By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 1249
(In the Senate - Filed March 2, 2009; March 17, 2009, read
first time and referred to Committee on Higher Education;
April 20, 2009, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; April 20, 2009,
sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1249 By: Duncan
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the creation of a pilot program to improve curricula
alignment between junior colleges and general academic teaching
institutions for engineering degree programs.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 61.821, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subdivision (1) and adding Subdivision (4) to read as
follows:
(1) "Core curriculum" means the curriculum in liberal
arts, humanities, and sciences and political, social, and cultural
history that all undergraduate students of an institution of higher
education are required to complete before receiving a bachelor's
[an academic undergraduate] degree.
(4) "Statewide articulated transfer curricula" means,
with respect to engineering disciplines, sets of courses, up to the
level of an associate's degree, that will satisfy the
lower-division requirements for bachelor's degrees in specific
engineering disciplines, including biomedical, chemical, civil,
computer, electrical, environmental, industrial, mechanical,
nuclear, and petroleum engineering at a general academic teaching
institution.
SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 61.822, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(b) Each institution of higher education shall adopt a core
curriculum of no less than 42 semester credit hours, including
specific courses comprising the curriculum. The core curriculum
shall be consistent with the common course numbering system
approved by the board and with the statement, recommendations, and
rules issued by the board. The minimum core curriculum requirement
for all academic associate's degrees shall be 42 semester credit
hours, except for programs designated under board-approved field of
study curricula or statewide articulated transfer curricula. An
institution may have a core curriculum of other than 42 semester
credit hours only if approved by the board.
SECTION 3. Subchapter S, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 61.833 to read as follows:
Sec. 61.833. STATEWIDE ARTICULATED TRANSFER CURRICULA FOR
ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES; PILOT PROGRAM. (a) The board shall
establish a pilot program to develop and assess methods to increase
the number of students earning a baccalaureate degree in
engineering. The program shall:
(1) develop levels of academic attainment, including,
if feasible, standard associate's degrees:
(A) for specific engineering disciplines,
including biomedical, chemical, civil, computer, electrical,
environmental, industrial, mechanical, nuclear, and petroleum
engineering; or
(B) that provide a foundation in any engineering
discipline;
(2) develop a well-defined process for transitioning
students who earn an associate's degree or other level of academic
attainment in an engineering discipline into an accredited
engineering degree program at a four-year institution; and
(3) establish methods to provide orientation and
advising to support students in choosing an engineering discipline
and in completing a baccalaureate degree in engineering.
(b) Not later than January 1, 2011, the board, with the
assistance of advisory committees equitably composed of
representatives of institutions of higher education, shall develop
statewide articulated transfer curricula for the purpose of
developing levels of academic attainment, including, if feasible,
standard associate's degrees, for engineering disciplines. Each
university system or independent institution of higher education
that offers a degree program for which a statewide articulated
transfer curriculum is proposed may nominate an individual to
participate on the advisory committee for that particular
engineering curriculum.
(c) The statewide articulated transfer curricula shall:
(1) have the same rigor and content as the equivalent
course work at an engineering program accredited by ABET,
Incorporated, that is offered at a general academic teaching
institution;
(2) minimize the time and course work required to
complete a baccalaureate degree in engineering; and
(3) be consistent with:
(A) the common course numbering system approved
by the board; and
(B) the recommendations and rules of the board.
(d) Each institution of higher education that offers an
undergraduate degree program in an engineering discipline may
participate in the pilot program by adopting the statewide
articulated transfer curriculum for that discipline.
(e) A student who meets institutional and engineering
degree program admission requirements and successfully completes
the statewide articulated transfer curriculum for an engineering
discipline developed by the board under the pilot program:
(1) may transfer the credit hours earned under that
curriculum and apply those credit hours to a participating
four-year institution's engineering degree program in a discipline
for which the curriculum was developed; and
(2) shall receive full academic credit toward that
engineering degree program for the credit hours transferred.
(f) A student who meets institutional and degree program
admission requirements and who transfers from one institution of
higher education to another without completing the statewide
articulated transfer curriculum developed by the board for that
engineering discipline shall receive full academic credit from a
participating institution for each of the courses that the student
has successfully completed in the statewide articulated transfer
curriculum. Following receipt of credit for each of those courses,
the student shall be required to satisfy any additional course
requirements in the degree program of the receiving institution.
(g) The board, with the assistance of advisory committees
established under this section, shall periodically evaluate
whether the statewide articulated transfer curricula for
engineering disciplines:
(1) effectively facilitate the transition of junior
college students and students of other two-year institutions of
higher education into accredited four-year engineering degree
programs; and
(2) have contributed to increasing the number of
transfer students who successfully complete baccalaureate degree
programs in engineering.
(h) Not later than January 1, 2011, the board shall report
to the legislature regarding the board's progress in developing and
evaluating statewide articulated transfer curricula for
engineering disciplines required by this section.
(i) This section expires January 1, 2017.
SECTION 4. This Act does not make an appropriation. A
provision in this Act that creates a new governmental program,
creates a new entitlement, or imposes a new duty on a governmental
entity is not mandatory during a fiscal period for which the
legislature has not made a specific appropriation to implement the
provision.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
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