Arkansas § 6-53-402 - Two-year branches — Conversion to technical college.

§ 6-53-402. Two-year branches — Conversion to technical college.

A board of trustees of a four-year institution may, by resolution or when requested, petition the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board to accept a two-year branch campus to be a technical college under the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board's jurisdiction. Upon approval by the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board and an accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education and upon assignment of a service area for the institution, the two-year branch campus shall be known as a technical college. All records, personnel, property, unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, or other funds of the two-year branch campus shall be transferred to the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board until a local board is appointed. Upon the appointment of a local board, all records, personnel, property, unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, or other funds of the technical college shall be transferred to the local board. The local board shall be responsible for the administration and operation of the technical college and such other state-supported institutions within the system located in the service area designated by the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board as necessary to adequately meet the two-year postsecondary educational needs of those citizens located within the service area assigned to the technical college. Upon the establishment of the technical college, the two-year branch of the four-year institution shall be abolished. A technical college established under this section that fails to achieve higher education institutional accreditation from an accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education within eight (8) years following the date of conversion shall be abolished by the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board. All records, personnel, property, unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, or other funds of the technical college shall be transferred to the Division of Higher Education. No state-supported vocational and technical institution in this state other than those provided for by this chapter shall convert to become a technical college if there is an existing community college located within the same county as the vocational and technical institution. The local board of any state-supported postsecondary institution and the board of a community college located within the same county, upon passage of a resolution by each board and with the approval by the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board and an accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education, may merge the state-supported postsecondary institution with the community college.