California State University: Doctor of Physical Therapy degrees.

Existing law, known as the Donahoe Higher Education Act, sets forth, among other things, the missions and functions of California's public and independent segments of higher education, and their respective institutions of higher education. Provisions of the act do not apply to the University of California unless the regents of the university act, by resolution, to make them applicable. Among other things, the act provides that the University of California has exclusive jurisdiction in public higher education to award the doctoral degree in all fields of learning, except that it may agree with the California State University to award joint doctoral degrees in selected fields. With respect to doctoral degrees, the act limits the California State University to awarding these degrees jointly with the University of California, as described above, or jointly with independent institutions of higher education, provided that the proposed doctoral program is approved by the California Postsecondary Education Commission. This bill would instead authorize the California State University to award the Doctor of Physical Therapy degree. This bill would require the degree to be distinguished from doctoral degree programs at the University of California. The bill would require that the Doctor of Physical Therapy degree offered by the California State University be focused on preparing physical therapists to provide health care services and shall be consistent with meeting requirements of the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education. The bill would require that each student in the programs authorized by the bill be charged fees no higher than the rate charged for students in state-supported programs in physical therapy at the University of California. The bill would require the California State University, the Department of Finance, and the Legislative Analyst's Office to jointly conduct a statewide evaluation of the new programs implemented under the bill. The bill would specify topics to be included in this evaluation, and would require that the evaluation be submitted to the Legislature and the Governor on or before January 1, 2015. This provision would be repealed on January 1, 2019.