(a)

(1) In order to promote a coordinated system of higher education in Arkansas and to assure an orderly and effective development of each of the publicly supported institutions of higher education, the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall have the power and duty to request, receive, evaluate, and approve proposals for all new units of instruction, research, and public service, consistent with established role and scope designations which have been approved by the board of trustees and the president of an institution, and to determine, based upon established policies, whether new units of instruction, research, or public service are justified.

(2)

(A) "Established policies" as used in this subsection means a written statement developed by the board in consultation with and upon the advice of representatives of each of the state's institutions of higher learning which shall set forth the relevant criteria which a proposal for a new unit of instruction must meet before its establishment by an institution is justified.

(B)

(i) The term "new unit of instruction, research, or public service" used in this subsection includes establishment of a college, school, division, institute, center, department, new curricula, majors leading to a new degree program, or an extension service not presently included in the program of the institution.

(ii) The term does not include reasonable and moderate extensions, as defined by the board, of existing curricular research or public service programs which have a direct relationship to existing programs at the several public institutions of higher learning.

(b) General revenues appropriated by the General Assembly shall not be expended for new programs that have not been recommended by the board.