-

.



### QRNEY GENERAL
OFTEXAS

October 

### 6, 1958

Honc;rable

Ralph T. Green Opinion No.WW-510 Director Texas Commission on Higher Re: Is the specificprior Education approval of the Commis308 W. 15th Street sion required for Texas Austin 1, Texas Woman's University to establish the proposed Dear Mr. Green: program in nursing?

At present, the Texas Woman's University offers, and prior to September 1, 1956, offered a degree in nursing in its College of Nursing. During the freshmanyear and during onehalf of the senioryear, each student is on the campus in Denton, Texas. During the intervening tuo and one-halfyears, the student is in resident clinical training in the Dallas County Hospital System, The maxi'mum number of studentswho can be trained in Dallas has been reached, Without additional clinical facilities, the nursing program cannot be enlarged or expanded to meet the need for additional trainednurses.

In view of this limitation in the Dallas facilities, it has been proposed that arrangementsbe made with the Texas Medical Center, Inc. of Houston, Texas, to furnish facilities for clinical training in Houston so thatmore nurses can be graduated. The question presentedhere is whether or not the expansion of the nursing program by the use of the Houston facilities, in addition to the Dallas facilities, constitutes a "newdegree program"within themeaning of Section 11 of the Act creating the Texas Commission on Higher Education.

The Texas Commission on Higher Educationwas created by Acts 54th Legislature,Regular Session9 1955, page 1217, Chapter 

### 487. Sections 

### 6 and 11 of said Act provide in part:

I, The Commission shall establish rules and regulationsnot inconsistentwith and limited to, carrying 'outthe provisions of thisAct. 11 * 0 0No new department,degree program, or certificateprogram shallbe added at any Statesupperted college or university after September 3, 1956, exceptby the specificprior rpp~aval by the Commission, 0 0 mll- .

Honorable Ralph T. Green,page 2 (Ww-510)

Effective January 13, 1958, and pursuant te the authority contained in the' Act to establish rules and regulations, the Commfssien adoptedREGUL$TIONNUMBER ONE in which degreeprogram.was def&ned as, + D a the pattern ef academic requirementswhich the institution sets and which studentsmust satisfy as the basis fer the institution to award a particulardegree." New degree programwas defined as, "* 0 .,anydegreeprogramwhich was not autherlzcd and available as an offering af the institution en September 1, 1956 0 a n"o

Ne change in the ,patternef academic requirements for the nursing degree is contemplated. The Houston facilities weuld be the same type as the Dallas facilities, The use ef additlanal facilities of the same typeweuld be an enlargement or expansion. Thus, since ,thepattern =sf academic requirements would remain the same, and since the proposal involved here is actually an expansion ef an existing "degreeprogram", there is no new degree program.

Prior to the adoptisn ef REGULATIONNUMHER ONE defining these terms, Attorney General's OpinionWW-10, dated January 29, 1957,went intb the question of the application of the Act to a prmpesalby the Agrticultural and'Mechaaica1College of Texas to establishand operate in Arlington a graduate engineeringdivision of the Agriculturaland Mechanical College, using the facilities of Arlington State College. There, the proposed offeringwas designed to meet the needs of a limited group in a particular area at the campus of another college. The proposalwould establish a new extensionprogram since it was not being offered off-campusat the time. We held that the proposal constituteda "newdegree pregram." If the degree program had been offered off-campus from a time prior to September 1, 1956, until the proposed offering at Arlington, our opinionwould have been different. The clinicalphases of the nursing program of the Texas Woman's Universityhave been taught off-campus from a timeprier to September 1, 1956, until the present,

We cenclude, therefore, that the use of the facilities of the Texas Medical Center, Inc.by the Texas Woman's University is merely an expansion of an existingdegreeprogram and dsas not csnstitutea new degree programwithin themeaning of Section 11 and dmes net require the specificprier approval by the Texas Commissien en Higher Education.

The scepe ef this epinian is necessarily limited to the question presented and deeanst pass on any ether aspect efHonorable Ralph T. Green, page 3

the proposed arrangementbetween (w-510)

theUniversity and the Center. It shouldbe noted, however, that Section 11 of the Act also provides that, "The Commission shall order the consolidationor elimination of programswhere such aG%ion is in thebest interest of'the fnstitutions themselvesand the general requirements of the State of Texas, ~ Q m"O
SUMMARY
The specificppior approval of the Texas Commission on Higher Education fs not required for the Texas Woman's University to use the facilities efferedby the Texas Medical Center, %nc:+in,:f%s collegiate nursing program, since the same does not constitutea new degree programwithin the meaning of Section 11, Senate Bill No. 145, Acts 54th Legislature,Regular Sessfon, 1955, Chapter 487, page 1217. Sincerely,
WILL WILSON Attorney General of Texas

APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE GeoD P. Blackburn, Chairman Houghton Brownlee, Jr, Wayland C. Rivers, Jr. Rfchard B. Stone GrundyWilliams
REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: W. V. Geppert