P.R. Laws tit. 18, § 1585
The Council shall be the governing and normative body of the system. It shall have the following functions and faculties, which shall not be understood as a limitation thereto:
(a) Implement and enforce the public policy established in this legislation and such other that may be established in the future with regard to technological-occupational education and to the purposes of this chapter.
(b) Establish the specific objectives that shall redirect the system at short or long term [sic], according to the established public policy and to the general objectives of the system provided in this chapter.
(c) Evaluate and approve the Strategic Five-Year Plan prepared by the Chairperson of the Council.
(d) Determine the general direction of the technological-occupational programs offered by the agencies, programs or operating units that compose the system, regardless of what is provided by any other law, taking into account the peculiarities and characteristics of the programs.
(e) Establish the minimum levels of competence that the students of the system must have in order to obtain the certificates, diplomas or degrees. These levels of competence must be in proportion to the occupational profiles needed and required by the private and public sector[s].
(f) Approve the academic and professional programs and offerings of the components of the system and grant the titles and credentials of competence that are conferred by the system in the duly-approved programs and periodically review the specialties or professions to be offered to each component of the system, taking into account the supply and demand.
(g) Establish the standards for the consolidation of two or more technological and occupational programs of the system.
(h) Establish standards on convalidation and transfer of students from one program to another, and the simultaneous participation in more than one program within the system.
(i) Structure the administrative organization of the Council.
(j) Articulate the existing occupational programs, for which it may establish the system’s organization, including its faculty to create, eliminate, transfer, separate or consolidate any of the programs that compose the system and approve the creation of new programs, schools and colleges for technological-occupational education.
(k) Integrately [sic] receive and assess the budget requests of the different components of the system submitted by the Chairperson and submit the system’s budget petition to the Governor through the Management and Budget Office.
(l) Evaluate and approve the requests for federal funds of the various components of the system subject to the limitations and procedures required by federal laws.
(m) Evaluate and audit the educational programs and services offered by the system every two (2) years in order to determine their effectiveness in attaining the established objectives.
(n) Establish, jointly with the Department of Education, the University of Puerto Rico, the Council on Higher Education, the General Council on Education, the private educational centers and agencies that render support services, as applicable, the mechanisms for collaboration and coordination that will facilitate the integral education of the participant and the possible convalidation and accreditation of courses and titles between them and the system.
(o) Establish coordination with the respective Examining Boards and Colleges duly constituted by law, in charge of regulating the occupations that are taught in the different educational institutions attached, so that they may support and [advise] the Council in the evaluation and auditing processes of programs and services offered by the System in order to harmonize the curriculums offered with the regulations of said entities. It is further Provided, That a copy of the criteria, elements or regulations established by the duly constituted Examining Boards and Colleges and that are included in the curriculums of educational institutions shall be remitted to the General Education Council for evaluation in their licensing or accreditation processes.
(p) Coordinate with the entreprenurial sector with the purpose of achieving a greater participation of this sector in the development of the proposed objectives, including cooperation in the field of research and development; promote agreements with the enterprises to establish the occupational education programs and courses of the system in them and accredit the working experience in terms of education.
(q) Establish the conditions that promote the transforming of each workshop [in] the Commonwealth into an occupational training center.
(r) Restructure the curricular offer[ing]s of the vocational schools in harmony with the changes in the supply and demand of the working world.
(s) Provide adequate physical plant, equipment and modern workshops to public technical-occupational training centers which [can] facilitate the development of skills in harmony with the competitive demands of a global economy.
(t) Approve all the regulations needed to attain the purposes of this chapter and carry out any other inherent function or faculty.
(u) Submit periodic reports to the Governor and the Legislature regarding the achievement of the objectives and purposes of this chapter.
(v) Perform and carry out the functions required by § 111 of the Carl D. Perkins Federal Vocational Education and Applied Technology Act (P.L. 101-392). The Council shall determine which of these functions it shall delegate, according to the provisions of said federal statute.
(w) Be the depositary of, and administer the funds received by Puerto Rico, pursuant to the Carl D. Perkins Federal Vocational Education and Applied Technology Act (P.L. 101-392), as well as to supervise their use, and make the disbursements chargeable thereto as provided in said act, and for the purposes specified therein.
History —Dec. 18, 1991, No. 97, § 6; July 31, 1992, No. 43, § 2; July 15, 1999, No. 148, § 19; Aug. 9, 2008, No. 220, §§ 1, 2.