UC
supports CSU bid to give education doctorates
By
Wendy Qi
Daily Californian
BERKELEY (U-Wire) — University of California and California State University
officials agreed Tuesday to allow the CSU system to independently grant doctorate
degrees in education for the first time in its history.
If the agreement — which amends a state Senate bill allowing the CSU
system to grant independent doctorates — is approved by state legislators,
the 23-campus system will be able to grant doctorate degrees in education as
early as fall 2007, according to a joint statement released by the UC and CSU
systems.
The amended bill, written by Sen. Jack Scott, went before the Assembly’s
Committee on High Education last week. The original bill aimed to allow CSU
students to pursue doctorates in professional fields such as audiology, physical
therapy and education.
Under the state’s Master Plan for Higher Education, drafted in 1960,
students can pursue a doctorate at a CSU through joint programs with UC campuses
and other state-sponsored institutions. The UC system can grant independent
doctorates in a variety of fields.
Leaders at CSU campuses have pushed for independent doctoral programs, especially
in education, because the joint programs with the UC system have taken too
long to be established, said CSU spokesperson Colleen Bentley-Adler.
CSU officials also cite the joint degree programs’ lack of accessibility
as another reason to allow the CSU system to launch its own programs.
“CSUs were designed to be the institutions that were accessible to the
people and the communities,” said Kim Huggett, director of public affairs
at CSU East Bay. “We have reached the point where it’s so important
to have well-trained school administrators, it only makes sense that the university
that produces the majority of the state’s teachers be given the ability
to produce the state’s administrators as well.”
If approved by the state, curriculum for the CSU system’s new program
will be developed by the faculty at each campus starting in the fall 2005 semester.
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