3.1.a Degree-granting Authority [CR]
An institution
seeking to gain or maintain accredited status has degree-granting authority
from the appropriate government agency or agencies.
x Compliance o Non-Compliance o Partial Compliance
The University of
Louisiana at Lafayette ultimately derives its degree‐granting authority
from the State of Louisiana, as provided in the Louisiana Constitution, Revised Statute 17:3351. The Constitution allows the
Louisiana Board of Regents (BOR), which coordinates and establishes policies
for the State’s public postsecondary education system, to authorize the four
management boards under its purview to confer degrees. It is from its
management board that UL Lafayette derives direct approval to confer degrees.
The University is part of the University of Louisiana System, which is one of four systems of public institutions of higher education in Louisiana.
The BOR’s Academic Affairs Policy 2.01 states that “The 1974 Louisiana Constitution, Article VIII Section 5, vests in the
BOR the responsibility to approve, disapprove, or modify all existing and
proposed degree programs and administrative units in Louisiana’s public
colleges and universities.” The Louisiana BOR began operation on January 1,
1975, replacing the Coordinating Council for Higher Education. The BOR has the
authority to plan and coordinate higher education, which includes budgetary
responsibility for Louisiana’s public colleges, universities, and professional
schools.
UL Lafayette is
one of nine universities in the University of Louisiana System, which was
established in June 1995 and revised in 2014 by Louisiana Revised Statute 17: 3217. Before this time, the UL System was
known as the System of State Colleges and Universities. The Board of
Supervisors (BOS) for the UL System was formerly known as the Board of Trustees
for State Colleges and Universities. The name change occurred on December 4,
1998. The BOS is authorized explicitly in the Louisiana Constitution to govern the University of Louisiana
System.
UL Lafayette is
legally authorized to provide post-secondary distance education programs to
out-of-state students. Many of these state laws and regulations also apply to
online, distance, and correspondence education instruction offered in that
state. Authorization information is available on the University’s
website (Degree Granting Authority for Distance Education Programs to
Out-of-State-Students: by degree program and by state). The University is also a member of
the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA), a voluntary agreement
among member states and U.S. territories establishing comparable national
standards for interstate offering of post-secondary distance-education courses
and programs, which authorizes the offering of distance education courses to
students in other member states. All of UL Lafayette’s online programs are approved and regulated by the BOS.
LA Constitution
Article VIII Section 5
LA Constitution
Article VIII Section 6
LA Post-Secondary Government Chart
Request to Offer Distance Learning
UL Website: State Authorization