| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to authorization by the Texas Higher Education |
|
|
Coordinating Board to develop and implement transfer policy for |
|
|
lower division courses among Texas public institutions of higher |
|
|
education. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 61.822, Education Code is amended by |
|
|
amending Subsections (a), (a-1), (b), and (c) and adding |
|
|
Subsections (a-2), (f) and (g) to read as follows: |
|
|
(a) The board shall encourage develop and implement policy |
|
|
regarding the transferability of lower division course credit among |
|
|
institutions of higher education. |
|
|
(a-1) 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 39 |
|
|
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 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. |
|
|
(a-2) The 39 semester credit hour core curriculum provides |
|
|
the knowledge and academic competencies foundational for all future |
|
|
learning. Courses in the core curriculum shall be general education |
|
|
courses, broad in scope, and shall not narrowly focus on knowledge |
|
|
and competencies specific to a particular occupation or profession. |
|
|
(b) Each institution of higher education shall adopt a core |
|
|
curriculum of no less than 39 semester credit hours, including |
|
|
specific courses comprising the curriculum. The core curriculum |
|
|
shall be lower division courses, consistent with the common course |
|
|
numbering system, and approved by the board according to the |
|
|
statement, recommendations, and rules issued by the board. An
|
|
|
institution may have a core curriculum of other than semester
|
|
|
credit hours only if approved by the board.
|
|
|
(c) If a student successfully completes the 39 42-hour core |
|
|
curriculum at an institution of higher education, that block of |
|
|
courses may be transferred to any other institution of higher |
|
|
education and must be substituted for the receiving institution's |
|
|
core curriculum. A student shall receive academic credit for each |
|
|
of the courses transferred and may not be required to take |
|
|
additional core curriculum courses at the receiving institution |
|
|
unless the board has approved a larger core curriculum at the |
|
|
institution. |
|
|
(f) The Coordinating Board will annually identify in a |
|
|
database determined by the Coordinating Board the state's top 25 |
|
|
majors among transfer students. General academic teaching |
|
|
institutions will identify for each of the majors described above |
|
|
the following: |
|
|
(1) Required lower-division courses for which |
|
|
equivalencies exist in the Academic Course Guide Manual (ACGM). |
|
|
(2) Required courses in the top 25 majors that would |
|
|
satisfy Core Curriculum requirements at that institution. |
|
|
(3) Required lower-division courses that are not in |
|
|
the ACGM for the top 25 majors. |
|
|
(g) Courses identified shall be applied to the appropriate |
|
|
major for a time period equal to the period students may utilize any |
|
|
given catalog to graduate at a receiving institution. For this |
|
|
purpose the time period would start when a student first entered |
|
|
college, but no more than three years after first entering college. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 61.823, Education Code, is amended by |
|
|
adding Subsection (g) to read as follows: |
|
|
(g) A public junior college and a technical institute as |
|
|
described in 61.003 must adopt board approved fields of study for |
|
|
any disciplines where they have similar programs. |
|
|
SECTION 3. Section 51.9685, Education Code, is amended by |
|
|
amending Subsections (b) and (c) to read as follows: |
|
|
(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 end of the first second regular |
|
|
semester after initially enrolling, or term immediately following |
|
|
the semester or term in which the student earned a cumulative total
|
|
|
of 45 or more has accumulated a total of 15 semester credit hours |
|
|
and immediately following the term in which a student has |
|
|
accumulated 30 semester credit hours for coursework attempted |
|
|
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 |
|
|
course credit awarded 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 30 45 or more semester credit hours of course credit |
|
|
for courses described by Subsection (b) shall file a degree plan |
|
|
with the institution not later than the end of the student's first |
|
|
second regular semester or term at the institution. |
|
|
SECTION 4. Section 61.059, Education Code, is amended by |
|
|
amending Subsection (p) by adding paragraph (4) to read as follows: |
|
|
(p) In its instruction and operations formula applicable to |
|
|
an institution of higher education, the board may not include any |
|
|
semester credit hours earned for dual course credit by a high school |
|
|
student for high school and college credit at the institution |
|
|
unless those credit hours are earned through any of the following: |
|
|
(1) a course in the core curriculum of the institution |
|
|
providing course credit; |
|
|
(2) a career and technical education course that |
|
|
applies to any certificate or associate 's degree offered by the |
|
|
institution providing course credit; or |
|
|
(3) a foreign language course. |
|
|
(4) a course from a Board approved Field of Study or |
|
|
Programs of Study offered by the institution providing course |
|
|
credit. |
|
|
SECTION 5. Section 61.832, Education code is amended by |
|
|
adding Subsection (e) to read as follows: |
|
|
(e) the Board is authorized to monitor the use of the Texas |
|
|
Common Course Numbering System by general academic teaching |
|
|
institutions to ascertain benefits and problems and provide a |
|
|
report for implementation and a timeline for full compliance with |
|
|
statute. |
|
|
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017. |