University of Arkansas Students Have New Degree Planning and Audit Tool

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A new degree audit tool is now available to all University of Arkansas undergraduates, allowing them to track their academic progress from their first class to graduation. 

“This is a very important tool for our students to have and will contribute to our ongoing mission of retaining and graduating as many students as possible,” said Ashok Saxena, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. “We have always had advising reports, but this new audit will allow students to have a clear sense of what they need to do every step of the way in order to graduate.”

The new audit will assist students as they plan their course schedules each semester, making sure that they continue to make progress toward a degree.  Advisors and students will have access to the same information. Exceptions and substitutions will be made directly in the degree audit and will be immediately visible to students and advisors. 

“We are very excited to release this new, visually appealing, easy to use degree audit,” said Suzanne McCray, vice provost for enrollment services. “The Registrar’s Office has done an excellent job in leading the effort to provide a multi-faceted tool that is helpful to students, to advisors, and to colleges.”

The new system will automate many time-consuming processes for advisers and for administrators who check to make sure students have met all the requirements for graduation.

“For those advisers or administrators with access, making substitutions in the degree audit is a matter of dropping and dragging a course or clicking on a link. It’s fast, easy, and, most importantly, immediately visible,” said Dave Dawson, associate vice provost for enrollment services and registrar.

The new degree audit has been a major project for the Office of the Registrar for the last 18 months and has involved intensive collaboration with all the undergraduate colleges. 

“This new audit has brought about major procedural changes both for our office and for the colleges,” Dawson said. “A very collaborative effort has made this happen. The colleges have been key. UITS and staff in our office have also logged countless hours to implement this new audit, and I am delighted with the results. Maintenance of the degree audits will be constant and ongoing. Many enhancements are in the works now and future ones will be considered as feedback from users becomes available.” 

Undergraduates can access the degree audit link from their Student Center page in the student information system. Detailed instructions for students are available here.  Advisors can access a student’s degree audit from the student center tab, or the academics tab, in their Advisor Center. Detailed instructions for advisers are available here.