(a)Universities and health-related institutions are
encouraged to develop upper-division and graduate certificate programs
of less than degree length to meet the needs of students and the workforce.
These rules are intended to provide a streamlined process for approval
of those programs.
(b)Certificate programs for which no academic credit
is granted are exempt from the provisions of this section.
(c)Certificate programs for which academic credit
is granted at universities and health-related institutions must meet
the following criteria:
(1)They must meet identified workforce needs or provide
the student with skills and/or knowledge that shall be useful for
their lives or careers.
(2)They must be consistent with the standards of the
Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and
Schools.
(3)They must meet the standards of all relevant state
agencies or licensing bodies which have oversight over the certificate
program or graduate.
(4)Adequate financing must be available to cover all
new costs to the institution five years after the implementation of
the program.
(d)The following certificate programs do not require
Board approval or notification:
(1)certificate programs for which no collegiate academic
credit is given,
(2)certificate programs in areas and at levels authorized
by the Program Inventory [table of programs]
of the institution with curricula of the following length:
(A)at the undergraduate level of 20 semester credit
hours or less,
(B)at the graduate and professional level of 15 semester
credit hours or less.
(e)The following certificate programs require
Board approval and shall be approved if the following conditions
are met:
(1)the proposed certificate is an upper-level undergraduate
certificate of 21 - 36 hours in a disciplinary area [
areas] where the institution already offers an undergraduate
degree program.
(2)the proposed certificate is a graduate-level and
professional certificate of 16 - 29 semester credit hours
in disciplinary areas where the institution already offers a graduate
program at the same level as the certificate.
(f)Lower-division certificate programs.
(1)One and two-year, post-secondary career technical/workforce
education programs should be delivered primarily by community, state,
and technical colleges. These institutions are uniquely suited by
virtue of their specialized mission, local governance, and student
support services to provide such opportunities in an efficient and
economical manner. For that reason, new lower-division career technical/workforce
certificate programs shall not generally be approved at public universities
and health-related institutions.
(2)Universities and health-related institutions should
not develop certificate programs at the upper or graduate level that
are equivalent to lower-division certificate programs offered at community,
state, and technical colleges.
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 January 22, 2018
TRD-201800202 Bill Franz
General Counsel
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
Earliest possible date of adoption: March 4, 2018
For further information, please call: (512) 427-6104
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