• Catalog Level
• Section Level
• Roles and Responsibilities

The following guidelines are associated with student groups that are classified as being used either at the catalog- or section-level. Catalog-level requisites detail and enforce the academic preparation students need to be successful in a course, where section-level requisites allow for enrollment management. Student groups may only be used in catalog-level or section-level requisites when they meet the guidelines below and cannot be used to circumvent enforcing the appropriate academic preparation required for being successful.

Catalog Level

Catalog-level requisites indicate the academic preparation necessary to be successful in a course. Typically, this includes existing UW-Madison courses, placement exam scores, and/or student level, but in a few limited instances student groups may be used. Student groups set at the catalog-level mean any student added to the specific group included in the requisite will be able to enroll in any section of the course. Student groups approved to be used at the catalog-level may not be used for any purpose other than the original, approved intention and are reviewed every five (5) years.

Student Groups approved for use at the Catalog Level

Student Groups not published in the public facing requisite

Section Level

With the exception of course-level permissions for large service courses detailed above, enrollment-control requisites using student groups should be at the section level. Whereas catalog requisites focus on academic preparation and require academic-governance oversight, section-level requisites serve operational and programmatic needs and do not require University Curriculum Committee approval. For example, at the start of enrollment a department may apply a section-level requisite to limit a popular upper-level undergraduate course to declared majors to ensure that these students can make timely degree progress and may be changed during the enrollment process if the instructor wants to open enrollment. In some cases, these enrollment controls cannot be accomplished with existing SIS values and a student group may be appropriate. 

Student groups utilized in section-level enrollment management do not need to be approved by DAPIR. Any student group utilized at the section-level needs to be flagged as usable (not all student groups may be used in requisites/enrollment management).

Consult with your school/college contact if you feel a student group approved for use at the section level should be applied at the catalog-level. The school/college contact will then consult with DAPIR [lumen@provost.wisc.edu].

Roles and Responsibilities

If a department would like to create a student group for use in requisites, the should first consult with their school/college academic planner or curriculum contact. The school/college curriculum contact and/or department will then email the Course Specialist with the following information:

• Requested name of student group (4-digit student group ID, student group long description, and student group short description)
• Names of staff authorized to place/delete the student group (SIS Authorization Form and training will be required if user doesn’t currently have access to add student groups)
• Will the student group be used as an enrollment requisite? For example, only students in this student group will be allowed to enroll in a specific section of a class.
• Should the student group be visible in systems like Advising Gateway?
  Will you want assistance with batch loading of the students to the student group on a regular basis? To qualify, the batch request will need to be for 50+ students and will require a spreadsheet with EMPL IDs and effective date each time you need a batch upload.
• Should the student group be automatically purged at regular intervals? For example, the student group with first-year, first-term students is regularly purged each spring. 

The Course Specialist will confirm the requested name of student group or propose an alternative based on naming availability.

For catalog-level requisites, the Course Specialist will consult with Data, Academic Planning and Institutional Research (DAPIR) to see if creating a student group fits the criteria and is allowable by policy. If the student group meets an acceptable use, the department should then follow the typical procedures for changing a course requisite, which is to submit a course change proposal. With the first course proposal that involves the new proposed student group, the proposer should also include the following information:

• What is the purpose of the group/why is a student group needed?
• Which students qualify to be added in the student group?
• Who manages the student group?

Once the UCC approves the course proposal, the Student Enterprise Applications (SEA) team in the RO will create the student group and the Course Specialist will add the student group to the existing requisite. The Student Services Specialist in the RO will provide authorized staff training as needed.

For section-level requisites, SEA will create the student group. The Student Services Specialist will provide authorized staff training as needed. The Course Specialist will send an FYI email to DAPIR. The Curricular Specialist in the RO will add the student group to requisites.

For student groups that will not be used in requisites, no additional authorization is needed. SEA will create the student group and the Student Services Specialist will provide authorized staff training as needed.