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Catalogs and Handbooks Update Policy

Policy 

This policy outlines the procedures and responsibilities for updating the University catalogs and handbooks to ensure that they accurately reflect the programs, courses, policies, and other relevant information offered by the University.

1. Responsibilities

A. President: 

  The President, with delegation from the BOT members, holds the responsibility for approving any revisions to the catalogs and handbooks.

B. VPAA: 

  The VPAA is responsible for reviewing and finalizing all documents related to academics (catalogs, faculty handbook and fact book)   to ensure the accuracy and alignment of information with academic goals and standards.

C. DOA:  

  The DOA is responsible for overseeing administrative matters related to the student handbook and staff handbook. The DOA shall ensure that updates to administrative information align with university policies and accurately represent services available to students and employees.

D. QAIE:  

  The QAIE Department is responsible for the overall management of the catalogs, handbooks and fact book including development, modification, updating, compliance, version control and archiving. 

E. Program Directors: 

  Responsible for content related to their programs and courses, initiating changes and providing accurate and up-to-date information.

F. Marketing Department: 

  Responsible for the dissemination of the approved catalogs and handbooks through public portals and must ensure that only the latest versions are made available to the target audience while also archiving at least 10 years of the undergraduate and graduate catalogs. 

2. Nature of Updates

Catalog and handbook updates will generally fall within the following categories:

   A. Academic policy and procedures updates: 

  • These refer to updates concerning student programs, courses, or academic policies that affect the university’s academic offerings

   B. Administrative policy updates:

  • These involve updates to administrative matters that impact students and employees in areas beyond academics and the curriculum.

   C. Editorial changes:

  • These refer to updates aimed at enhancing the catalog’s or handbook’s usability, language clarity, and production quality, without altering existing policies.

3. Procedure

  A. Annual review 

  • The QAIE department initiates the annual review of all university catalogs and handbooks. QAIE prepares the timetable and sets submission deadlines for catalog and handbook revisions. 

  • Notifications are sent to academic and administrative departments, requesting their review and updates to the relevant sections of the documents.

 

 B. Academic review

  • Program Directors shall review and update program and course information.

  • Ensure accuracy and compliance with institutional policies in the academic section. 

  • Submit proposed changes to QAIE by the designated deadline.

 

  C. Administrative departmental review

  • Administrative departments review and update information within their respective sections of the catalog or handbook in accordance with the provided deadlines.

  • Ensure accuracy and compliance with institutional policies in the administrative sections.

  • Collaborate with other departments as needed to ensure consistency across the entire document.

  • Submit proposed changes to QAIE by the designated deadline.

 

 D. Editorial review

  • Editorial changes may be recommended by any employee directly to the QAIE office via the portal by submitting a modification request. https://ud.ac.ae/portal/modification-request/

  • Editorial changes include minor word changes in course descriptions without altering course content, title, lecture, lab or credit hours, and prerequisites.

  • The purpose of editorial changes is to clarify, simplify, or enhance descriptions for the benefit of readers.

  • Statements directly quoted from approved policies will be amended in the original policy, not through editorial changes.

 

  E. QAIE review

  • QAIE reviews and incorporates all change requests, ensuring the thorough and accurate updating of catalogs or handbooks.

  • QAIE verifies the catalog or handbook's compliance with Ministry of Education and CAA standards stipulations.

  • QAIE updates the version control information to reflect the latest changes, ensuring clarity on the document's status. 

  • The QAIE Manager reviews and approves the final draft of the modified document.

  • The QAIE department archives the previous catalogs in the shared drive.

 

  F. Approvals

  • The QAIE Manager presents the proposed updates to the VPAA,  DOA, and the President for their respective approvals.

  G. Publication

  • QAIE notifies and provides the catalog to the Deans, Program Directors and college administration staff. 
  • QAIE will post the updated catalogs and handbooks to the university portal and UD shared drives.
  • The Marketing Department will post the updated catalogs or handbooks to the University website.
  • The registrar notifies the student for any updates in the catalogs.
  • The DSS notifies the students for any updates in the handbooks.

 

H. Version control

  • For changes that may need to be made after the yearly publication date, Department Managers and Program Directors can submit a program modification request online: https://ud.ac.ae/portal/modification-request/. 

  • QAIE will oversee the version control process by maintaining a log of all changes made, including the nature of the modification and the date of revision.

  • Each version of the catalog or handbook will be assigned a unique version number, starting from 1.0 for the initial publication.