California State University: Agricultural education: professional doctorate degrees.

Existing law, known as the Donahoe Higher Education Act, sets forth, among other things, the missions and functions of California's public and independent segments of higher education, and their respective institutions of higher education. Provisions of the act do not apply to the University of California unless the Regents of the University of California act, by resolution, to make them applicable. Among other things, the act provides that the University of California has exclusive jurisdiction in public higher education to award the doctoral degree in all fields of learning, except that it may agree with the California State University to award joint doctoral degrees in selected fields. With respect to doctoral degrees, the act limits the California State University to awarding these degrees jointly with the University of California, as described above, or, with the approval of the California Postsecondary Education Commission, jointly with independent institutions of higher education. This bill would instead authorize the California State University to award professional doctorate degrees in agricultural education. The bill would require the degree to be distinguished from doctoral degree programs at the University of California. The bill would require that the degree be focused on preparing students for professional careers in the field of agricultural science. The bill would require that each student in the programs authorized by the bill be charged fees no higher than the rate charged for students in state-supported programs in agriculture at the University of California.