GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

H	2 

HOUSE BILL 340
Committee Substitute Favorable 4/8/93

Short Title:  GPAC/Univ. of N.C.	(Public)
─────────────────────────────────────── 
Sponsors:
─────────────────────────────────────── 
Referred to:  
─────────────────────────────────────── 

February 25, 1993

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO IMPLEMENT THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE AUDIT COMMITTEE REGARDING THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
––-UNC BD. OF GOV. REVIEW/PLAN.
Section 1.  (a)	The Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina shall review all academic degree programs and research and public service activities to identify those programs and activities that are of low productivity or low priority, or are unnecessarily redundant.  The Board shall develop specific criteria for these reviews, and shall develop a process to review academic degree program productivity biennially.  The Board's review shall have as its top priority the potential elimination of nonproductive or unnecessarily duplicative graduate, professional, or doctoral programs and the identification of resources to strengthen undergraduate education.
The review of academic degree programs shall be completed by December 31, 1995.  The Board shall report to the General Assembly and to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee by February 1, 1996, on its findings.  The review of research and public service activities shall be completed by December 1, 1996.  The Board shall report the results of this review to the General Assembly and to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee by February 1, 1997.  The reports shall include plans for program eliminations or reductions and for proposed reallocations of any savings.
(b)	G.S. 116-11(3) reads as rewritten:
"(3)	The Board shall determine the functions, educational activities and academic programs of the constituent institutions. The Board shall also determine the types of degrees to be awarded. The powers herein given to the Board shall not be restricted by any provision of law assigning specific functions or responsibilities to designated institutions, the powers herein given superseding any such provisions of law. The Board, after adequate notice and after affording the institutional board of trustees an opportunity to be heard, shall have authority to withdraw approval of any existing program if it appears that the program is unproductive, excessively costly or unnecessarily duplicative.  The Board shall review the productivity of academic degree programs every two years, using criteria specifically developed to determine program productivity."
(c)	The Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina shall develop a plan for the continued and expanded availability of higher education for all citizens, focusing on the availability of opportunities in underserved areas by means other than the establishment of additional degree programs.  The expanded use of video and audio distance learning technology, the expanded use of graduate centers to avoid program duplication, the potential for expanded funding of extension instruction, and increased cooperative programs with the North Carolina Community College System and the public school system should all be considered in developing the plan.  The Board shall present to the General Assembly by February 1994 a schedule for development and submission of this plan.
(d)	This section becomes effective July 1, 1993.
––-UNC TUITION ISSUES.
Sec. 2.  (a)	The General Assembly finds that effective implementation of the constitutional mandate to provide higher education opportunities to the citizens of North Carolina, free of expense "as far as practicable", requires that all mandatory charges exacted by The University of North Carolina, including both tuition and required fees, be governed by the principle of lowest practicable expense to students and their families, in order to minimize financial barriers to access.
(b)	The General Assembly finds that the practicable extent of mandatory expenses to be borne by students, consistent with the constitutional mandate, is properly determined by each General Assembly with due consideration for all currently relevant fiscal circumstances, rather than by a fixed formula that precludes acknowledgment of economic variables.
(c)	This section becomes effective July 1, 1993.