Classification of Courses
The level of instruction for all University of California courses which award academic credit is designated by a course number which falls within series defined as follows:
- 1-99. Undergraduate/Lower Division courses which are open to freshmen and sophomores.
- 100-199. Undergraduate/Upper division courses ordinarily open only to students who have completed at least one lower division course in the given subject, or four semesters of college work. Independent study courses at the undergraduate level are numbered 199.
- 200-299. Graduate courses ordinarily open only to students who have completed at least 12 semester upper division units basic to the subject matter of the course.
- 300-399. Professional courses for teachers offered in Departments and Schools of Education, and specially designed for teachers or prospective teachers.
- 400-499. Professional courses in fields other than Education.
- Individual study or research graduate courses numbered 500-599 if they may be used to satisfy minimum higher degree requirements, which are otherwise numbered 600-699.
UC Merced PACE further classifies courses which do not result in the award of University level academic credit, as follows:
- 700-799. Experimental, public service, public policy forums, test preparation courses, and courses which showcase research or developments in the professions or local industry, which are non-credit bearing and in which student work is not evaluated.
- 800-899. Advanced professional seminars, courses, and short-courses, in which student work is evaluated, which may lead to the award of a letter grade, PASS/FAIL grade, or Continuing Education Unit (CEU) in lieu of academic credit.
- 900-999. Courses for which University credit are not awarded, but in which student work is evaluated and grades are posted. College preparatory courses and English as a Second Language (ESL) courses are examples of the type to be classified in this series.
- 1000-1099. Professional or cultural enrichment seminars, courses and short-courses in which student work is not evaluated, but leads to the award of Continuing Education Unit (CEU) in lieu of academic credit.
UC Merced PACE typically presents courses in the undergraduate series numbered 1-199 (except independent studies), the 300 series, the 400 series, and the non-credit series ranging from 700-1099.
In addition to the numbering schema, the University uses letter designations preceding the "course number" to indicate Extension's agency in offering the course, and to indicate the Senate division offering academic approval, as follows:
- An "X" prefixed to the course number indicates that the course bears University-level academic credit, and that the course is offered through PACE. When the "X" appears alone, the PACE course has no counterpart in the UC Merced curriculum, although the content meets the standards for the course series. (Courses numbered 700 and above offered through PACE are not prefixed with an "X" as they bear no credit.)
- The "X", modified with a senate-division designator such as "M", indicates that the course bears University-level academic credit, that it is offered through PACE, and that the course is by Senate regulation considered "equivalent" to a course offered in the regular curriculum of the Senate Division which approved the course. ("M" indicates Merced. "B" indicates Berkeley, "SB" indicates Santa Barbara, etc.)