By: Branch, Guillen, Lozano H.B. No. 3025
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to measures to facilitate the transfer of students within
the public higher education system and the timely graduation of
students from public institutions of higher education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 61.05135 to read as follows:
Sec. 61.05135. STATEWIDE TRANSFER COMPACTS. (a) In this
section:
(1) "Career school or college" has the meaning
assigned by Section 132.001.
(2) "Qualified degree-granting career school or
college" means a career school or college determined by the board
under Subsection (c) to be qualified to participate in a statewide
transfer compact developed under this section.
(b) The board, in collaboration with institutions of higher
education, shall develop transfer compacts that identify learning
objectives for coursework in major degree fields that are
acceptable across institutions offering coursework or degrees in
those fields in an effort to facilitate the universal articulation
of specific courses completed at public junior colleges, public
state colleges, public technical institutes, general academic
teaching institutions, and qualified degree-granting career
schools or colleges and transferred to general academic teaching
institutions.
(c) A career school or college may apply to the board to
participate in a statewide transfer compact developed under this
section. On application by a career school or college, the board
shall review the school's or college's curriculum for the purpose of
determining whether the school or college is qualified to
participate in the compact. The board may determine that the career
school or college is qualified to participate in the compact only if
the board finds that the school or college:
(1) is authorized to grant degrees in this state;
(2) has adopted and implemented a core curriculum
described by Section 61.822, applying the same assumptions and
defining characteristics applicable to institutions of higher
education; and
(3) has appropriately identified for each of its core
curriculum courses the equivalent course number under the common
course numbering system approved by the board under Section 61.832.
(d) An institution of higher education or qualified
degree-granting career school or college shall comply with any
applicable compact under Subsection (b) entered into by the
institution, school, or college and the board.
(e) A general academic teaching institution designated as a
research institution under the board's higher education
accountability system that elects not to participate in an
applicable transfer compact developed under this section shall:
(1) publish on the institution's website for use by
prospective undergraduate students a detailed description,
developed by the institution's faculty, of the learning objectives,
content, and prior knowledge requirements for at least 12 courses
for which credit is frequently transferred to the institution from
lower-division institutions of higher education; and
(2) establish honors articulation agreements with at
least two public junior colleges designed to strengthen the
lower-division course offerings of those public junior colleges and
to improve the persistence and success rates of students who
transfer to the institution from public junior colleges.
SECTION 2. Section 61.0515(a), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) To earn a baccalaureate degree, a student may not be
required by a general academic teaching institution to complete
more than the minimum number of semester credit hours required for
the degree by the institution's board-recognized accrediting
agency [Southern Association of Colleges and Schools or its
successor] unless academic accreditation or professional licensure
requirements require the [the institution determines that there is
a compelling academic reason for requiring] completion of
additional semester credit hours for the degree.
SECTION 3. Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 61.05151 to read as follows:
Sec. 61.05151. SEMESTER CREDIT HOURS REQUIRED FOR ASSOCIATE
DEGREE. (a) To earn an associate degree, a student may not be
required by an institution of higher education to complete more
than the minimum number of semester credit hours required for the
degree by the institution's board-recognized accrediting agency
unless academic accreditation or professional licensure
requirements require the completion of additional semester credit
hours for the degree.
(b) The board may review one or more of an institution's
associate degree programs to ensure compliance with this section.
(c) Subsection (a) does not apply to an associate degree
awarded by an institution to a student enrolled in the institution
before the 2013 fall semester.
SECTION 4. Section 61.052, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) to
read as follows:
(a) Each governing board shall submit to the board once each
year on dates designated by the board a comprehensive list by
department, division, and school of all courses, together with a
description of content, scope, and prerequisites of all these
courses, that will be offered by each institution under the
supervision of that governing board during the following academic
year. The list for each institution must also specifically
identify any course included in the common course numbering system
under Section 61.832 that has been added to or removed from the
institution's list for the current academic year, and the board
shall distribute that information as necessary to accomplish the
purposes of Section 61.832.
(b) After the comprehensive list of courses is submitted by
a governing board under Subsection (a) [of this section], the
governing board shall submit on dates designated by the board any
changes in the comprehensive list of courses to be offered,
including any changes relating to offering a course included in the
common course numbering system.
