(a)The Board has developed the Supply/Demand Pathway
(SDP) as a particular way to address anticipated large-scale
enrollment demand in a specified region. The SDP [Supply/Demand
Pathway] shall be used as the model to address higher education
needs in areas without ready geographic access to existing public
higher education institutions. The general principles set forth in §5.76
of this title (relating to General Principals for Off-Campus Educational
Units) are even more significant in regard to the larger scale efforts
designated as SDP [Supply/Demand Pathway] initiatives.
(b)An off-campus educational unit is on the "Pathway"
when it is awarded that designation by the Board.
(c)The SDP [supply/demand pathway]
consists of three categories:
(1)Category A. Institutions temporarily test the market
both in terms of demand and staying power by providing off-campus
courses and/or programs by one or more institutions. Should demand
decrease or not materialize, courses and programs can be discontinued
and resources moved to areas of greater demand.
(2)Category B. As demand increases, offerings may
be organized through a multi-institution teaching center or as a university
system center as a Pathway Education Center (PEC). A group
of institutions may request that the Board authorize the establishment
of a MITC. Alternatively, a university system may request that the
Board authorize the establishment of a university system center. In
either case, a lead institution shall be designated to provide leadership
for the center and facilitate the provision of programs and resources
from other institutions.
(3)Category C. After an entity in Category B has attained
a full-time equivalent upper-level and graduate enrollment of 3,500
for one fall semester, the parent institution(s) and Board(s) of Regents
may request that the Board review the status of the center and recommend
that the Legislature reclassify the unit as an upper-level general
academic institution--a university. The 3,500 FTSE standard approximates
the headcount enrollment included in the current university funding
formula as the minimum size needed to achieve economies of scale.
(d)Counting. The following general criteria and standards
will be used to determine enrollments applicable to the SDP [
Supply/Demand Pathway] thresholds.
(1)Upper-division and graduate semester credit hours
generated in academic courses delivered by the parent universities
or by other institutions to on-site students at a PEC [Pathway
Education Center (PEC)] shall be counted towards the relevant
SDP [Supply/Demand Pathway (SDP)] threshold.
(2)Upper-division and graduate semester credit hours
generated in academic courses delivered electronically to students
on-site at a PEC [Pathway Education Center]
shall be counted towards the SDP threshold. For interactive video
courses that originate at a PEC, only students taking the course at
the PEC shall be counted.
(3)(No change.)
(4)Lower-division semester credit hours generated
in academic courses offered at PECs shall not be counted towards the
thresholds except when:
(A) - (C)(No change.)
(D)the [Coordinating] Board has granted
permission to teach the courses at the PEC.
(5) - (6)(No change.)
The agency certifies that legal counsel
has
reviewed the proposal and found it to be within the state agency's
legal authority to adopt.
Filed with the Office
of the Secretary of State on August 1, 2016
TRD-201603793 Bill Franz
General Counsel
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
Earliest possible date of adoption: September 11, 2016
For further information, please call: (512) 427-6114
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