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Senate Bill 1051 |
Senate Author: Zaffirini |
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Effective: 6-16-07 |
House Sponsor: Guillen |
The state-mandated core curriculum requires six semester credit hours of government or political science and six semester credit hours of American history for graduation from a Texas public college or university. Senate Bill 1051 amends the Education Code to allow a public college or university that offers a joint bachelor's degree program under a contract with a foreign university to exempt a student in the joint degree program from the government, political science, and history requirements if the student (1) enrolled in the foreign university before enrolling in the joint degree program or is otherwise considered primarily a student of the foreign university and (2) completes the American Way course. The bill establishes certain content requirements for the American Way course, which must consist of at least four semester credit hours and be designed to provide a foreign student with a familiarity and understanding of United States government and civic life and their sources, development, and character.
The bill also allows the college or university that offers a joint bachelor's degree program under a contract with a foreign university, in consultation with that foreign university, to identify and approve courses offered by the foreign college or university that are equivalent to, and may substitute for, core curriculum courses of a student in the joint degree program who is considered primarily a student of the public college or university.