MARVIN MANDEL, Governor

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(b) The Council shall appoint an executive
director who shall not be subject to the provisions of
Article 64A of this Code, title "Merit System" and who
shall perform such functions as the Council may
prescribe; and the Council may employ such other
assistants as are in the budget provided. The executive
director and all professional and clerical employees of
the Council shall be eligible for membership in, and
shall become members of, the Teachers' Retirement System
of the State of Maryland. However, those employees
certified as professional employees pursuant to a
determination by the Council may, in lieu of that
membership, participate in an optional retirement program
if adopted by the Council as provided in § 217 of Article
77 of this Code. The salaries of all employees and the
administrative expenses of the Council shall be as
provided in the annual budget.]

[30.

(a) It shall be the duty of the Council to
coordinate the growth and overall development of higher
education in the State, to conduct studies concerning the
various aspects of public higher education in the State,
to report the result of its researches, and to make
recommendations to the governing boards of the public
institutions of higher education and to appropriate State
officials with respect to the matters it has considered.
The functions of the Council shall include the following:

(1)    Prepare programs for the orderly growth
and overall development of the State system of public
higher education to meet trends in population and the
changing social and technical requirements of the
economy ;

(2)    Investigate and evaluate the needs
throughout the State for undergraduate, graduate and
adult education, for professional and technical training
and for research facilities, and present plans and
recommendations for the establishment and location of new
facilities and programs or for major alterations in
existing programs or facilities;

(3)    Recommend all new degree programs at the
doctoral, master's, baccalaureate, and associate levels
in all public institutions;

(4)    Study and make recommendations regarding
the statewide coordination of the activities of the
appropriate agencies, and institutions of higher
Learning, academically, administratively and fiscally,
with the objective of achieving the most effective and
economical employment of existing education facilities
and of fostering a climate of cooperation and unified
endeavor in the field of public higher education;

(5) Set standards to be followed by the