International and Cultural Diversity is a 6-credit requirement of the University Core Curriculum. Study abroad courses that are either (1) Texas A&M-faculty-led permanent courses, (2) courses offered through another institution that have prior approval by the student's college, or (3) Reciprocal Educational Exchange Programs (REEP) are coded as study abroad in SIMS and may be used to meet this requirement. This was approved in 2003 by the Faculty Senate and President.

Footnote 3 on page 20 of the 2005-2006 Undergraduate Catalog states that individual 489 courses may be approved to meet the requirements of the Core Curriculum. Although originally 489 courses were not allowed to be used in the University Core Curriculum, FS 20.88 Resolution on 489 Courses was signed by President Gates January 26, 2004. This allows 489 courses that have been reviewed by the specified deadlines and approved by the Core Curriculum Council to be used to meet core curriculum requirements. Approval must be obtained each time the course is offered.

Many courses that are developed specifically for a site in another country are approved for study abroad at Texas A&M. These are often 489 courses, which may or may not become permanent courses. The process by which such a 489 course can be approved by the University Core Curriculum Council was delineated by the Core Curriculum Council and the Study Abroad Program Policy Committee (SAPPC) and includes the following steps:

1. The 489 course request form with a syllabus is completed by the faculty member and approved by the department head and dean of the college.
2. The approved 489 course request form is included in the proposal for approval as a study abroad course and submitted to the Study Abroad Program Policy Committee by the published deadlines:
   • Summer program–spring semester of previous academic year, e.g., April 2006 for Summer 2007
   • Fall program–spring semester of previous academic year, e.g., April 2005 for Fall 2006
   • Spring program–fall semester of previous academic year, e.g., October 2005 for Spring 2007
3. SAPPC reviews the proposal at the college and then the university level and makes a decision on approval of the proposal by the end of that semester.
4. The faculty member is notified by the Chair of SAPPC of the decision of the committee.
5. The faculty member submits the course requesting Core Curriculum approval for the 489 course to meet the International and Cultural Diversity requirement by the deadline of the Core Curriculum Council—August 1 for spring courses and January 15 for summer and fall courses. The special topics 489 course request form includes information and is available here.

The process will allow these courses to be used to meet the University Core Curriculum requirement for International and Cultural Diversity.