(a) In determining the location of technical institutes or vocational-technical schools and in establishing the courses of instruction to be offered in the schools, the State Board of Career Education shall give consideration to:

(1) Trends in industrial development;

(2) Concentration of population;

(3) Concentration of industry;

(4) Natural resources; and

(5) Reasonable distance for people in all areas of the state.

(b)

(1) The State Board of Career Education shall develop a course content syllabus for each course of instruction offered in a postsecondary technical institute or vocational-technical school. The course syllabus for each course of instruction shall specify the essential competencies to be taught in the course of instruction.

(2)

(A) Each instructor employed in a postsecondary technical institute or vocational-technical school shall utilize the appropriate course syllabus in providing instruction to postsecondary vocational students.

(B) It shall be the responsibility of the director of each postsecondary technical institute or vocational-technical school to ensure that vocational-technical instructors utilize the course syllabi developed pursuant to the provisions of this section in offering instruction to postsecondary vocational-technical students.

(3) The course syllabi required to be developed pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be adopted by the State Board of Career Education not later than July 1, 1990, and shall be utilized in postsecondary technical institutes or vocational-technical schools in the school year beginning 1990-1991.

(c)

(1) The State Board of Career Education and the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board are hereby authorized to certify certain courses of instruction offered by postsecondary technical institutes or vocational-technical schools as being equivalent to comparable courses offered by public two-year or four-year institutions of higher education.

(2) Any course of instruction offered by postsecondary technical institutes or vocational-technical schools that is certified as equivalent to a comparable course of instruction offered by a two-year or four-year institution of higher education shall be transferable for credit to a public two-year or four-year institution of higher education.

(d) The Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the State Board of Career Education shall promulgate rules and regulations for implementation of the provisions of this section in accordance with the accreditation standards of the receiving institutions.

(e) Students who matriculate at institutions of higher education shall meet the same standards for college and university admission as are defined in § 6-61-110.