(b-1) Each governing board must certify at the time of
submission under Subsection (a) that the institution does not:
(1) prohibit the acceptance of transfer credit based
solely on the accreditation of the sending institution; or
(2) include language in any materials published by the
institution, whether in printed or electronic form, suggesting that
such a prohibition exists.
SECTION 5. Section 61.822, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (f) to read as
follows:
(a) The board, with the assistance of advisory committees
composed of representatives of institutions of higher education,
shall develop a recommended core curriculum of at least 42 semester
credit hours, including a statement of the content, component
areas, and objectives of the core curriculum. At least a majority
of the members of any advisory committee named under this section
shall be administrators or faculty members of an institution of
higher education. An institution shall consult with the faculty of
the institution before nominating or recommending a person to the
board as the institution's representative on an advisory committee.
(f) In an effort to facilitate the transfer of major-related
coursework beyond the general education core curriculum, the board,
with the assistance of the advisory committees described by
Subsection (a), shall:
(1) develop a course-specific core curriculum for each
broad academic discipline within the general core curriculum; and
(2) identify those degree programs offered at
institutions of higher education to which the course-specific core
curriculum, if successfully completed by a student at another
institution of higher education or at a qualified degree-granting
career school or college, as defined by Section 61.05135, is fully
transferrable.
SECTION 6. Section 61.832, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
(e) A student who transfers from one institution of higher
education to another shall receive academic credit from the
receiving institution for each course that the student has
successfully completed that serves as an equivalent course under
the common course numbering system at the institution from which
the student transfers.
SECTION 7. Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 51.9685 to read as follows:
Sec. 51.9685. REQUIRED FILING OF DEGREE PLAN. (a) In this
section:
(1) "Degree plan" means a statement of the course of
study requirements that an undergraduate student at an institution
of higher education must complete in order to be awarded an
associate or bachelor's degree from the institution, established
through collaboration between the student and an academic advisor
for the student's degree program and approved by the academic
advisor.
(2) "Institution of higher education" has the meaning
assigned by Section 61.003.
(b) Except as otherwise provided by Subsection (c), each
student enrolled in an associate or bachelor's degree program at an
institution of higher education shall file a degree plan with the
institution not later than the semester or term immediately
following the semester or term in which the student earned a
cumulative total of 45 or more semester credit hours for coursework
successfully completed by the student, including transfer courses,
international baccalaureate courses, dual credit courses, and any
other course for which the institution the student attends has
awarded the student college course credit, including by
examination.
(c) A student to whom this section applies who begins the
student's first semester or term at an institution of higher
education with 45
or more semester credit hours of course credit for
courses described by Subsection (b) shall file a degree plan with
the institution during the student's first semester at the
institution.
(d) A student to whom this section applies may not register
for any course offered by the institution of higher education for a
semester or term succeeding the semester or term in which the
student is required to file a degree plan under this section unless
the student has filed a degree plan with the institution.
(e) After filing a degree plan with an institution of higher
education as required by this section, a student to whom this
section applies may not change the student's degree plan or enroll
in a course that is not included in the student's degree plan unless
the student has consulted with the student's academic advisor and
satisfied any applicable prerequisite or other requirement imposed
by the institution regarding that degree plan change or course
enrollment, as applicable.
(f) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, in
consultation with institutions of higher education, may adopt rules
as necessary for the administration of this section.
SECTION 8. The change in law made by this Act to Section
61.0515(a), Education Code, applies beginning with undergraduate
students who initially enroll in a general academic teaching
institution for the 2013 fall semester.
SECTION 9. The changes in law made by this Act to Section
61.052, Education Code, apply to the comprehensive lists of courses
offered by public institutions of higher education beginning with
lists required to be submitted for the 2012-2013 academic year.
SECTION 10. Not later than May 31, 2012, the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board shall develop core curricula for broad
academic disciplines included within the general core curriculum
that conform to the requirements of Section 61.822, Education Code,
as amended by this Act.
SECTION 11. Section 61.832(e), Education Code, as added by
this Act, applies beginning with the 2011 fall semester.
SECTION 12. Section 51.9685, Education Code, as added by
this Act, applies beginning with undergraduate students who
initially enroll in a general academic teaching institution for the
2011 fall semester.
SECTION 13. 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, 2011.