STC awaiting fall to see if degree gets approved

McALLEN — South Texas College officials had hoped to add a second four-year degree program in the upcoming semester, but their hopes fell well short of the mark.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which must approve the program, didn’t even put the matter on the agenda for its latest quarterly meeting.

STC President Shirley A. Reed hoped the board would approve the college’s bachelor of applied technology degree in computer information technologies in time for the start of classes later this month. As many as 100 students were expected to enroll in the program.

For now, though, college staff may have to wait until the board’s quarterly meeting in October to see if the program gets the green light.

Until the program receives official approval, students may take nine to 12 semester credit hours to get started on their degrees, Reed said. The courses would include network troubleshooting, fundamentals of information security and advanced Web design.

“This was all put together by an advisory committee of some of the major employers who use a lot of technology,” Reed said. “They identified what they thought should be taught.”

State legislators approved four-year degree programs for STC, Midland College and the Houston area’s Brazosport College. The law allows the colleges to establish up to five four-year degrees in applied science and applied technology programs.

Steven Johnson, director of external relations at the Austin-based Texas Association of Community Colleges, had shared the STC officials’ hope that the higher education board would take up the degree matter during its July meeting. He noted that the board must abide by the Legislature’s mandates.

But according to STC’s Reed, the board did not want the community colleges to duplicate degree programs at nearby four-year institutions.

“We are very much focused on applied technology,” she said. “What we are trying to accomplish is moving students from their associate’s degree to the baccalaureate level and build on their technical skills and add to that, as well as prepare them to be supervisors, managers in the technical fields.”

Calls to the coordinating board were not returned Thursday and Friday.

STC already has a bachelor’s degree of applied technology in technology management. The coordinating board approved the program in 2004 and the college began accepting students into it in fall 2005.