The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (Coordinating Board) adopts amendments to §5.46, concerning Criteria for New Doctoral Programs, by adding alternative criteria for meeting the undergraduate success measure standard. A publication error caused the first sentence of the rule to be omitted from the proposed text published in the May 11, 2012, issue of the Texas Register (37 TexReg 3518). For that reason, the section is republished here.

The intent of the amendments is to bring consistency across the Coordinating Board rules and staff procedures for the approval of new doctoral programs. The amendments would specify the alternative undergraduate success measures that an institution must meet in order to satisfy §5.24(b)(5) and to be in line with §5.46(15) of Coordinating Board rules adopted in January 2011. If an institution's six-year baccalaureate graduation rate is below the state average minus The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University, new doctoral programs may still be considered if the institution meets at least two of three alternative criteria.

One comment was received concerning the amendments.

Comment: The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) stated that the undergraduate success measures will disproportionately affect institutions that serve non-traditional students. The effects of denying doctoral degrees such as biomedical engineering will have a long-lasting financial impact on the communities of such institutions. Immediate cost savings to the State in denying doctoral programs to these institutions should be weighed carefully against the long-term costs in loss of personal income, productivity and revenues for area firms, and regional economic development.

Response: One of the three alternative criteria added in this proposal is a measure of the percent of change in the number of baccalaureate degrees awarded to "at risk" students, which is intended to mitigate the impact on institutions serving minority populations. Staff agrees that doctoral programs in a community may accelerate economic development in the communities of institutions serving non-traditional students, but increases in the number of baccalaureate graduates may also have a significant long-term impact. There were no additional changes made as a result of this comment.

The amendments are adopted under the Texas Education Code, Chapter 61, Subchapter C, §61.051(e), which provides the Coordinating Board with the authority to approve new degree programs at public postsecondary institutions operating in Texas.