SENATE, No. 728

SECTION 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other general or special law to the contrary, the Board of Higher Education established pursuant to section 4 of chapter 15A, through its Policy and Planning Section, is authorized and directed to assess the feasibility of establishing a demonstration project at an independent, licensed and accredited Massachusetts institution of higher education and a public institution of higher education; and provided further, that said demonstration project shall serve as a model for future collaboration between public and private higher education institutions; and further that the goals of said project shall be to effectuate non-duplication of program effort, economies of scale and efficiencies in campus operations and to leverage excess capacity in order to contain costs and increase access to higher learning opportunities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  Said study shall include, but not be limited to, utilizing academic programs and major fields at independent colleges and universities to supplement offerings at public higher education institutions through a co-branding model; exploring opportunities for faculty at both public and independent institutions to hold joint appointments; and offering on-line programs and courses to students as joint offerings of the public and independent institutions with the goal of expanding access to, and choice of programs for students across the Commonwealth.  Said board shall submit a report on the pilot project and its potential for expansion throughout higher education to the Joint Committee on Higher Education and the House and Senate Committees on Ways and Means not later than December 1, 2009.