The board must run and maintain the university system’s component institutions and may issue rules, admit limits, appointments, and gift administration powers. New departments, schools, or degree programs need prior approval, and some institutions cannot offer four-year undergraduate programs without legislative authorization.
Sec. 65.31. GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES. (a) The board is authorized and directed to govern, operate, support, and maintain each of the component institutions that are now or may hereafter be included in a part of The University of Texas System. (b) The board is authorized to prescribe for each of the component institutions courses and programs leading to such degrees as are customarily offered in outstanding American universities, and to award all such degrees. It is the intent of the legislature that such degrees shall include baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral degrees, and their equivalents, but no new department, school, or degree-program shall be instituted without the prior approval of the Coordinating Board, Texas College and University System. (c) The board has authority to promulgate and enforce such other rules and regulations for the operation, control, and management of the university system and the component institutions thereof as the board may deem either necessary or desirable. The board is specifically authorized and empowered to determine and prescribe the number of students that shall be admitted to any course, department, school, college, degree-program, or institution under its governance. (d) The board is specifically authorized to make joint appointments in the component institutions under its governance. The salary of any person who receives such joint appointment shall be apportioned to the appointing institutions on the basis of services rendered. (e) The board is specifically authorized, upon terms and conditions acceptable to it, to accept, retain in depositories of its choosing, and administer gifts, grants, or donations of any kind, from any source, for use by the system or any of the component institutions of the system. (f) No component institution which is not authorized to offer a four-year undergraduate program shall offer a four-year undergraduate program without the specific authorization of the legislature. (g) The board by rule may delegate a power or duty of the board to a committee, officer, employee, or other agent of the board. Acts 1971, 62nd Leg., p. 3145, ch. 1024, art. 1, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1971. Amended by Acts 1971, 62nd Leg., p. 3360, ch. 1024, art. 2, Sec. 37, eff. Sept. 1, 1971; Acts 1983, 68th Leg., p. 5010, ch. 900, Sec. 1, eff. Aug. 29, 1983; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 213, Sec. 1, eff. May 23, 1995.