Sec. 50.1. Definitions

As used in this Subchapter:

(a) Commissioner means Commissioner of Education.

(b) Department means the Education Department of the State of New York.

(c) Adequate, approved, equivalent, satisfactory, sufficient, mean adequate, approved, equivalent, satisfactory, sufficient, respectively in the judgment of the commissioner.

(d) Higher education means postsecondary education, and includes the work of colleges, junior colleges, community colleges, two-year colleges, universities, professional and technical schools, and other degree-granting institutions.

(e) Qualifying certificate means a certificate indicating that the holder has the education required by law and by Part 52 of this Subchapter for admission to the study of a profession.

(f) Approved secondary school course means a course that meets the minimum requirements set forth under Part 100 of this Title, or the equivalent as determined by the commissioner.

(g) Course means an organized series of instructional and learning activities dealing with a subject.

(h) Registration means approval of a curriculum in an institution of higher education for general purposes, for admission to professional practice, or for acceptance toward a credential issued by the department or by the institution.

(i) Curriculum or program means the formal educational requirements necessary to qualify for certificates or degrees. A curriculum or program includes general education or specialized study in depth in a particular field, or both.

(j) Certificate means a credential issued by an institution in recognition of the completion of a curriculum other than one leading to a degree.

(k) College means a higher educational institution authorized by the Regents to confer degrees.

(l) University means a higher educational institution offering a range of registered undergraduate and graduate curricula in the liberal arts and sciences, degrees in two or more professional fields, and doctoral programs in at least three academic fields.

(m) Junior college or two-year college means a higher educational institution which is authorized by the Regents to offer undergraduate curricula below the baccalaureate level which normally lead to the associate degree.

(n) Credit means a unit of academic award applicable towards a degree offered by the institution.

(o) Semester hour means a credit, point, or other unit granted for the satisfactory completion of a course which requires at least 15 hours (of 50 minutes each) of instruction and at least 30 hours of supplementary assignments, except as otherwise provided pursuant to section 52.2(c)(4) of this Subchapter. This basic measure shall be adjusted proportionately to translate the value of other academic calendars and formats of study in relation to the credit granted for study during the two semesters that comprise an academic year.

(p) Division means an organizational unit of the college in which faculty are grouped for administrative and academic purposes.

(q) Principal center means the location of the principal administrative offices and instructional facilities of a college, university, or other degree-granting institution, as defined by the institution's officers. In exceptional cases and with the approval of the commissioner, an institution may designate more than one principal center for an institution that offers curricula leading to degrees and that is part of a public or independent multi-institution system, principal center means the location of the institution's principal administrative offices and instructional facilities, as defined by the institution's officers, but not the location of the system's central administration.

(r) Branch campus means a unit of an institution located at a place other than the institution's principal center or another degree-granting institution, at which the institution offers one or more curricula leading to a certificate or degree.

(s) Extension center means a unit of an institution located at a place other than the institution's principal center or another degree-granting institution, at which the institution does not offer any curricula leading to a certificate or degree, but at which the institution either conducts more than 15 courses for credit or has more than 350 course registrations for credit in any academic year.

(t) Extension site means a unit of an institution located at a place other than the institution's principal center or another degree-granting institution, at which the institution does not offer any curricula leading to a certificate or degree, and at which the institution conducts no more than 15 courses for credit and has no more than 350 course registrations for credit in any academic year.

(u) Regents postsecondary education region means a geographic area of the State consisting of two or more contiguous counties that includes a range of degree-granting institutions offering, in the aggregate, curricula from the associate degree through the doctoral level and having, in the aggregate, sufficient enrollment to form an efficient educational planning group, and that is so designated by the Regents.

(v) Regents regional advisory council means an organization that includes chief executive officers who are representative of the degree-granting institutions in the region, and representatives of the general public, and that is so designated by the Regents.

(w) Disaster means the occurrence or imminent threat of widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of life or property resulting from any natural, technological, radiological or man-made causes, such as fire, flood, earthquake, hurricane, tornado, high water, landslide, mudslide, windstorm, wave action, epidemic, air contamination, drought, explosion, water contamination, chemical accident, war or civil disturbance as declared by State or local governments pursuant to sections 24 or 28 of the Executive Law.