There are two ways to create requirements that can be edited in one place, but shared in multiple places. Shared Requirements are manually attached to audits during audit creation. Universal Requirements are automatically attached to a students plan. Universal Requirements differ from Shared Requirements in the sense that a Universal Requirement acts as a separate program that automatically attaches to a student - a Shared Requirement needs to be added into a program before it will appear in a student's profile.
Despite the name of "universal" requirement, the scope of a Universal Requirement can be as small as one student or program, or can apply to all students at the institution. We discuss defining the scope of a Universal Requirement in our article on Audit Scope and Application to Students.
Universal Requirements are commonly used for:
- General Education Requirements
- Degree checks, such as total units, GPA, or other commonly shared requirements for students
Institutions will commonly opt for a Universal Requirement over a Shared Requirement if:
- There are complicated double counting rules between the requirements in the Universal Requirement and students' other programs.
- You have students that you want to complete requirements that are not attached to another program - for instance, if you have students that enter as "undeclared" with no major, a Universal Requirement can attach to students even if they don't have another program in your SIS.
- You want the requirements to attach to students without having to insert them into another audit.
To create a Universal Requirement, navigate to the Programs tab, and then click ‘Create New’ and 'Universal Requirement’. Note that this option only exists for Stellic superadmins as the ability to create a program that can attach to all students is a powerful permission.
You'll be able to choose which students the Universal Requirement will apply to based on criteria such as program, department, or school. You can find more details about eligible scope criteria in our article on universal requirement scoping. Remember that any student that falls under the selected criteria will automatically have this requirement applied to their plan.
Universal Requirements are often used to make sure that students have completed residency requirements, or overall units total requirements. This category can also be used for average GPA requirements, or anything that applies to all students in a certain group.
After selecting the scope, you'll build out the various categories and constraints just like any other requirement in audit building.