Graduate Nursing Affairs Committee:
    1. Completion of one year of graduate study or its equivalent
    2. Grade Point Average of 3.0 or above
    3. Full graduate standing
    4. Completion of one course in their nursing specialty area
    5. All deficiencies removed
13. No less than 50% of the course work must be completed at the University of Nebraska campuses after being formally admitted to UNMC College of Nursing. Appropriate courses may be taken within other departments of the University of Nebraska under guidance of the specialty coordinator or advisor. Graduate certificate course work requires a minimum of 12 credits with the option of one third of the coursework in collateral departments of relevant disciplines.

Procedure

1. Student Services will run a query each semester to identify students with semester course grades below 3.0 and overall GPAs below 3.0. Faculty advisors will be notified.
2. If the above situation occurs or a grade of C is received in a course, the faculty advisor in conjunction with the specialty coordinator and specialty faculty will recommend to the Professional Graduate Nursing Affairs Committee the progression of the student, with rationale, to 1) continue in the program; 2) repeat the course when next offered; 3) dismiss the student.
3. If the student has an overall GPA below 3.0 a plan for self or directed remediation must be included and a letter from the Associate Dean of Academic Programs will be sent to the student.