Gov. Greg Abbott appointed 13 faculty and staff from Texas universities to a working group to create a framework for three-year bachelor’s degree plans, according to a Sept. 16 news release.
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board created the working group under an August directive from Abbott to reduce cost and increase workforce readiness for Texas students. The group must decide by Dec. 31 on the framework’s 3-year bachelor degree academic standards, which degrees best suit a three-year program, employer needs and statewide implementation.
“Texas students deserve a clear and affordable pathway to high-paying jobs,” Abbott said in the news release. “This working group will deliver a statewide framework for three-year bachelor’s degrees to keep Texas a national leader in affordable, accessible, high-quality education.”
The working group includes a member of the THECB and representatives from 12 Texas universities, including UT, according to the news release.
Angela Bauer, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at Texas Woman’s University, is one of the group members. Bauer has previously presented to the organization College-in-3, which promotes three-year degree programs, and wrote a book on teaching workforce readiness skills to college students.
Bauer said professional programs like nursing and engineering cannot be completed in three years. However, she said other degrees could be reduced to three years if core curriculum requirements were combined with degree requirements.
THECB has been working on recommendations to reduce the amount of hours in the core curriculum at Texas universities, Bauer said. In August, UT President Jim Davis announced an overhaul of the UT core curriculum, which includes reducing the core from 42 to 36 hours.
“Reducing the size of the core would obviously create that wiggle room for three-year degrees to be an option,” Bauer said.
Bauer said individual universities will consider the recommendations from the working group and decide which of their degree programs could fit into a three-year framework.
Specific issues, such as financial aid, allowing students to add a year and managing college credit transfers from high school, will be worked out later, Bauer said.
“Many students will continue to pursue the four-year degree,” Bauer said. “But there are some students, often non-traditional students, who have families to care for or other obligations that just don’t allow for them to engage in a four-year degree in that way, and this is an option for them to enhance their social mobility and their professional options.”
