UC OFFICIALS OPPOSE CSU DOCTORATE PLANS.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

A state Senate bill that would allow California State University, Northridge, and other colleges in the 23-campus system to offer certain clinical doctorates is facing opposition from University of California officials.

The bill would allow CSUs to offer the doctorates - graduate course work coupled with practical training - in such areas as audiology and physical therapy.

Officials say the degrees are increasingly required for accreditation. CSUN's audiology program, for example, faces a 2007 deadline to offer a clinical doctorate or lose its accreditation from the Council on Academic Accreditation of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Without accreditation, the program would be in danger of closing; to be certified to practice, audiology students must graduate from accredited programs.

``It's a national trend happening in various professional areas: a doctorate is entry-level for some of those professions,'' said Ken Swisher, CSUN spokesman.

CSUN currently produces about 12 audiologists a year, and 26 to 46 graduate from its physical therapy program. Overall, the CSUs produce about a third of the state's audiologists every year.

But the UC system argues that only its schools should be allowed to grant doctorates of any kind, as specified in the state's higher-education master plan.

``We already have joint (doctorate) programs with the CSUs that are doing well,'' said Ravi Poorsina, spokeswoman for the UC system. ``There also hasn't been a basic-needs assessment - do we need more programs? If yes, which programs, and in what geographic area? There's a big investment in starting programs like that.''

Stephen Sinclair, chairman and professor of CSUN's department of communication disorders and sciences, said CSUN has been trying for years to partner with a UC.

Currently, only UC San Diego and San Diego State have an audiology doctorate program that graduates about 10 students a year; the UCs phased out audiology doctorate programs years ago.

``We were really trying to find partners to play under the existing standards, but the clock is just running out,'' Sinclair said, noting that 63 universities in 33 states have made the change to offer clinical doctorates.

The bill - whose main sponsor is Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasadena - passed the Senate recently and will be heard by the Assembly Committee on Higher Education next week.

Committee chair Assemblywoman Carol Liu, D-Pasadena, currently opposes it because it runs counter to the master plan.

Lisa M. Sodders, [phone]

lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com