Course Renumbering Project

Welcome to the Course Renumbering Project Page

Georgetown University has embarked on an initiative to renumber all courses on the Main Campus. Due to the growth in the number of programs and course offerings on the Main Campus, the time has come to implement a new course numbering system that can sustain the increasing number of courses across all programs and levels. As such, the Office of the University Registrar will spearhead the Course Renumbering project that will convert our current numbering system from 3-digits to 4-digits. 

Overview
Phases
Numbering System & Crosswalks
FAQs

Why is Georgetown renumbering all their courses?

  • The new numbering convention is needed to expand the range of numbers used for course numbering and add logic to the numbering of our courses, both undergraduate and graduate. The new numbering system will provide students, faculty, and staff better ease in understanding their program curriculum and help with academic advisement.
  • A logical and comprehensive numbering system will also aid institutional efforts in implementing a comprehensive curriculum management process on the Main Campus. Course numbering has an impact on academic scheduling, program development and curriculum planning, data standardization, as well as on our ability to use analytics in identifying and organizing our University infrastructure from a systems perspective.

Overview

The Course Renumbering project is a major revamp to the curriculum management process at Georgetown. It provides a completely new way in how we number our current and new courses, as well as categorize the type of courses according to the new numbering convention. Project outcomes will include:

  • Move all active courses from a 3-digit to 4-digit number, and inactivate all courses in the Course Catalog that are no longer being used by academic departments.
  • Provide a consistent and transparent numbering convention across all programs offered on the Main Campus,
  • Streamline our scheduling and curriculum management processes, while allowing for flexibility to meet specific school and departmental needs. Academic departments will be encouraged to use this opportunity to review their curricula in its entirety and restructure as needed.

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Phases

Pilot Phase

The Pilot Phase for the Course Renumbering Project is currently underway.  This phase includes the following academic departments who have volunteered to renumber their courses to 4-digits effective fall 2022:

  • Government
  • Global & Comparative Literature
  • Sociology

Course Renumbering documentation will be provided to department chairs and academic administrators to review and determine which courses to transition to the new 4-digit course numbering convention, or inactivate.

Course Renumbering testing will be ongoing throughout the two-year project. We will be collaborating with our partners in University Information Services to automate the course conversion and copy over all catalog and schedule information from the inactive 3-digit course to the newly created 4-digit courses in Banner, the University’s student information system. We will also test these changes in the degree audit in order to convert all old courses to their new 4-digit equivalents in myDegree.

Main Campus Phase

The Main Campus Phase will then include the remaining academic departments and follow the same process as the Pilot Phase. Departments in the Main Campus phase will renumber their courses to 4-digits effective fall 2023.

Course Renumbering Timeline

Pilot Phase Begins Spring 2021

  • Develop new 4-digit course numbering system – Completed
  • Engage with University leaders and stakeholders – Completed
  • Provide course renumbering guidelines and documentation to department chairs and academic administrators – Completed
  • Pilot departments create new course numbers – Completed
  • UIS & Registrar Testing – Completed
  • Rollover new 4-digit courses from pilot departments to fall 2022 course schedule – Completed

Main Campus Phase begins October 2021

  • Engage with remaining departments on the Course Numbering project – Completed
  • Departments will have until August 2022 to provide their new 4-digit course numbers – Completed
  • UIS & Registrar Testing – Starting in October 2022 and Ongoing
  • Rollover all remaining courses to 4-digit system for fall 2023 schedule and registration – TBA

Benefits of Course Numbering

Advisement & Registration will make it easier for students to have a better understanding of their program’s requirements and progression through their curriculum. The new numbering system will allow the University to accurately reflect course levels and standardize course sequencing across all Main Campus programs.

Curriculum Management & Planning offers faculty members the ability to plan for future expansion and innovation in their curriculum as their field of studies changes throughout time as they meet the current demands of the industry, and also provide more relevant topics our students are interested in learning from.

Streamline Reporting will be enhanced in order to facilitate the University’s ability to more accurately report on student enrollment in the type of courses we offer on the Main Campus. This will also allow us to track students in courses that offer any experiential learning component outside of DC which may require state authorization.

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New Numbering System and Crosswalks

New Course Numbering System

Click the following link to view Georgetown’s new course numbering system at the Main Campus:

Course Renumbering Crosswalks

As we finalize the new course numbers by department, we will provide the old course numbers and their new course equivalents at the following link:

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FAQs

The old numbering schema can no longer sustain the expansion of course offerings and levels on the Main Campus. This has made it difficult to maintain our course catalog and now requires the University to take action. By renumbering all courses to 4-digits we will be able to eliminate these issues, as well as provide a numbering framework that is clear and logical to the University community.

In essence, students will be registering for the same courses, just new numbers.

All academic programs on the Main Campus, including the School of Continuing Studies, will convert over to the 4-digit numbering system.

Programs at the Law Center and School of Medicine will not be required to participate in this project.

As departments finalize their new course numbers we will post them on the project page for the University community to see and identify how courses have shifted under the new numbering system.

No, course titles will not be changing in the renumbering project. All course names and titles will remain the same on the schedule, degree audit, and transcript.

The Office of the University Registrar and University Information Services are closely working together to ensure that once we convert all courses to their new 4-digit equivalent, the course schedule and degree audits will be updated at the same time. This will allow students to familiarize themselves with the new course numbers during advisement and registration.

Since some departments will be implementing their new numbers during the Pilot Phase, students will see most of the courses on their audit with 3-digits, while some courses will have their new 4-digit equivalents reflected on the audit.

It is important to note that any courses completed under the old 3-digit numbering system will remain as such on your audit and transcript.

Departments in the Pilot Phase will implement their new 4-digit course numbers starting in the fall 2022 semester. As of now these departments include:

Government

Global & Comparative Literature

Sociology

All other programs on the Main Campus will convert to their 4-digit course numbers in fall 2023.

If you have taken any classes prior to the fall 2022 term, your Georgetown transcript will only show courses under the old 3-digit numbering system. Any classes taken during the fall 2022 and forward will show the 4-digit numbering system as departments start to convert over.

Please reach out to Annamarie Bianco for questions.

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