Compliance

Office of Legal Affairs and Labor Relations

All compliance with city, state, and federal law as well as with University bylaws, policies, and collective bargaining agreements is overseen by the Baruch College Office of Legal Affairs and Labor Relations.

This page simply provides access to the information which is part of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education Verification of Compliance requirement.

Middle States Verification of Compliance

Baruch College is in compliance with federal and state regulations and accreditation agency standards and requirements as part of the “Verification of Compliance” requirement of our accreditation agency, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

For more information about MSCHE Verification of Compliance, please contact John Choonoo at John.Choonoo@baruch.cuny.edu.

1. Student Identity Verification in Distance and Correspondence Education

With appreciation to our colleagues in the CUNY School of Professional Studies, whose website https://sps.cuny.edu/about/policies/general-policies/verification-student-identity provides clarity on CUNY policies and informs this section.

The verification of student identity is essentially the confirmation of two conditions:

1) The right student has access to the correct course; and

2) that individual is indeed performing the work during the entire course duration.

Fully online courses at the City University of New York (CUNY) are set up and conducted to meet both conditions, and in ways that rival or surpass established practice in classroom-based courses.

CUNY provides a unified CUNY Login service that provides a set of account credentials (username and password) for many University-wide applications, including CUNY’s Learning Management System (LMS). Underpinning the credentials for these applications is an EMPLID, a unique CUNY identification number assigned to every student, faculty and staff member in CUNYfirst, the University’s Enterprise Resource Planning system.

All students participating in online instruction offered by any CUNY campus must log in to their course sites in the LMS using their CUNY login credentials. To ensure compliance with FERPA privacy rules and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) cybersecurity recommendations, strict access controls including full encryption are in place for all LMS access.

This secure login is a student’s only means of access to the LMS. Students are registered in their online courses through CUNYfirst, which imports registration information directly into the LMS without any action on the part of students, faculty, or staff beyond the regular registration process. Only duly registered students and the instructor of record appear on the roster of any online course. Furthermore, every action within a course site registers on the extensive tracking features of the LMS, which track each user in terms of time and duration of the action and part of the site involved, even if there is no posting by the student.

Supplementing these technical means of verifying student identity and activity are high degrees of student and faculty interaction that characterize online instruction in CUNY.

Both student orientation and faculty development stress the importance of “social presence” through self-presentation and transactional interaction, including:

the use of e-portfolios
the use of student photos and videos, especially in self-introductions, and e-portfolios
participation in learning communities
work in groups and teams
plagiarism checkers (to ensure work submitted by the student is the student’s own)
synchronous (“real-time”) conferencing (by both voice and video)
asynchronous conferencing (by both voice and video)

2. Transfer of Credit Policies and Articulation Agreements

Transfer of Credit Policies

See “what are transfer policies” on this page for Transfer Students.

Transfer Explorer

Get quick and easy access to understanding how all courses transfer across the CUNY system, in any direction, between any CUNY colleges. Use the Transfer Explorer tool to help plan your academic activity.

Some features of this tool include:

View Course Equivalencies: Follow the prompts to see how courses will transfer, in all directions. Use the search bar to quickly filter to find what you are looking for. The search feature works when typing a word, subject, or catalog number.
Bookmark this equivalency: Anyone can “bookmark” a given equivalency so that it can be easily shared. When you visit the bookmark page, you can generate a unique link and/or an email. You can remove the bookmarks to clear the way if you want to share a different set with a different person.
CUNY Course Catalog: You can easily search all courses across the University, for course descriptions, credit hours, etc.
Review and Validate Equivalencies: Faculty can log in to the system and “suggest” equivalencies. Then it will be routed through a workflow, and if the suggestion is agreed upon, the rule will be updated in CUNYfirst

Articulation agreements

Articulation Agreements are formal agreements between Baruch College and other academic institutions that create additional pathways for admitted students who may be interested in particular programs or degrees by establishing tailored transfer policies and course equivalencies.

Baruch College is proud to have articulation agreements with the following institutions:

Borough of Manhattan CC Associate in Arts Public Nonprofit Admin Articulation (Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs)
Hostos CC Associate of Arts Public Administration (Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs)
Hostos CC Associate of Applied Science Public Administration (Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs)
Kingsborough CC Associate of Science Speech Communication (Communication Studies)
Borough of Manhattan CC Associate in Arts Communications Articulation (Communication Studies)
LaGuardia CC Associate in Arts (Communication Studies)
Queens Borough CC Associate in Arts (Communication Studies)
Borough of Manhattan CC Associate in Arts (Psychology)

Developing and Modifying Academic Programs

The Office of Assessment, Accreditation, and Institutional Effectiveness provides consultation services and support to the Dean’s Office in each of our three schools, on development and modification of academic programs. Such actions require approval by CUNY, as well as the New York State Education Department (NYSED) and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE).

CUNY Academic Program Resources

Learn more about developing or modifying academic degree programs via the CUNY Academic Program Resources page.

For complete guidance on developing and modifying academic programs, including all relevant forms for NYSED, please see this page in the CUNY Faculty Handbook for the Creation of New Academic Programs.

Faculty members should work with their Dean’s Office on the initial application material. The Office of Assessment, Accreditation, and Institutional Effectiveness can provide consulting services prior to, during, and after completion of these materials.

New York State Education Department

Baruch College registers all degree programs with the New York State Education Department (NYSED). Please see the CUNY Academic Program resource section above, which has links to the most recent NYSED regulations and application forms.

Inventory of Registered Programs

For the most current listing of registered programs, please see the NYSED Inventory of Registered Programs. Select “Search for Programs by Institution” and press “Search,” and then select “330500 CUNY BARUCH COLLEGE” (the list is alphabetical).

NYSED Program Registration Process

The New York State Education Department must review, approve and register every curriculum (program) creditable toward a degree at a New York State college or university before the institution may offer the program.

Information about registering a new program or modifying an existing program is found at the NYSED Program Registration page.

Applying for Distance Education Format

Learn more about applying for NYSED approval to offer degree programs in New York via a distance education format for institutions in New York State, via this Review Process for Approval of Programs in Distance Education Format page.

Middle States Substantive Change

In accordance with federal regulations and the Middle States Commission’s Substantive Change Policy and Substantive Change Procedures, member institutions must submit a substantive change request to the Commission for approval prior to implementation for certain types of changes.

The Commission accepts substantive change requests six times a year according to the deadlines established in the Substantive Change Procedures.

Learn more at the Middle States Commission Substantive Change page.

Access the Substantive Change Guidelines, Policy, and Procedure at the Middle States Commission Policies, Procedures & Guidelines page.