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House Bill 2425 |
House Author: Morrison |
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Effective: 6-19-09 |
Senate Sponsor: Averitt |
Current law requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to operate a one‑week summer program on the campus of each general academic teaching institution that offers an engineering degree program to expose middle and high school students to mathematics, science, and engineering concepts students are likely to encounter in such a degree program and requires the coordinating board to establish a scholarship program for students who graduate from high school with certain credentials and are pursuing a degree in engineering at a general academic teaching institution. House Bill 2425 amends the Education Code to extend the one‑week summer program to each private or independent institution of higher education that offers an engineering degree program and to make a student pursuing an engineering degree at such an institution eligible to receive an engineering scholarship from the coordinating board.
The bill also requires the coordinating board to conduct a study relating to the success of bachelor degree programs in the fields of applied science and applied technology offered by public junior colleges and to the feasibility of expanding the offering of such bachelor degrees by public junior colleges. The bill requires the study to consider the economic viability of expanding the degree programs, the workforce needs served by the degree programs for various areas of Texas, current and potential university course offerings, and other methods for making bachelor degrees available. The bill requires the coordinating board, not later than November 15, 2010, to report the results of the study to each standing committee of the legislature with primary jurisdiction over higher education.