Academic Definitions, Policies & Standards

The Unit

For reporting purposes, New College recognizes students’ progress each term through a system in which 1 unit is equivalent to 4 semester credit hours. Further, 1 unit is equivalent to a full semester course, tutorial, or independent reading project that expects an average of at least 12 hours of work per week for the duration of the semester (typically, 3 hours in class and 9 hours of course-related work outside of class); or in the case of a unit assigned for an ISP, the same amount of work required for a full semester unit. For academic internships, 1 unit is equivalent to an expectation of at least 120 hours of effort over the course of the term.  A half-unit is equivalent to a course, tutorial, or independent reading project that expects an average of at least 12 hours of work per week for the duration of one module; or in the case of a module-equivalent, an average of at least 6 hours of work per week for the duration of the semester. For academic internships, a half-unit is equivalent to an expectation of at least 60 hours of effort over the course of the term.

With the exception of some portions of the fourth requirement, each of these requirements involves written evaluation.