Pennsylvania Act 1911-805 — BUREAU OF PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION CREATED

Act text

AN ACT

To create a Bureau of Professional Education, as a subdepartment of the Department of Public Instruction; to define the powers and duties of the said Bureau, and to make an appropriation therefor.

Whereas, The methods of determining the preliminary educational qualifications of applicants for the licensure to practice medicine, dentistry, or pharmacy are unprovided for, and inadequate to the needs and dignity of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and,

Whereas, No properly constituted authority exists for such determination; therefore,--

Compiler's Note: Section 2901 of Act 274 of 1923 provided that Act 805 is repealed insofar as it is inconsistent with Act 274.

Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That there shall be created a Bureau of Professional Education, as a subdepartment of the Department of Public Instruction, with an office at Harrisburg; and said bureau shall be known as the Bureau of Professional Education of the Department of Public Instruction, and shall be under the immediate direction and supervision of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Section 2. Be it further enacted, That the officers and employes of said bureau shall be appointed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, compensated upon the same basis as other officers and employes of the said Department of Public Instruction, out of an appropriation created therefor. After the expiration of the present term of the present incumbent, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall receive, as a compensation for extra duties, a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars annually.

Section 3. The duty of said bureau shall be the determination, evaluation, standardization, and regulation of the preliminary education, both secondary and collegiate, of those to be hereafter admitted to the practice of medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy in this Commonwealth; the preparation and distribution of circulars of information; the preparation of uniform blank forms; the holding of examinations at suitable times and places, to be designated by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, for the determination of the fitness of applicants unable to present satisfactory certificates; the issuing of certificates to those found proficient, directly from the Department of Public Instruction; the establishment of reciprocity with other States as regards preliminary education and professional licenses; the determination and publication of a standard high school course, and the compilation of a list of high schools and other secondary schools of this State conforming to said standard; and the exercising of such power as may be within the right of the Department of Public Education upon the high schools and secondary schools of the State to raise the standard of secondary education. The organization of said bureau shall be under the direction of the Superintendent of Public Instruction: Provided, That nothing in this act shall conflict with the provisions of the statutes of this Commonwealth regulating the practice of medicine, dentistry, or pharmacy, respectively.

Section 4. Applicants from other States or foreign countries for admission to schools of medicine, dentistry, or pharmacy, or for the licensure to practice medicine, dentistry, or pharmacy within the State of Pennsylvania, who do not hold a diploma from an accredited college, or a certificate of having passed the entrance examination to a first year course in an accredited college, or satisfactory evidence of having graduated from a high school or secondary school, the standard of which shall be equivalent to the standard adopted by the said Bureau of Professional Education, or satisfactory credentials from accredited secondary schools, shall be subjected to an examination by said bureau, and if successful shall be awarded a certificate, setting forth his or her proficiency, by the said Bureau of Professional Education.

Section 5. A fee of one dollar shall be charged to each applicant for the issuance by the Department of Public Instruction of the certificate of proficiency, to each applicant to whom said certificate shall be issued; and an additional fee of one dollar shall be charged for each examination to be held under the direction of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, by the Bureau of Professional Education, to each applicant for said examination; all monies received by the said Bureau of Professional Education to be turned into the public treasury.