Residency Guidelines

For degrees that do not meet the one-year residency requirement

Formal approval

All new degrees and substantial changes to existing degrees must be approved by the Corporation. Residence at the University has long been an important component of a Harvard education and is expected to remain the norm for most degree programs. The Harvard University Statutes currently state that “Ordinarily, a residence at the University of at least one year spent in full-time study at the full tuition rate is required for each degree, except in the case of candidates for the degree of Associate of Arts or Bachelor of Arts in Extension Studies.”

Proposed degree programs that do not comply with the one-year residency requirement should be reviewed by the Provost’s Office prior to consideration by the Corporation. In most cases, an ad hoc faculty committee will review the proposal and advise the Provost. Committee membership will be drawn from the several faculties.

Schools seeking to develop a proposal for a new and/or online degree program should contact the Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning for guidance on the review and approval process.

Principles

Residential programs remain the gold standard in higher education when one considers the total student experience. While all academic programs have critical academic goals that require and measure tangible progress toward a degree (e.g. demonstrable domain knowledge, analytical ability, reasoning, various forms of expression and critical thinking), many argue that the impact of their programs is better described in terms of personal growth, professional transformation, and intellectual socialization. Fulfilling credit requirements with acceptable grades alone does not adequately capture these other essential dimensions. These “soft” goals are largely a by-product of the residential experience; many of the most valuable student experiences are unplanned and are a function of being in a select peer group in an intellectual community.
The benefits of being in-residence do not accrue uniformly to all types of academic programs or to all phases of one’s educational experience. For example, while all might argue that residence is essential today for what all desire and expect of Harvard College, it may not be essential--in fact it may be undesirable--for a mid-career program in clinical effectiveness where most of the students are junior faculty at other academic medical centers. Therefore, one can vigorously defend a 100% residency mandate in certain academic programs while being quite open to hybrid delivery models for others.

Definitions

Types of degree programs are defined as follows:

Traditional residential degree programs are programs that meet the one-year residency requirement.
Alternative residential degree programs are 100% residential but are based on alternative residential experiences (e.g. evenings, weekends, summer or winter session).
Hybrid degree programs involve residential, off-site, and online learning components where the non-residential activities are officially credited toward degree requirements (e.g. applied research projects at a host institution, field study, online student sections, video-on-demand of lectures and related problems sets, class sessions based on video conferencing).
Online programs are conducted entirely online or do not require residential participation to meet degree requirements.

Guidelines for review and approval process

Academic review of new degree programs or change of criteria in existing degree programs within each school should occur in the same manner as traditional academic programs (i.e. no separate review and approval process). These programs require final approval by the President and Fellows of Harvard College (i.e. the Corporation).

Proposed alternative residential, hybrid, and online degree programs that do not follow the one-year residency requirement should be reviewed and approved on a case-by-case basis by an ad hoc review process under the leadership of the Provost following academic review within each school. Final approval is required by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.

New degree programs should be reviewed on a 3- and 5-year basis for continuation. Applied field projects (and the like) should be conducted under the direct supervision of Harvard faculty.

Programmatic guidelines for degree programs

No change in the residency requirement will be allowed for undergraduate (College) or advanced research degrees (e.g. Ph.D., DBA, D.Ed., D.Sc.) without consultation with the Provost’s office and approval of the Corporation.

All degree programs should be led by the appropriate full-time faculty and have a similar mix of teaching faculty as current degree programs (i.e. no separate class of faculty for new programs).

Alternative residential, hybrid, and online degree programs should typically be designed for mid-career or second professional degree students for whom it would be difficult to attend a fully residential program. These candidates – while more advanced in their careers than a typical residential degree student – should represent the same high level of academic excellence that we expect for Harvard University degree candidates, with expectations that they will pass robust and selective admissions processes, navigate challenging curricula and capstone projects, and graduate at similar rates to the residential degree programs.

Proposed programs must present a plan for financial stability including how administrative processes will accommodate shifting faculty and student schedules.